Instagram vs reality: Travel influencers gloss over coronavirus
In the time of coronavirus, to log in to social media is to be bombarded with posts about infection rates, hand sanitiser and social distancing. Airlines are dropping flights, countries are tightening borders, and concerts and conferences have been cancelled. But there’s one place where it’s possible to escape the outbreak — Instagram.
On Instagram, the photosharing app, many highprofile users still seem to be on vacation. Travel influencers — the app’s famous authorities on the most ’grammable sunsets and resorts — are continuing their posts unabated. “We see it as our role to help support tourism during these tough times,” said Kate Torpy and Olly Neville, the couple behind @KOTravellers.
Instagram initially rose to popularity because it offered filters that made smartphone-camera snaps more striking, giving any user the ability to share polished, professionallooking shots. From there, it evolved into a platform where the best-performing posts are those that provide optimism and inspiration — often intentionally at odds with real life. The app now hosts thousands of attractive jetsetters who make their money from tourism boards, hotel groups, clothing brands and sunscreen companies, which offer payment or discounts in exchange for posting about their destinations. The influencers are selling escapism, and right now their feeds are the ultimate example of #InstagramVsReality: even if they’re not talking about it publicly, they’re feeling the uncertainty, too, like everyone else in the economy.
Aggie Lal, a 32-year-old with 845,000 followers on Instagram and her own swimwear line, is always the first to encourage people to travel somewhere they’re afraid of. She got deals to go to Hawaii during its volcano eruption, to Puerto Rico during its earthquake recovery, to the Dominican Republic after a spate of tourist deaths, and to Saudi Arabia in the midst of global backlash for a journalist’s murder.
When she got a call from the public-relations firm booking her March trip to Thailand, Lal expected reassurance in light of dozens of Covid-19 cases in that country. Instead, she heard tears on the other line. “The representative was telling me, ‘We’re closed. There’s nobody here. We don’t want you to come. It’s a ghost town,’” Lal remembers. There was no positive story for her to tell. Still, Lal’s livelihood and branding require content, and so she continues to tell a travel story, using old photos from her Holi in India, and a slideshow of women she’s met throughout her travels for International Women’s Day.
Recently, Lal addressed coronavirus on Instagram, with a photo of a quote from Frank Herbert’s sci-fi series Dune, “I must not fear/fear is the mind-killer/fear is the little-death.” She encouraged her followers to remain calm, saying the tranquillity would be better for their immune systems.
Many influencers also fear for the economies of the places where they can no longer travel. “A lot of small businesses and boutique companies really depend on tourism for their revenue,” said Li-Chi Pan, who has 508,000 Instagram followers. She spoke after checking into a luxury hotel in Paris, France. Other travellers made racist remarks about her Asian looks.
She posted photos and videos of her Parisian experience: fashion week in partnership with luxury brands, crepes with chocolate and ice cream, the Eiffel Tower at night, rain on an umbrella. “A lot of my followers have been messaging me to say, ‘are you safe?’” she said, adding, “My parents are quite stressed.”