New York tourism's Ithaca-Tompkins County Convention and Visitors Bureau website, VisitIthaca.com, made headlines earlier this week when it featured a pop-up ad recommending that travelers visit the warm and sunny Florida Keys instead of frigid central New York.
"That's it. We surrender. Go to Key West instead," read the pop-up's banner.
However, the subsequent influx of visitors to the Ithaca-Tompkins County CVB website wound up crashing the office's server on Tuesday afternoon, according to the Associated Press.
Bureau director Bruce Stoff said that his office was forced to remove the link to the Florida Keys' website as a result of the nearly 150,000 site visitors that led to Tuesday's crash.
Here's a screenshot of the pop-up link via the Florida Keys official Twitter account:
Earlier this week, a Florida Keys tourism council member called the stunt "the wackiest thing I've ever seen in my life from a tourism marketing standpoint."
Note that the link wasn't part of an ad campaign as no money was exchanged, according to CNN's Stephanie Gallman.
For those in the Northeast, Stoff's motivation for bringing the idea to fruition is understandable. Central New York has been in the crosshairs of a series of brutal winter storms of late, and with spring still over a month away, many across the region are eager to warm up.
And the Florida Keys are no doubt the perfect place to do so, especially for Americans who don't want to fuss with a passport.
"It's in the 70s, there's no snow and no frost on the ground" said Andy Newman, who granted Stoff permission to use photos from the Florida Keys homepage. "Come on down. Why wouldn't you?"
With more winter weather on its way to New York this weekend, Stoff and his colleagues will have to bolster their server if they're going to get creative again.
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