Ithaca: Visit Florida Keys instead because of 'ridiculously stupid winter'

Ithaca in February is for the birds. Go to Key West instead. Come back when it's warm.

That's the tongue-in-cheek approach the Ithaca-Tompkins (N.Y.) County Convention and Visitors Bureau is taking this week with its welcome message on its website to winter-weary Northeasterners.

With the region's population centers in the midst of an unusually long and harsh cold and snowy spell, the Visitors Bureau suggests bypassing the Ithaca area for now and instead going some place like Key West, Florida, until the weather in the Finger Lakes thaws.

"Due to this ridiculously stupid winter, Ithaca invites you to visit The Keys this week," the welcoming message says. "Please come back when things thaw out. Really, it's for the birds here now. ... P.S. Send us a postcard."

Then there's a link to the legitimate visitithaca.com homepage for anyone who really does want to visit, now or after the inevitable thaw.

The idea is to commiserate with potential visitors in a way that might keep Ithaca in mind now, when winter weather is likely not a big draw, and later, when the region is in its annual prime.

"On behalf of 100 million Northeasterners, we're saying that we're done with cold and snow," bureau director Bruce Stoff said. He noted many customers live in snowed-in cities such as Philadelphia, New York and Boston. "This is a way for us to stay engaged with our customers at a time when upstate New York isn't exactly top of mind."

The approach has already drawn attention from social and mainstream media, according to Stoff. The website averages about 1,500 hits a day in February, compared to its annual peak of 2,900 in August. By early afternoon Monday, it had gotten about 10,580 hits since the message was launched Sunday evening.

The Twitter account for Florida's tourism corporation had some fun with the campaign, tweeting "well, there goes my job" in response to a news story about the campaign.

Visitor bureaus rarely, if ever, encourage people to visit other locales, according to Andy Newman, the director of media relations for the Florida Keys tourism council.

Newman said when Stoff approached him about the idea he wasn't sure he was serious.

"That's just so unorthodox.," according to Newman. "But thank you very much, Ithaca, for sharing the warmth of the Florida Keys. We appreciate it very much."

Mid-winter is typically the slowest time for the region's tourism. Room occupancy in February the past two years was at about 50% compared to 74% to 80% in June, July and August, according to the bureau.

Of course, there are attractions in winter, too. The tongue-in-cheek promotion comes during the annual Ithaca Loves Teachers Winter Recess 2015, held during the winter-break week for most schools in New York and the Northeast. The promotion, which features special events and discounts for people who work in K-12 education, is run this year by the Downtown Ithaca Alliance.

Contributing: Lori Grisham, USA TODAY Network