Love
Was Not
Tourism

Love Is Not Tourism was a global grassroots movement dedicated to reuniting binational couples and families who have been forcibly separated by travel bans and border closures during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Dear visitor,

after I created this website on 5 July 2020, it served as a digital campaign poster and central hub to coordinate the community effort that was Love Is Not Tourism. It only took a few months for me to become completely burnt out by the activism work and I had to retreat from the community after I was able to reunite with my partner in early 2021. We married eight months later. I continued to operate the forums and the wiki for a while, but Love Is Not Tourism was never meant to be a permanent thing. I want to believe that what we did made a difference and helped thousands of couples reunite during what was arguably the most difficult time of our generation. Now, three years after it's creation, I decided to shut down the forums and the wiki. They aren't needed anymore.

For most of us, the nightmare has ended. Countries have long returned to their pre-pandemic border operations and I sincerely hope all those couples that seeked help were able to reunite at last. I want to thank everyone who contributed back then - especially the moderators - from the bottom of my heart.

This website will remain as a memorial for as long as I can afford it.

Thank you all so much.

Felix