It seems as though the Covid-19 pandemic will be our reality for the next few months now, and other countries (or should I say islands) are well aware of this too. So, as an effort to make Americans and other people around the world feel a little bit more secure and happy during these unprecedented times, Antigua and Barbuda created a social media campaign called, ‘Message in the Sand’.

As bored, lonely tourists in the wake of the Coronavirus crisis imagine where they’d like to be or where they might go once the green flags fly again, a pair of Caribbean destinations are using social media to send an S.O.S. to the world.

Antigua and Barbuda are islands in the West Indies that rely specifically on tourism to drive their economies–in saying that they have decided to launch this social media campaign to not only spread kindness and encourage people in the midst of the Coronavirus pandemic to keep their heads up but to also encourage travelers to keep Antigua and Barbuda in mind for future trips when the pandemic subsides.

For their first post, they took to Instagram to write the message, “Be well” in the sand, followed by this caption:

𝘚𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦, 𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘭𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘢 𝘮𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘶𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘦. .

𝘉𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘔𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘤𝘬 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘪𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘮𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘸𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘯 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘰𝘧 𝘰𝘶𝘳 365 𝘣𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘴 𝘸𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘮𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮. .

𝘉𝘦 S𝘢𝘧𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘉𝘦 W𝘦𝘭𝘭. .

#𝘮𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘢𝘯𝘥 #𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘨𝘶𝘢𝘣𝘢𝘳𝘣𝘶𝘥𝘢 #stayhome #staysafe

You can view each message across all of Antigua’s social media channels and interact with them as well! In my opinion, this is an incredible marketing strategy that I am interested to see whether or not it will increase tourism activity in the respective locations when people are allowed to travel freely again.

Sources: https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnscottlewinski/2020/04/05/antigua-and-barbuda-kicking-sand-on-social-media-during-covid-19/#5c1b7eec3b2d