Despite a sluggish economy and a potential $3 billion-plus budget gap, Florida should more than double the state’s tourism marketing budget under a proposal sent to Gov.-elect Rick Scott Wednesday by his transition team.

Rick Scott is giving every state legislator in Florida the chance to weigh in on his or her 2011 priorities. And while he's getting plenty of thoughts on the top issues and how to approach them, he's getting almost nothing when he asks how they plan to pay for it.

As if Northwest Florida coastal towns don't have enough problems, they were told earlier this week that the world's largest auto club issued a travel advisory urging its 50 million members to stay away from their beaches because of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

But a spokeswoman for the association insisted Wednesday there was no such travel advisory.

Businesses worried that the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico could cause them to lose customers and revenue have a new shoulder to lean on.

The Gulf Oil Spill Recovery Task Force was created Tuesday to assist and advise industries that could be impacted by the spill, which has been threatening Florida since late April. And Florida's tourism and hospitality industry sees it an asset that will help it market itself.

The tourism industry says it needs more than $34.7 million from the state right now to prove Florida beaches are unsullied by the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

A survey published Thursday by the American Automobile Association revealed that the Gulf of Mexico oil spill has triggered a rise in the number of travelers who have canceled or otherwise changed their plans to visit Florida's Gulf Coast.