Travel bloggers urge pause to international travel  

• In an open letter, 85 travel bloggers pleaded for travellers to pause their holiday plans in light of coronavirus

Denver, Colorado: Eighty five travel bloggers from around the world last week issued an open letter advising travellers to pause recreational international travel. 

“Telling you to stop international recreational travel is not in our best economic interests. But, like the many other business owners around the world who are putting people before profits, we make this plea because we believe it is in your interests and in the interests of humanity,” the letter says. 

The letter goes on to note that this advice is temporary, and suggests that travellers take advantage of the recent wave of cancellation policy changes to book flexible summer vacations. 

The letter notes: “You may find that reading travel blogs, planning your summer trips, and dreaming about the incredible travel destinations you will visit when this is over can be therapeutic in a time when we could all use a mental distraction. Continuing your planning also helps support the future of the ailing travel industry, which accounts for 1 in 10 jobs globally and has been hit hard by the global economic fallout from this pandemic.” 

“As a nurse on the front lines as well as a travel blogger, I urge people to stay home for the greater good,” said Emily Scott of Two Dusty Travellers, one of the signatories and a nurse who went to Sierra Leone to help fight the Ebola crisis. 

Another one of the bloggers, Margherita Ragg of The Crowded Planet, added: “I live in Milan, the centre of the Italian outbreak. I have seen people I know fall ill and suffer terribly. Please stay at home, learn from our pain and suffering and don’t let the same thing happen again.” 

The letter was a project started by Nate Hake, founder of the travel blog Travel Lemming. 

“I woke up this morning shocked at how many travellers I’m still seeing planning to press forward with international travel in the coming days. Even some hosts on Fox News are telling people to travel despite the warnings of the US State Department. I felt the need to speak up and say something because people could be making a dangerous and imprudent decision,” said Hake.