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Sex, Lies and the Caribbean
Opinion · April 11, 2003

Picture yourself reclining on a secluded tropical beach, a palm tree gently swaying above you.

It's a tranquil and welcome image at a time when war worries and threats of severe respiratory infection are making travel anything but pleasurable, isn't it?

Thank goodness for the latest issue of Travel+Leisure magazine, which doesn't leave anything to the imagination. A special 18-page Caribbean advertising section offers no less than three separate ads featuring photos of a lone coconut palm arching over turquoise water.

On first glance, in fact, they almost look like the same tree shot from different vantage points. Nothing unusual there: Other destinations - most recently Bermuda - have run into trouble for using bogus stock pictures in their promotional campaigns.

But the uncanny similarities aren't the only things that strike you about these coconuts. You can't avoid the obvious phallic connotations.

Is it a coincidence that the floral erections are appearing now, with the travel industry in the depth of crisis? The Travel Industry Association of America projects a 1.6 percent slump in travel this spring from year-ago levels. And last year wasn't so hot, either. According to the World Tourism Organization, travel to the Americas - an area that includes the Caribbean - slid 0.6 percent.

Let's put this into a little perspective: Advertising supplements, which feature adjective-rich promotional copy, aren't going to win any National Magazine Awards. These inserts are basically ads bracketing a story masquerading as journalism, which is ethically questionable at best, and at worst, downright misleading.

Plus, sex has always been used to sell travel, from hedonistic all-inclusive vacations to joining the "mile-high" club on a plane. Penis-shaped plants are hardly a novel marketing tool.

But still, taken at face value, the ads are saying something that's worth listening to. They're urging would-be travelers to buck the trend. Don't cancel your vacation. Go anyway.

The reward? Men, the ads seem to suggest, will be real men if they head to the islands on a Viagra vacation. And who knows, women who book a trip down there might find one of these real men, too.

Right.

Ignoring, for a moment, the obvious commercial gains that the Caribbean stands to make from a horde of frisky, free-spending tourists, the ads do beg a question: Is it a macho thing to travel, even with all that's going on? When travel is dangerous, is it more fun - even sexy?

Travel can certainly get the adrenalin flowing. There's a $40 billion-dollar adventure travel business, with its cheerleader, Robert Young Pelton of "The World's Most Dangerous Places" fame. And while some of the trips falling under the "adventure" category are risky - rock climbing, bungee jumping or whitewater rafting, for example - a vast majority are so-called "soft" adventures, like canoeing or biking. Hardly something that's going to get you killed.

Traveling now may not prove your manliness, but it could end up being a better experience.

The odds of that archetypal tropical beach being deserted are far better now than they were before the fighting started. So if it's seclusion you're looking for, pack your bags.

If scoring a cheaper vacation adds to the enjoyment, then the post-9/11, post-war travel industry is undoubtedly a more fun place. Airfares are at an historic low. Vacations are a steal. Destinations are desperate for your business, which probably makes this the best time in a generation to travel.

The risks don't necessarily make travel any more appealing. But without the danger, we'd have the high prices, crowded beaches - in other words, a decidedly impotent vacation.

Advertising sections peppered with suggestive photos may be journalistically laughable and fodder for Freud's followers. Even though they're seducing us to travel at the right time for the wrong reasons, what harm could come of it?

Christopher Elliott is a travel commentator based in Key Largo, Fla. All e-mailed questions may be edited, condensed or republished at the site's discretion.