THE people of Wales are warning visitors to stay away during the Covid-19 outbreak through a trending hashtag on Twitter.
The #dontvisitwaleschallenge has taken the website by storm, with creative locals designing posters reminding hopeful tourists to avoid travelling to the country during the lockdown.
Images of iconic Welsh landscapes such as Snowdonia and Oxwich Bay are accompanied with suggestions to "see Wales on the internet".
Don’t Visit Wales 🏴 pic.twitter.com/N31e67IOIp
— Owen Williams (@OwsWills) April 10, 2020
Congrats to everyone involved in the #dontvisitwaleschallenge because these are superb pic.twitter.com/xThS4Z730n
— Jeremy Vine (@theJeremyVine) April 11, 2020
Lot o hwyl - lot of clever stuff here, but serious message too. #dontvisitwaleschallenge#WalesIsClosed 🏴 ⛔ 🏖#StayHomeSaveLives pic.twitter.com/4o5y75RsN0
— YesCymru 🏴 (@YesCymru) April 11, 2020
(Don't) Visit Wales 🚫🏴#dontvisitwaleschallenge pic.twitter.com/dcvKQP5lwW
— Dai Lama (@WelshDalaiLama) April 11, 2020
Please don't @visitcardiff right now. #dontvisitwaleschallenge #Cardiff pic.twitter.com/4Izay3wdhY
— I Loves The 'Diff (@ILovesTheDiff) April 10, 2020
The #dontvisitwaleschallenge seems to be doing wonders - the best tourism campaign Wales has ever had. Here are a couple of personal highlights... #LockdownExtended #dontvisitwaleschallenge #cwmbacklater pic.twitter.com/eMUJGZW391
— Ben Phillips 🐇 (@liturgicalben) April 10, 2020
The hashtag comes as the public are seriously warned against flouting lockdown rules and travelling during the Easter weekend.
Wales announced yesterday that 315 people have now died after testing positive for Covid-19, with an increase of 502 confirmed cases bringing the country's total cases to 4,591.
Scotland is in lockdown. Shops are closing and newspaper sales are falling fast. It’s no exaggeration to say that the future of The National is at stake. Please consider supporting us through this with a digital subscription from just £2 for 2 months by following this link: http://www.thenational.scot/subscribe. Thanks – and stay safe.
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here