(The Washington Post illustration/iStock)
By Liza Weisstuch
May 14, 2020 at 1:27 p.m. EDT
In early March, when Cara Marshall was planning her annual family trip to Puerto Rico, where she and her wife own a condo, the novel coronavirus was a headline about a devastating virus in China. But when the time came to book flights mid-month, the news was getting closer to home and more dire. Although she was looking forward to attending local friends’ wedding, traveling in May appeared to be a non-starter. Then, while scrolling Instagram, she saw posts on the Visit Puerto Rico page that served as a reality check. The running hashtag, #AllInGoodTime, assured her that canceling her family’s plans was not just the right thing, it was necessary.
“It’s nice to be casually reminded that there’s something to look forward to,” says Marshall, a finance professor who lives in New York City. “It really puts things in perspective.”
As the coronavirus pandemic continues to pummel the travel industry — grounding flights, shuttering hotels and cultural institutions, canceling events and sports games — plans are on hold. Indefinitely. Tourism experiences have been downgraded to virtual tours of museums, zoos, castles, national parks and forests as destination marketing organizations aim to stay on people’s radars. But a few tourism bureaus have taken a radical approach, completely upending the message that every destination tries to communicate creatively. As a sign of our unprecedented times, they’re saying — rather, insisting: Don’t come here. Forget about FOMO and don’t even think about trying to score a deal on a plane ticket. Stay home. Please, for the love of all that’s holy.....
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