The Americas, Weird, Odd & Just Plain Fun



It’s seldom you get one great tourist area recommending a rival region, but the sheer length of the current cold snap has driven a New York tourism office to do just.

Florida Keys

Florida Keys recommended by a New York tourism office. Image by Emilio Labrador / CC BY 2.0

The centre in Ithaca has advised potential tourists on its website to forget thoughts of visiting in such wintry conditions and instead directs them towards Florida Keys as an alternative.

Their page – Visitithaca.com – greets visitors with images from the Sunshine State and links to Florida Keys and Key West for further tourism information, Fox News reports.

Jake Cote, a U.S. Postal Service carrier, makes his way up a hill, in Utica, N.Y.

Heavy snow this winter in Utica, N.Y. Image by (AP Photo/Observer-Dispatch, Mark DiOrio

And displaying a commendable sense of humour, the Ithaca office declares – “That’s it. We surrender. Winter, you win, Key West anyone?”

The pragmatic writer refers to the area’s current “ridiculously stupid winter,” and recommends setting sights on Florida Keys this week. They do make the point that visitors should return to the Ithaca site “when things thaw out.”

Like most areas, Ithaca and upstate New York has experienced severely cold and snowy conditions this winter with temperatures recorded as low as -28 degrees earlier today.