"We have launched the Louisiana Tourism Coastal Oil Consortium Fund," said Elizabeth McDougall, executive director of the Louisiana Tourism Coastal Coalition, in a statement issued Tuesday. The announcement came after the release of a state audit that said the group was likely to run out of money this year.

A PDF copy of the audit can be found here.

"It is our goal to have each of the companies who explore, discover and harvest oil in Louisiana and the Gulf of Mexico join our mission to restore and revive tourism on the Louisiana coast," McDougall said.

The fund sets up "a partnership between those who make a living off of oil, gas and coastal tourism," she said. She said the group is seeking enough money to pay for at least a five-year marketing campaign to encourage visitors to Louisiana's coastal regions.

The coalition was set up as a non-profit corporation in 2010 to funnel $5 million from BP into advertising, to counteract bad publicity from the spill that was hurting tourism and tax revenues in 11 parishes across South Louisiana, including Jefferson, Plaquemines, St. Bernard and St. Tammany in the metro New Orleans area.

Orleans Parish also received money for tourism promotion after the BP spill, but through a separate mechanism.

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