does puerto rico rely on tourism

AMERICAN RESILIENCE: How Puerto Rico rebuilt its tourism industry after Hurricane Maria, from revitalizing its hotel scene to bringing hit musical 'Hamilton' to the island

• Puerto Rico was devastated by Hurricane Maria in September 2017.
• The storm destroyed buildings, knocked out electricity for months, killed an estimated 2,975 people, and left at least $80 billion in damage .
• The island's tourism industry, which accounts for 6.5% of its GDP, was decimated, with typically jam-packed areas like Old San Juan becoming "ghost towns."
• Since then, Puerto Rico tourism has seen an impressive rebound: 2019 was a record-breaking year, with 5.2 million visitor arrivals and nearly $1 billion spent on hotels and vacation rentals, per the tourism board, Discover Puerto Rico .
• The island's tourism industry recovered four times faster than New Orleans' did after Hurricane Katrina, the tourism board says.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories .

On September 20, 2017, the third-strongest hurricane ever to hit the US hammered the island of Puerto Rico.

Hurricane Maria destroyed homes and businesses , decimated roads, and toppled cell phone towers and power lines, knocking out electricity, water, and phone services. An estimated 2,975 people died , although the official death toll was only recorded as 64 for months. In the aftermath of the storm, 200,000 people — about 6% of the island's 3.5 million population — fled the island , mostly to the mainland US. Electricity wasn't fully restored for almost a year. The total cost of the damage was estimated at $80 billion.

Puerto Rico's tourism industry — which accounts for 6.5% of its GDP, per the tourism board — was devastated. The US territory has been slow to recover from the effects of the hurricane. It took nearly a year for power to be fully restored on the island, and as of August 2019, about 30,000 people were still living in homes covered by tarps rather than solid roofs.

But Puerto Rico's tourism industry has bounced back surprisingly quickly. 2019 was a record-breaking year for tourism, with 5.2 million visitor arrivals and nearly $1 billion spent on hotels and vacation rentals, according to the tourism board, Discover Puerto Rico .

"Following Hurricane Maria, Puerto Rico saw a tourism comeback unlike any other, recovering four times faster than New Orleans after Katrina," a spokesperson for Discover Puerto Rico told Business Insider. 

Puerto Rico invested heavily in tourism marketing after the hurricane, bringing in big names like Jimmy Fallon and Lin-Manuel Miranda, the creator of the hit musical "Hamilton" and who is of Puerto Rican descent.

Here's how Puerto Rico rebuilt its tourism industry after Hurricane Maria. 

Before Hurricane Maria hit the island in September 2017, Puerto Rico had just come off one of its most successful tourism years ever.

Per Discover Puerto Rico, 2016 was the peak year for tourism for the US territory , with 8.1 million trips and $8.5 million in visitor spending.

But Puerto Rico's economy was in a precarious financial position, with its government bankrupt and owing $70 billion.

Puerto Rico racked up this massive debt over the years due to an exodus of large businesses and a lack of tax revenue, which forced the government to borrow money and sell bonds to Wall Street, as Business Insider previously reported. 

Despite being a US territory, Puerto Rico has little say on federal policies that have affected it ever since it became a part of the US in 1898. 

On September 20, 2017, Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico, making landfall as the third-strongest hurricane ever to hit the US, with 155 mile-per-hour winds.

It was the first Category 4 cyclone to hit Puerto Rico since 1932.

Hurricane Maria came just two weeks after the eye of Hurricane Irma had passed near the island, killing four people and cutting off power to about two-thirds of the population.

The hurricane's winds ripped roofs off buildings and toppled cell phone towers and power lines, knocking out electricity to the entire island.

The island was drenched in rain that reached as much as 37 inches in some parts. Almost all of the buildings in Puerto Rico were damaged by Hurricane Maria in some way, a FEMA assessment found.

"The San Juan that we knew yesterday is no longer here," Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz  told MSNBC the evening after the hurricane hit, adding that Puerto Rico was "looking at four to six months without electricity." It ended up being 11 months until power was fully restored . 

The hurricane killed 2,975 people, according to the official death toll, but that number has been disputed.

For months following the hurricane, the official death toll was 64, despite multiple reports disputing that number.

In November 2017, CNN surveyed 112 Puerto Rican funeral homes — nearly every single one on the island — who identified at least 499 hurricane-related deaths in the month following the storm. In December, an analysis by the New York Times based on daily mortality data from Puerto Rico's vital statistics bureau found that 1,052 more people than usual died in Puerto Rico in the 42 days following Hurricane Maria.

A  May 2018 study published in the New England Journal of Medicine estimated the actual death toll to be 4,645.

In August 2018, a study commissioned by Puerto Rico's governor adjusted the official death toll to 2,975.

Alexis R. Santos-Lozada, a demographer and assistant professor at Pennsylvania State University, said the death toll discrepancy likely came down to how government officials counted hurricane-related deaths. Deaths associated with a natural disaster can be classified as direct or indirect deaths, and officials likely counted only direct deaths, such as those due to structural collapse or flying debris, Santos-Lozada said.

A month after Hurricane Maria, tourism in Puerto Rico was virtually nonexistent, and the island was compared to a "ghost town."

"It's like a ghost town," Mike Maione, a 57-year-old tourist from New Jersey, who was staying with his wife in Old San Juan at a hotel powered by a generator, told CBS News in October 2017. "We've been here a number of times before, and the place is usually just crawling with tourists, but there's nobody here."

Thousands were still without running water. Many restaurants and shops on the island still didn't have electricity , about a third of Puerto Rico's hotels were still closed, and the beaches were closed for swimming due to potential water contamination.

More than two-and-a-half years after Hurricane Maria, Puerto Rico's recovery has been slow.

In the months following the storm, about 200,000 people — or about 6% of the population — fled the island , mostly to the mainland US, per Skift.

Power wasn't fully restored until mid-August 2018, almost a year after the hurricane.

And as of August 2019, about 30,000 people were still living without solid roofs , their homes covered by tarpaulins.

But the island's tourism industry has bounced back with surprising agility.

Puerto Rico declared itself officially open for tourism again in December 2017, just three months after the hurricane.

"Following Hurricane Maria, Puerto Rico saw a tourism comeback unlike any other, recovering four times faster than New Orleans after Katrina," a spokesperson for Discover Puerto Rico, the territory's tourism board, told Business Insider.

Several months before the hurricane, in March 2017, Puerto Rico had passed the " Act to Promote Puerto Rico as a Destination, act" setting the stage for a boost in tourism investment.

After Hurricane Maria, the island ramped up its efforts to revitalize the industry.

In January 2018, four months after the hurricane, the Puerto Rico Tourism Company flew influencers such as The Points Guy CEO Brian Kelly, who was Forbes' No. 1 travel influencer of 2017, to come visit the island and assist with recovery efforts.

Puerto Rico has it all- beaches, culture, food, nightlife, surfing, rainforests, rum and so much more and you don’t need a passport to go there! 🇵🇷❤️ A post shared by Brian Kelly (@briankelly) on Jan 7, 2018 at 8:58am PST Jan 7, 2018 at 8:58am PST

After the visit, The Points Guy, whose website brings in 10 million monthly unique visitors, published several stories promoting travel to Puerto Rico .

At that time, more than 100 Puerto Rico hotels were already accepting reservations again, more than 4,000 restaurants were open, and 107 tourist attractions were operating, according to the tourism company's executive director, José Izquierdo.

That spring, Puerto Rico launched a new destination marketing organization, Discover Puerto Rico.

Per its website, Discover Puerto Rico took over tourism advertising responsibilities that had previously been handled by the Puerto Rico Tourism Company and Meet Puerto Rico. 

Over the next several months, Discover Puerto Rico sent a multimedia team to travel around the island to take promotional photographs and videos of 78 municipalities.

It also focused on building out its social media presence and highlighting Puerto Rico's recovery effort. 

In January 2019, in partnership with Discover Puerto Rico, Jimmy Fallon came to the island to film an episode of "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon."

In the episode, Puerto Rican singer  Bad Bunny and Fallon led a parade through the streets of Old San Juan while performing the song "MIA."

That same month, the New York Times named Puerto Rico the number one place to visit in its annual "52 Places to Go" list.

"A year and a half after Hurricane Maria slammed into this United States territory and other Caribbean islands with devastating force, Puerto Rico is on the rebound ," Mireya Navarro wrote for the New York Times. "The number of daily flights is still below normal, but tourism officials say that cruise ship traffic is healthy, hotel room occupancy is climbing back to pre-hurricane levels and many major attractions are open or partly open."

Also in January 2019, Discover Puerto Rico helped bring the hit musical "Hamilton" to the island.

The musical "Hamilton" was performed in Puerto Rico for a limited time , with creator and lead actor Lin-Manual Miranda, who is of Puerto Rican descent, reprising the titular role.

Discover Puerto Rico created "The Hamilton Experience" travel packages around the show.  The two-week-long "Hamilton" run raised almost $15 million for local arts groups, cultural organizations, and independent artists, according to Discover Puerto Rico.

After Hurricane Maria, many Puerto Rico hotels underwent months-long renovations. Since then, these hotels have reopened along with several brand new hotels on the island.

The first new hotel to open in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria was the Serafina Beach Hotel in May 2018, eight months after the storm.

The next month, a mountain farm lodge called El Pretexto opened outside of San Juan. In December 2018, the luxe St. Regis Bahia Beach reopened following a $60 million renovation after the hurricane.

And in October 2019, after its own multimillion-dollar renovation, Hyatt Hotels' The Resort at Coco Beach in Rio Grande reopened about 25 miles outside of San Juan near the El Yunque rainforest. 

And Puerto Rico's hotel scene continues to expand. In February 2020, just before the coronavirus pandemic hit the US, Marriott's Aloft Hotel opened in El Distrito , San Juan's entertainment district. El Conquistador, a Waldorf Astoria resort, is set to reopen in the fall of 2020 after a major renovation. A Four Seasons resort in Cayo Largo is scheduled to open  in late 2020.

There was also a surge in new vacation rentals after Hurricane Maria, as residents filled the gaps left by temporarily shuttered hotels.

Before Hurricane Maria, roughly 7,700 property managers were listing spaces on Airbnb in Puerto Rico , Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky recently said. Now, there are about 12,000.

On March 30, 2020, Chesky discussed Puerto Rico on a live-streamed video message to the company's property-manager partners, saying that Airbnb's business would bounce back after the coronavirus crisis in the same way that Puerto Rico's tourism sector rebounded after Hurricane Maria.

2019 ended up being Puerto Rico's best year ever for tourism.

The island saw 5.2 million visitor arrivals and nearly $1 billion spent on hotels and vacation rentals, per Discover Puerto Rico .

Since August 2018, the tourism board has been focusing on boosting MICE tourism , a type of tourism that brings large groups to a destination for meetings, incentives, conferences, and exhibitions, the spokesperson told Business Insider.

The MICE sector has proven to be promising in Puerto Rico, with a potential economic impact for the island of more than $320 million over the next six years, per the tourism board.

Puerto Rico's tourism sector must now overcome new obstacles with the coronavirus pandemic that has brought travel and other business on the island to a standstill.

Economist José Caraballo said the island's strict lockdown caused an estimated economic loss of between $6 billion and $12 billion , Insider reported last month.

On May 26, the island reopened its beaches, restaurants, churches, malls, and hair salons after a March shutdown, but a 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew remains in effect through June 30. Puerto Rico reopens for tourism on July 15.

But in a win for the island's economic situation, in February, Puerto Rico had just reached a deal with bondholders that would write off $24 billion of its debt in exchange for paying the rest of it back 10 years sooner than previously agreed, Business Insider reported.

Despite ongoing challenges, Puerto Rico's tourism industry has shown great resilience.

Brad Dean, CEO of Discover Puerto Rico, told Forbes in September 2018 that the people of Puerto Rico have "unintentionally earned a PhD in economic recovery. They are writing the textbook ... on how to use tourism to fuel economic recovery."

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Puerto Rico Tourism Update 2024

In this Puerto Rico tourism update, we cover everything you need to know about travel to the Island of Enchantment. Below, we discuss the impact of recent hurricanes and why tourism is important for the island's recovery from both natural disasters and the COVID pandemic. We outline the current COVID rules (spoiler: there are almost none). We discuss the LGBTQIA+ safety situation (Puerto Rico is very welcoming). Plus, we lay out recommendations on what time of year is best to visit. 2024 is an incredible time to plan a trip to Puerto Rico and we’re here to help. 

For everything from safety tips to restaurant recommendations, work with a local to plan your trip . No one knows Puerto Rico like the locals do. Learn more .

• Puerto Rico and the pandemic

Hurricane Fiona Update

• How tourism helps Puerto Rico's economy
• Why you should plan a trip to Puerto Rico
• Puerto Rico hidden gems
• Visit Puerto Rico on a cruise
• LGBTQIA+ Travel
• Best time to visit Puerto Rico

What to know about Puerto Rico and the pandemic

For Americans, Puerto Rico is an easy and relatively safe place to visit . And travel feels much like it did pre-pandemic. 

Here's the latest:

There are no vaccine or testing requirements for Americans, although the CDC does recommend the COVID vaccine before travel. 

Masks are recommended on public transportation (including airports) but are not required. It’s still a good idea to pack masks and your vaccination card, just in case. 

You can always check in with a local to get an on-the-ground perspective of what life is like in Puerto Rico right now. 

Don’t the news from the 2022 hurricane season discourage you from traveling to Puerto Rico . The resilient islands bounced back quickly, especially in tourist areas, after Hurricane Fiona hit in September 2022. The San Juan Airport was fully operational within just a couple of days after Fiona made landfall. Hotels that were closed opened up quickly as well. At this point, most traveler-favorite activities are back to normal. Locals in Puerto Rico know all the details and can tailor your itinerary to make sure you get to see the best of Puerto Rico and help you support local recovery by visiting off-the-beaten-path, independently-owned places.

Hurricane Irma and Maria recovery are ongoing as well, but the remaining damage from the 2017 storms isn't obvious in tourist areas. Emergency repairs have been made, but long-term infrastructure upgrades and repairs are incomplete at present. 

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Why travel now tourism supports the island's economy.

As Puerto Rico — and the rest of the world — begins to recover from the COVID pandemic, tourism dollars are more important than ever. Even more so in Puerto Rico since it has been hit by several hurricanes in recent years. 

The CEO of Discover Puerto Rico, Brad Dean, noted that tourism makes up 10% of Puerto Rico's GDP . Following Hurricane Maria in 2017, he said: "The people of Puerto Rico have shown great resiliency...they are writing the textbook on how to use tourism to fuel economic recovery."

Tourism post-Hurricane Maria helped the island recover. Now, tourism can help Puerto Rico recover from the pandemic and Hurricane Fiona. 

That's especially true if you spend your tourism dollars at local businesses and skip the touristy chains. (The local places are usually more fun, anyway.)

When you connect with a Puerto Rico local to plan your trip, more than two-thirds of the flat fee goes directly into their pocket .

The good news is that tourism is increasing. In response to that demand, airlines are increasing their flights to the islands and tourist-focused businesses are thriving. For travelers, this makes reservations key - don’t miss out on something you want to do because you didn’t reserve in advance! You can still be spontaneous and enjoy lazy beach days in between your must-do activities.

And let's be honest — we could all use a vacation

For Americans, travel to Puerto Rico is easy — and often fairly affordable. There are tons of great hostels on the island , as well as many boutique hotels . 

Plus, going to Puerto Rico means you're in for a real adventure—whether that means exploring old forts in San Juan, surfing in Rincon, sipping piña coladas in Ponce , or enjoying the white sands of Playa Flamenco.

All in all, Puerto Rico can offer a wonderful respite from the daily grind. And as the island recovers from the pandemic, your tourism dollars can make a positive impact. 

Work with a local to plan your trip to Puerto Rico .

Are piña coladas on your Puerto Rico bucket list? Get a free sample at Barranchina in San Juan. They claim to have invented the drink!

Puerto Rico is an excellent place to escape (and these hidden gems support the local economy)

The list of fun and interesting places to visit in Puerto Rico feels endless, but here are a few local favorites to add to your itinerary. 

Crab Island Rum Distillery - Visit Vieques Island to enjoy artisan rum in a locally-owned distillery. Snag a seat at the bar and let the bartender recommend which rums to try, either on their own or mixed into tasty cocktails. 

Secret Garden Art Gallery - Admire and purchase paintings, photographs, and jewelry created by local artists in Rincon. The work here is inspired by nature and includes underwater photography, driftwood sculptures, and sea glass jewelry. 

Pork Highways -  Lechón, spit-roasted marinated pork, is a traditional part of Christmas meals, but is available all year. Businesses line up along the streets of Naranjito, Trujillo Alto, and Cayey, the island’s three Pork Highways, selling lechón and other delicious dishes. 

Las Salinas de Cabo Rojo - Snap photos that will stun your Instagram followers and see six different ecosystems at “Pink Beach” aka the Salt Flats. While the flats are known for their pink color, the hues vary constantly depending on the amount of salt, bacteria, and algae in the water. Spend a night in Boquerón Village and enjoy a meal at one of the many seafood shacks that pop up along the sidewalks. 

You can even see the local side of Puerto Rico on a cruise

Ready for a cruise vacation? Puerto Rico’s ports are ready to welcome you. Most cruises in the region dock for one day on the island and offer similar shore excursions across cruise lines. If you want to get off the beaten path, ask a local Hero to plan your day for you. With a custom itinerary from a local, you can feel comfortable navigating Old San Juan at your own pace, venturing out to the beach, and opening doors to restaurants that aren't on the standard cruiser’s itinerary. 

But is Puerto Rico safe for LGBTQIA+ travelers?

Generally, yes. Puerto Rico is known as one of the safest Caribbean destinations for queer travel. The LGBTQ+ community is protected by hate crimes laws, gay marriage is allowed, and trans people can change their legal gender. 

There’s a vibrant gay scene in Puerto Rico, especially San Juan. Some of the top drag artists in the world are from Puerto Rico and there are plenty of places to catch a drag show. Winter Pride Fest takes place each December and Pride Puerto Rico is usually in May or June. 

Okay, I definitely want to visit Puerto Rico. But when’s the best time to go?

The best time to visit Puerto Rico depends on your preferences. But we can give you guidance on the weather, things to do, and other factors that might influence your decision.

Summer (July-September) - It’s hot, humid, and rainy, but July and August are popular anyway. Hurricane season begins in June and stretches into the fall, and hurricanes are most likely to hit in September. Because it’s the wet season, there are great deals to be found on hotels and more. 

Fall (October - early December) - It’s still wet and it’s still hurricane season until the end of November. However, fall is an appealing time to visit for celebrations including patron saints days, Rincón Surfing Festival, Calle Loíza Culinary Fest, and Jayuya Indigenous Festival.

Winter (December - March) - With average temperatures ranging from 70 - 83 degrees Fahrenheit and low rainfall, many consider this the best weather season in Puerto Rico . It’s high season for tourism because that balmy weather is a big draw for those of us wishing to escape cold, snowy days. Celebrations abound in winter including Día de los Reyes (Three Kings Day), Carnaval, Semana Santa, and Christmas. 

Spring (April - June) - Warmer and rainier than winter, but cooler and drier than summer, spring can be a nice time to visit. The spring flowers are gorgeous, winter crowds are gone, and while the rainy season technically begins in April it isn’t in full swing yet. It’s also harvest time for coconut, mango, shrimp, and oysters.

Ready to vacation in Puerto Rico? Chat with a local who can create a custom itinerary based on your interests and budget. 

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And for more about puerto rico travel:.

• Connect with a Local to Plan Your Trip
• Why You Need to Go to Puerto Rico ASAP
• How to Travel to Puerto Rico
• Puerto Rico Safety 2024

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Why Puerto Rico Is No. 1 on Our Places to Go List

Recovering from Hurricane Maria, in 2019 the island represents so many fragile spots around the globe.

By Mireya Navarro

For as long as I can remember growing up in Puerto Rico, El Morro, the indestructible fort with the endless lawns at the entrance to San Juan harbor, was where you went to fly a kite. And on a recent sunny afternoon, just as expected, a couple and their young son were there trying to catch an updraft to loft a plastic butterfly with a long blue tail into the sky.

On Fortaleza Street, an art installation of colorful umbrellas hovered above pedestrians, triggering countless selfies. A short ferry ride away from the old city, at the Bacardí rum distillery in the town of Cataño, visitors sipped cocktails in an open-air pavilion with a roof shaped like a bat in flight.

But as Puerto Rico tries to come back as a premier Caribbean destination after the devastation wrought by Hurricane Maria in Sept. 2017, just a short drive from the pricey beachfront hotels, hundreds of residents are still living under leaky tarps, their poverty on display in glaring bright blue.

The tourists celebrating birthdays would not know that the coffee farms will take years to recover — and the red mangrove forests decades — or that commercial fishermen in the town of Luquillo still can’t get their usual haul of lobster, octopus and conch. After the Juan Martín River jumped its banks during the hurricane and took over the dirt road to the beach, the fishermen said, access is so difficult that they need to car pool on four-wheel drive vehicles or they can’t fish as much.

Why should tourists worry about any of this? Isn’t a Caribbean vacation by definition an escape from life’s troubles?

But in the juxtaposition of its two worlds, the tropical paradise versus the struggling island, Puerto Rico is representative of the many fragile places around the globe right now: The islands facing a future of sea level rise and extreme weather. The arctic spots where winter itself is under threat . The cities where a combination of climate change and bad planning has resulted in devastation.

That is why Puerto Rico earned the No. 1 spot on our annual list of 52 Places to visit in the coming year. The island, and the other beautiful destinations now at risk raise an urgent question: Do we owe something to the places that make us happy?

“This is the new normal and people have to look at this new normal and embrace it,” said Martha Honey, executive director of the Center for Responsible Travel in Washington, D.C.

The trend in travel has skewed in recent years toward more awareness and sensitivity — eco-tourism, voluntourism, agritourism, the idea that as visitors we should not cause harm and should seek out authentic experiences that get us deep into the local culture. Perhaps it would not be such a stretch to redefine the relationship between leisure travelers and their dream destinations.

Traveling more consciously is not such a heavy lift, experts like Ms. Honey said. A baby step would be to take account of the realities of the place and then incorporate them into itineraries and more targeted spending — get out of the resort, patronize local businesses, reward hotels set back from the ocean with a stay.

If tourists did what Puerto Ricans like me do when they sightsee, they would eat roasted whole pig (“lechón asado”) in Guavate south of San Juan or seafood in the southern town of Salinas or bar-hop in the mountains among roadside restaurants and food shacks (“chinchorreo”).

Many will find that this new way of travel can lead to better vacations because it helps build a connection to the place, Ms. Honey said.

Tour operators say that those traveling this winter to Puerto Rico and other islands damaged by Hurricane Maria tend to be “repeats and loyalists” going back to what they already love. After a temporary drop, said Jack Richards, president and CEO of Pleasant Holidays in Los Angeles, which handles travel to 23 islands in the Caribbean, bookings started picking up last June and “Caribbean tourism is back with a vengeance now.”

“Everybody understands that the best way to help Puerto Rico is to book there and help the local economy,” he said.

Organizations that help tourists combine sightseeing with volunteer work, such as Para La Naturaleza , a nonprofit that works on reforestation, are reporting higher demand. There are now more opportunities to help. Having survived the worst of the hurricane largely on their own as the government’s response faltered, residents’ self-reliance or “auto-gestión” efforts have kicked into high gear, with many communities organizing and welcoming help to install solar lights, plant native trees, clear trails and launch rebuilding projects.

But just venturing out of San Juan to spread tourism revenue around can be enough. Puerto Rico’s recently formed destination marketing organization, Discover Puerto Rico , is steering attention to more far-flung attractions because, officials said, about 77,000 tourism jobs depend on it.

Another group, the Coalition for the Northeast Ecological Corridor , is working on plans for a new trail that would link “El Yunque,” the inland tropical rain forest, to the coast between the towns of Luquillo and Fajardo. Cristóbal Jiménez, the group’s president, said the corridor was poised to become a major eco-tourism draw — it is home to prime nesting grounds for the endangered leatherback sea turtle and to more than 800 plant and animal species.

They, like the 3.2 million residents of this American territory, are proving their resilience.

Follow NY Times Travel on Twitter , Instagram and Facebook . Get weekly updates from our Travel Dispatch newsletter, with tips on traveling smarter, destination coverage and photos from all over the world.

An earlier version of a picture caption with this article misidentified the location of a river that was diverted by Hurricane Maria. It was outside the town of Luquillo, not in El Yunque.

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Puerto Rico sees a surge in tourism – and a rise in aggressive tourist behavior

Low-cost flights have enticed travelers, but relaxed restrictions have led to large gatherings, fights and Covid rule-breaking

At the Condado Vanderbilt hotel in San Juan, Puerto Rico , Christian Correa clocked in to work the night-shift as a doorman and braced for the worst.

Correa, who is also a bellman at the hotel, has seen a surge in American tourists coming to the US territory in the last three months and the hotel has been busy. Although he used to enjoy high season before the pandemic, recently, many tourists arriving to Puerto Rico have enraged local residents and hospitality workers as the island eases its Covid-19 restrictions.

“The tourists think they can do whatever they want,” says Correa, 24, who is also a student at the University of Puerto Rico. “We’ve seen fights, parties in the rooms and aggressive behavior.”

Low-cost flights to Puerto Rico have enticed many travelers to choose the island as a vacation spot during the pandemic. A one-way flight to Puerto Rico from Florida booked two days in advance could be as low as $62.

Hotel occupancy reached 60% during Presidents’ Day holiday weekend in February, according to the island’s destination marketing organization, Discover Puerto Rico. It was the highest number since Christmas, and hotels expect to reach the same occupancy rates for the forthcoming spring break.

“We are certainly seeing the effects of increased traveler confidence coinciding with vaccine distribution in the US,” said Brad Dean, CEO of Discover Puerto Rico.

For José Silva, owner of El Chicharrón restaurant, tourists arriving in the last weeks have put him on edge due to the large crowds without face masks forming on the weekends. His restaurant is located in La Placita de Santurce, a popular tourist area. Silva says the police close the streets around the area on weekends, making it hard for Ubers or taxis to pick up tourists after bars and restaurants close.

“We’ve asked the police to help keep everyone distanced and look for an alternative for this area,” says Silva.

In Old San Juan, another popular tourist area, Cristina Colón has been questioning whether her job as a waitress in Pirilo Pizza is worth the money as she sees a rise in clientele who refuse to abide by the Covid-19 precautions.

“I’m not only concerned with my physical health, but my mental health too,” says Colón. “I’m nervous about myself, and for the friends and family I surround myself with, because I have no idea where this person who doesn’t want to wear a mask is coming from.”

Puerto Rico went into lockdown last March. Though restrictions were eased slightly over the summer, and the former governor Wanda Vázquez reopened beaches fully in September, they were closed again from November until January.

Those restrictions hit the hospitality industry hard. “The executive orders implemented by Wanda Vázquez put the hotel industry under threat,” said Joaquín Bolívar, the president of Puerto Rico’s Hotel and Tourism Association.

Several hotels fluxed within single-digit occupancy percentages. “Some hotels were questioning their survival,” says Bolivar.

Now, Puerto Rico is under curfew from 12am to 5am and indoor establishments can operate at 50% capacity as the newly elected governor, Pedro Pierluis, has increasingly been easing restrictions since January. Beaches are also open for recreational use.

The combination of US residents wanting to escape cold weather, cheap flight tickets and easing restrictions on the island has been bringing tourists en masse.

With restrictions having relaxed, Bolivar admits hotels have experienced issues with some guests, but said many incidents, such as large gatherings and excessive noise, occur mostly in Airbnbs.

“We’re seeing a lot of tourists in the streets not wanting to cooperate with the executive order,” says Bolivar. “The association has brought the claim to the government, municipal government and the police.”

Videos circulating on social media show aggressive tourists starting fights, disrespecting local workers and residents, and disregarding Covid-19 precautions, including not wanting to wear face masks and having large gatherings as the travel influx to the island continues.

In February, one video showed tourists assault a woman in a wheelchair after they were told to wear masks. The women, who were staying at an Airbnb in San Juan, threw their drinks at the resident’s face and told her to speak English. Airbnb removed the guest from the platform due to the incident.

Another incident includes an alleged sexual assault by a US tourist against a 23-year-old resident in Rincón, located in the western region of Puerto Rico. Last month, the Sex Crimes and Child Abuse Division in Puerto Rico filed charges against the North Carolina resident , Devin Sanders. The Guardian tried to reach Sanders’ lawyer for comment, but the number for his office was disconnected.

With spring break coming up and the spread of new variants still on the rise, Discover Puerto Rico is encouraging travelers to participate in outdoor activities, such as visiting El Yunque national rainforest or the beaches. Bolivar expects hotel rooms to sell out.

Correa, at the Condado Vanderbilt, says he has not seen any reduction of guests at the hotel since Presidents’ Day weekend and thinks it will stay that way for spring break. He expects to keep running into misbehaving guests and continue calling the guests’ attention for walking the halls without a mask and reminding them there’s a curfew in place.

“They never believe me when I tell them there’s a curfew,” says Correa. “Minutes after they go outside late at night looking for a party, they come back and ask, ‘Is the curfew thing actually real?’”

• Puerto Rico
• Coronavirus

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Puerto Rico’s Recovery Offers These Lessons for Global Tourism

Dennis Schaal , Skift

June 21st, 2022 at 2:30 AM EDT

Puerto Rico tourism, bolstered by Airbnb when hotels were shut, has had a noteworthy comeback. But if travel and living have blended, then the island's fiscal and political woes can't be overlooked.

Dennis Schaal

Puerto Rico tourism is as hot as a breezeless late-morning in June on the island, but it also faces long-term challenges that could chill the narrative.

With much of the work divided between the private sector-led  Discover Puerto Rico  and the decades-old, government-run  Puerto Rico Tourism Company , Puerto Rico tourism eclipsed pre-pandemic marks in 2021 on airport arrivals, non-resident visitor spending, lodging taxes generated, and hotel revenue per available room, which was 124 percent higher than the U.S. average that year. 

Figures from the first four months of 2022, including hotel average daily rates of $305, which amounted to a 35 percent year-over-year increase, showed nothing if not acceleration in the island’s tourism metrics.

“In 2021, once the restrictions were relaxed, it was off to the races,” Brad Dean, the CEO of Discover Puerto Rico, told Skift. 

All of that came despite a tumultuous last half-dozen years.

In 2016, the U.S. Congress appointed a financial oversight board for Puerto Rico that still dictates much of the island’s finances, and cut services, including teachers’ pensions several years later. A Zika outbreak took hold in 2016, as well. Hurricanes Maria and Irma devastated the island in 2017, and frequent blackouts are a nagging reminder to this day that Puerto Rico still hasn’t fully recovered. Street protests led to the ouster of the governor in 2019, and three weeks of earthquakes starting in early January 2020 rattled the island’s already fragile infrastructure.

And, then came the pandemic.

Dean said Discover Puerto Rico retooled during the first months of the pandemic because he knew travel would be back — eventually.  “We did get to a point where we just didn’t have enough work for everybody, but for the most part, we kept our team intact,” he said. “We wanted to keep the brand top of mind. So 2020 really ended up just being a year where we pushed the pause button on the progress that was already under way.”

The progress and setbacks in Puerto Rico are a useful guide for other destinations struggling to make their way back from the depths of the pandemic, shining a light on how to traverse a travel industry now forced to stay nimble while meeting travelers’ new expectations.

Meanwhile, while not a Puerto Rico-specific issue, there are early signs that U.S. consumers — and perhaps others — are cutting back on travel and dining as inflation rages.

You Can’t Separate Tourism From Puerto Rico’s Colonial Status

With digital nomads wandering the earth and if barriers have indeed broken down between travel and living, as articulated by  Airbnb’s Brian Chesky  and  Skift’s Rafat Ali,  among others, then it is fair to say the island’s tourism must coexist with the  tax breaks  that American mainlanders can wrangle in Puerto Rico that are unavailable to Puerto Ricans, the sentiment that Airbnb is dominating what otherwise might be reasonably priced rental housing for locals, unchecked development in environmentally sensitive locations, and the fact that the island’s 78 municipalities might be divided between tourism haves and have-nots.

Then throw into the mix the fact that the island is officially a U.S. territory, but actually is a colony of the U.S. where Puerto Rican residents, who are U.S. citizens and have served in the U.S. armed forces in Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq, can’t vote for U.S. president. The U.S. grabbed Puerto Rico after invading the island in 1898 at the tail end of the Spanish-American war.

Because of the Jones Act , the island can’t import food and goods from U.S. ports unless it comes in a ship built in the U.S. and is mainly staffed by Americans. Since most of Puerto Rico’s imports are from U.S. ports, this Jones Act requirement drives up prices.

Crystal Díaz, who hosted the Skift team last Wednesday night at the Jajome Terrace farm-to-table restaurant in Cayey during a company retreat, told us: More than 80 percent of Puerto Rico’s food is imported despite hundreds of thousands of acres of potential farmland laying fallow.

Our farm-to-table host tonight in Cayey, PR, Crystal Diaz, telling us that economics, & lack of a food policy means 85 percent of island 🇵🇷food imported w/ 600,000 abundant acres of rich farmland. % in 1940s? 60 % ⁦ @skift ⁩ Retreat pic.twitter.com/nB0SRL5YpK — Tom Lowry (@lowrytom) June 14, 2022

Puerto Rico’s tourism bodies don’t have the mandate or power to fix all of the island’s structural and decades-old issues, but some of them fall within their portfolios. The Puerto Rico Tourism Company, for example, shares some of the destination management responsibility with government agencies.

The Good and the Bad of Puerto Rico Tourism

Hector Pesquera is a retired family physician who splits his time between San Juan and Puerto Rico’s Culebra island, where his son runs a guest house, Hostal Casa Culebra . He said the majority of tourism is good, and it’s especially important in Culebra for the water taxis, restaurants, and bed-and-breakfasts. 

In a separate interview, his son Sergio Pesquera, said the biggest problem with Culebra tourism is it is very difficult to make a ferry reservation to get there. The ferry websites often shows tickets are sold out, “and if you call no will answer,” he said, adding that tourists aren’t allowed to bring their cars like they were before the pandemic.

Hector Pesquera said Airbnb has had a positive impact on Culebra.

However, tourism has a negative impact when travelers don’t safeguard the island’s natural resources, Hector Pesquera said. A minority “comes just to mess things around,” he added.

Hector Pesquera said when people from U.S. states move to Puerto Rico to extract certain tax exemptions and “buy everything they can,” that’s not good for the island.

 A Centro de Periodismo Investigativo investigation — it’s the same group that uncovered the homophobic chats that led to the 2019 ouster of Governor Ricardo Rosselló   — found last year that Act 22 tax incentives for non-Puerto Rican investors that were geared to generate job growth and other benefits for the local economy “never materialized.”

“From being an instrument to attract millionaires, and foreign investment, Act 22 went on to become a haven for cryptocurrency fans, YouTube personalities and consultants,” the story said.

Puerto Rico Tourism Gets a New Structure

How did Puerto Rico tourism get to this juncture?

In 2017, six months before Hurricane Maria, the Puerto Rican government revamped its tourism board structure. It created privately led Discover Puerto Rico to assume and supplement some of the work of the decades-old, government-run Puerto Rico Tourism Company. The latter body now handles tourism marketing within Puerto Rico, is in charge of destination management, and oversees much of the island’s relationships with, and financial incentives for, airlines and cruise lines.

Discover Puerto Rico took over marketing Puerto Rico tourism outside the island and is in charge of meetings and conferences.

One of the ideas behind the change was to avoid the lack of strategy consistency and the constant revolving door among Puerto Rico’s tourism leadership because when tourism was solely government-run that meant there was executive turnover with each new occupant in La Fortaleza, the governor’s official residence. 

Puerto Rico hasn’t reelected a governor since the 1990s so every few years the leadership of the Puerto Rico Tourism Company, which previously headed all of the island’s tourism marketing, got overturned, just as it did in 2021 when Carlos Mercado Santiago replaced Carla Campos in the top spot with the election of a Governor Pedro Pierluisi.

The inconsistency over the years led to a Puerto Rico tourism identity crisis. Just what was Puerto Rico’s tourism identity and what was the strategy if the branding was ever-changing?

Consider the Puerto Rico Tourism Company’s marketing slogans over the years. They ranged from  Escape The Cold  to  Summer Is Easy  and  The Continent of Puerto Rico and Puerto Rico USA . Wait, is Puerto Rico a continent or part of the USA? Add to the mix Fall in Love ,  The Island of Enchantment ,  Live Your 5 Star Vacation , and  Explore Beyond the   Shore.   

Unlike those mixed messages, Dean of Discover Puerto Rico hopes its recently launched Live Boricua  marketing campaign will have staying power.

The campaign emphasizes not just Puerto Rico’s beaches and places to visit, but the faces of the Puerto Rican people in all of their diversity, he said. Puerto Ricans call themselves Boricuas; the name comes from the Tainos, Puerto Rico’s native inhabits, who called the island Borinquén. Puerto Ricans are a multicolored mash with Taino, Spanish, and African roots.

Dean said Discover Puerto Rico started planning the campaign under the premise that it had to distinguish Puerto Rico from its Caribbean and U.S. mainland competitors because most islands have plenty of beautiful beaches, and so do other destinations. He said the campaign emphasized experiences for active-minded travelers, as well as Puerto Rico’s rich history and culture, as well as destinations beyond the San Juan metro and eastern corridor.

Some of the marketing urges visits to Ponce in the south and the bioluminescent bay in Lajas a little further to the west. Both take at least two hours by car from San Juan. The Toro Verde adventure park in the central portion of the island is another point of interest.

The following  chart from Tourism Analytics  shows Puerto Rico ranking second behind the U.S. Virgin Islands in the Caribbean in terms of 2021 non-resident stopovers as a percentage of 2019’s numbers at 103.2 percent. The Puerto Rico figures tallied non-resident hotel registrations, but much of Puerto Rico’s tourism comeback involved non-hotel short-term rentals.

Arrivals into San Juan’s international airport from January to April 2022 exceeded 1.6 million, a 6.3 percent increase compared with the previous record, according to Aerostar Airport Holdings , which runs the airport.

While the long-term success of the  Live Boricua  campaign, which launched on digital channels earlier this month in the UK, Germany, Spain, Canada, and Colombia, remains to be seen, Dean thinks with it Puerto Rico tourism has found an identity to build on.

“If you think about it, I can’t say that we thought of  Live Boricua  four years ago, but it’s become a natural extension into that brand definition, where now we’re emphasizing not only the unique cultural heritage of the island and the unique experiences, but also the uniqueness of the people,” Dean said.

Tourism’s at Times Heavy Footprint

Amelia Barbosa works as a bartender in a beachside bar/restaurant in Rincón, Puerto Rico, on the island’s northern west coast about 90 miles from the San Juan metro area. Asked about the benefits of tourism, Barbosa said, “it’s complicated.”

Some tourists in the San Juan area behave badly, Barbosa said, and the ones who venture out of the metro area to the west coast to towns such as Rincon, Aguadilla and Cabo Rojo, don’t tend to stay very long. 

“The Puerto Ricans are literally selling everything,” Barbosa said, referring to real estate and the development of Airbnbs. She said it is very difficult for Puerto Ricans to afford to buy a house. 

“Americans are benefitting from everything,” Barbosa said, referring to residents of the 50 states as opposed to Puerto Ricans, who are likewise U.S. citizens. “It is very difficult to deal with that. It’s very bad.”

Felix Salas, who was born in Puerto Rico and lived here for more than 30 years, overheard the conversation and invited me to join him at the Rincon bar.

He agrees with Puerto Ricans who are angered by developers who sometimes get carte blanche to build in environmentally sensitive areas, without much government intervention.

“That is true to a certain extent,” said Salas, who works as a surveyor as it relates to land use management for a U.S. government agency in Massachusetts. “Not 100 percent, but it’s something that’s happened for a very long time. Many people either built illegally or the government agencies in charge turned a blind eye and that’s well-known.” 

Salas said a movement is under way among Puerto Ricans to push the government to safeguard the island’s natural resources.

For example, one Puerto Rican independence activist, @chimeraelf , recently pointed to the problem, tweeting a series of photos depicting Airbnb properties built on beaches, allegedly impeding legally guaranteed public access to the surf and sands, and some of the homes tread on environmentally sensitive beach turf. 

Villa Shacks in Isabela hosted by Mark — 🤔 sure looks like it’s encroaching on public beach zone… that’s just 2 listings out of 1000s! pic.twitter.com/PDM4cFeg2B — boricuabot #AbolishLaJunta (@chimeraelf) June 7, 2022

Mark tries to play it cool, his theft of public beach “The beach is literally your backyard. Even though all of the beaches are public, this feels like a very private spot.” pic.twitter.com/qEjeRMr215 — boricuabot #AbolishLaJunta (@chimeraelf) June 7, 2022

Airbnb played an outsized role in Puerto Rico’s tourism recovery. In the years after Hurricane Maria, when many of the island’s hotels were shuttered, Airbnb properties filled much of the gap and more. In the first four months of 2022, Puerto Rico’s hotel revenue jumped 78 percent year over year, and short-term rental revenue climbed 55 percent, according to STR and AirDNA, respectively. The average daily rate for hotels was $305, a 35 percent increase, and was much higher than the U.S. average.

There is some resentment on the island against Airbnb, especially when locals search for places to live among rising rents, and a chunk of housing is reserved for Airbnb use.

While some of that Airbnb use in Puerto Rico can be tied to non-Puerto Rico real estate speculators coming to the island for tax breaks and investment gains, Governor Pierluisi said recently that most Airbnb owners on the island are Puerto Ricans . His statement came as part of his proposal to raise the accommodation tax on short-term rentals 1 percentage point to 8 percent while a mayor’s group wants to raise it to 10 percent. Hotels without a casino pay 10 percent, and those with gambling facilities get charged 11 percent.

While the proliferation of Airbnbs is an issue, there is a movement on the island to beat back allegedly i llegal construction .

On the west coast In Rincon, a months-long protest on Playa Almendros that had demonstrators lay down in front of construction equipment on the move, beat back a condo’s attempt to construct a swimming pool perilously close to the shore line and in an area where turtles nest.

A cousin of Governor Pierluisi was a resident of the condo that was trying to build the swimming pool.

Elsewhere in Rincon, an assortment of community groups and local businesses built a hiking trail along the beach near the marina underneath some palm trees to stave off a threatened hotel development. Signs along the trail and through the town read, Salva Tres Palmas, No Destruyas Rincón (Save Tres Palmas, Don’t Destroy Rincón). 

Destination management, in terms of developers seeking financial incentives for large projects such as hotels, would be the responsibility of the Puerto Rico Tourism Company. Its CEO didn’t respond to an interview request.

Responsibility for destination management also falls to the Department of Natural Resources and local municipalities in terms of permits and enforcement.

Felix Salas, the Puerto Rico-born surveyor, is familiar with encroachment issues where people were trying to illegally acquire federal land on Culebra, one of the two bigger islands along with Vieques that are part of Puerto Rico.

“So they’re in the maritime terrestrial zone where you’re not supposed to do anything, really,” Salas said. “And that’s a public domain. It was a pretty straightforward case, but we realized that Puerto Rico needs a lot more attention from our headquarters and from all federal agencies.”

Tomás Ramírez, Discover Puerto Rico board vice chairman who heads the Asociación de Paradores y Pequeñas Hospederías Puertorriqueñas (the Association of Paradores and Small Inns) in Cabo Rojo on the island’s southwest coast, acknowledged there has been a problem “with some people taking ownership of the beaches. We have had some large developers purchasing properties near the beach and closing access.”

Ramírez, who also owns the  Combate Beach Resort  in Cabo Rojo, said there are some Airbnbs in places they should not be. “However, it is not a large problem yet,” he claimed.

The Puerto Rico Tourism Company, the natural resources agencies and local officials weren’t doing adequate jobs in safeguarding the island’s development. He contended things are improving, though.

“It was a matter of execution and enforcement,” Ramírez said. “It is happening.” 

Community Engagement and Dispersing the Island’s Visits

Skift Editor-at-Large Lebawit Lily Girma has written several articles about how  Panama tourism , and tourism officials in Hawaii, are in the forefront of those seeking to connect local communities to tourism strategy.

Ramírez said engagement with local communities is happening “little by little” in Puerto Rico. Discover Puerto Rico has a local advisory committee that includes the presidents of the Chambers of Commerce of the south and west regions, as well as the director of the Universidad Ana G Méndez  Kingbird Innovation Center , and the owner of  LT Travel Agency , for example.

He said Discover Puerto Rico has met with legislators, mayors and community groups in municipalities such as Cabo Rojo, Ponce, Aguadilla, and Lajas, for instance.

Some raised concerns about the quantity of tourism — they want more — and some of the mayors have favorite tourism projects, Ramírez said. Municipal officials are sometimes also angry about visitors behaving badly. 

Ramírez said Discover Puerto Rico is “using strategies to filter such behaviors.”

He pointed proudly to the fact that around 90 percent of Puerto Rico’s off-island marketing used to be directed toward visiting the San Juan metro area or beach vacations, and that now 30-40 percent of promotions go beyond the corridor from Dorado to Fajardo.

The challenge is to get tourists out of the San Juan area to visit places like Castillo Serralles in Ponce in the south or the Toro Verde adventure park in the central portion of the island. 

“So that dispersion, I think to me, is part of the story,” Dean said. “It’s not only more visitors, it’s spreading them out, which, of course, you can look at that in different ways. One, that’s hopefully helping prevent overtourism. The other side, to me, is it’s bringing everybody to the party. Whereas, historically, tourism had been concentrated in certain areas.”

Another side of the coin — yes, Puerto Rico uses U.S. currency — is that the island’s visitors come primarily from the U.S. east coast, namely from New York to Florida.

Discover Puerto Rico hopes to attract more guests from the U.S. Midwest, and eventually the U.S. west coast. International arrivals have been largely shut down until recently, but the destination management organization began marketing abroad a couple of weeks ago.

As part of that strategy to attract visitors from the U.S. mainland beyond the east coast, Dean said Discover Puerto Rico is using different versions of the  Live Boricua  campaign for varied audiences. 

“There are some markets that know us fairly well, like New York and Florida,” Dean said. “They immediately resonate with  Live Boricua . They’re familiar with us and they want that deep intrinsic connection, an emotional connection. They’re craving that. Then there’s other markets like my friends in Indianapolis or Peoria, Illinois. They want it too, but they don’t know us well enough yet. This is the first date. They want to get to know us a little better. They probably need to see some beaches and some of the traditional shots.” 

Jobs, Jobs, Jobs But What Kind?

As part of its tourism recovery, Puerto Rico is now attracting meetings and conventions at twice the pact of pre-pandemic levels. Some $400 million worth of meetings and conventions is already booked, according to Discover Puerto Rico, including annual gatherings this year or in 2023 for the U.S. Travel Association, American Society of Travel Advisors, the National Association of Travel Journalists, and the Caribbean Hotel Tourism Association. 

Although jobs in leisure and hospitality reached a record 86,000 through April 2022, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, there still is a labor shortage.

“And maybe the most important stat of all, to me this is probably the one that’s the most surprising, as of today, we have more people employed in leisure and hospitality than ever in the history of the island, which is pretty interesting, because if you talk to local businesses, they’ll tell you they don’t have enough people,” Dean said.

For Puerto Rico born and raised Felix Salas, it all depends on the types of jobs and the economy that the Puerto Rico government, flush with mismanagement and corruption, is creating.

“So I think tourism for an island, it should be one of the top economic methods of having a healthy economy, as long as it’s done right,” Salas said. “As long as the people in Puerto Rico are working for good paying jobs and get fair incentives for what they do, I think it’s absolutely fine.”

But Salas thinks there are downsides to Puerto Rico tilting too heavily toward a services economy. He’s like to see the government and private business help to develop the island’s agriculture potential, for example.

He doesn’t want Puerto Rico tourism to eventually resemble the Dominican Republic where all-inclusive resorts with low-paying jobs are common.

“Because you’re going to have people making little money just to serve people who come here who have the money,” Salas said. “So you do want to diversify the economy a little bit more. I think that is the way to the future. I think it should be something that we should work hard on. I feel like that would make it a bit more independent.”

Dean of Discover Puerto Rico probably wouldn’t disagree. 

“There are massive changes in the workplace and the workforce, and major infrastructure needs, which in many instances our country has not addressed, at least not to the level we need,” Dean said. “These are major challenges that the best marketing plan and sales team in the industry can’t overcome.”

In that regard, Dean argues that the old destination marketing organization model of placing ads and selling inventory is an anachronism. 

“I think it’s a challenge at the same time for us to step up and recognize that we have a role in the economic strength and prosperity of our communities,” he said. “But that means recognizing that we’ve got to be at the table, helping solve issues that, while they may not appear as the top priority for us, they’re important to the community. If you can’t be at the table helping solve your community’s problem, then A, you’re not a part of the team, and B, it’s going to impede your ability to drive progress in your community.”

Lessons From Puerto Rico Tourism

Among the lessons one can glean from Puerto Rico tourism:

• Discover Puerto Rico, mostly out of necessity because of the tourism industry’s weak financial position at the time, tossed out the usual membership funding model that sees many tourism boards dominated by the narrow interests of hotels, for example. Airbnb is a big part of Puerto Rico’s tourism comeback, and the destination management organization may have been hampered had the hotel industry been the only party calling the shots. Puerto Rico offers attractions and restaurants free directory listings, but their impact isn’t gargantuan. 
• Yes, it’s great to see when tourism board leaderships aren’t solely made up of political appointees here today and gone on Wednesday to bring a degree of consistency to strategy. But will private businesses adequately safeguard the public interest?
• If tourism boards don’t make engagement with local communities a big priority, they too can get swept away in a backlash as fast as a governor who reveals his true character with associates in a seemingly private chat.
• In this current era, tourism, living and social issues are one big splotch of paint, and each will color the other, and can’t be separated.
• Hire the best and the brightest, and employees who value diversity and inclusion, whether for content creation or supplier relations. Everyone will not always get along in any collection of human beings, but doling out the best jobs to an exec’s cousin or nephew won’t cut it when the public measures your every move.
• Let your decisions be research driven or at least research influenced as a core practice. If your research tells you your brand positioning isn’t much different than for any other Caribbean island or country in Southeast Asia, then it’s time to change your message and perceptions — based on your research. 
• Don’t crawl into a bunker during the next crisis — and there will inevitably, yes guaranteed, there will be one. Use the time to retool and stay in the consideration set, circumstances permitting. 
• Trust your instincts but consult with others about ever-changing consumer behavior or patterns. Otherwise you will be left behind as fast as a wind gust from a Cayey mountaintop overtakes you. 
• After all, complacency is death. 

Editor’s Note: The author, Skift founding editor Dennis Schaal, has lived in Puerto Rico since November 2020.

Disclosure:  Skift founder and CEO Rafat Ali serves on board of advisors for Discover Puerto Rico.

Correction: The Jones Act only pertains to goods that Puerto Rico imports from U.S. ports, and we incorrectly reported that it covers all global imports.

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Tags: airbnb , airlines , destinations , discover puerto rico , DMO , hotels , jobs , marketing , puerto rico , puerto rico tourism company

Photo credit: A screenshot from Discover Puerto Rico's Live Boricua marketing campaign. Discover Puerto Rico Raquel Pedrosa / Adobe

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Tourism Demand in Puerto Rico Sees Significant Growth in 2023

Puerto rico’s tourism sector is experiencing a notable surge as tourism demand shows a remarkable increase of 14% in 2023, driving positive economic growth..

During the first four months of the year, lodging income also witnessed substantial growth, reaching an estimated €680 million, representing a significant 20% increase compared to the same period last year.

Between January and April 2023, passenger arrivals, tourism demand, and lodging income displayed strong upward trends, underscoring the consistent growth in the visitor economy over the past two years. Moreover, reservations for the second and third quarters have surpassed the levels seen in 2022, reflecting the overall positive momentum across various sectors, including hotels, short-term rentals, and flights to Puerto Rico’s airports.

Brad Dean, CEO of Discover Puerto Rico, expressed optimism about the current situation, highlighting the increasing demand, the strength of the brand, and the rise in employment opportunities within the tourism industry. These encouraging results coincide with the 5th anniversary of Discover Puerto Rico, showcasing the success of the destination marketing organizations (DMO) model implemented on the island.

Cecilia Rodríguez, an analyst and researcher at Discover Puerto Rico, emphasized the positive trajectory observed during the first and second quarters. Key indicators for the period up to April demonstrated significant improvements compared to the previous year. Notably, lodging revenue from hotels and short-term rentals reached €680 million, marking a substantial 20% increase. Passenger arrivals recorded an 18.6% growth, while the demand for accommodations surpassed 2022 levels by 14%.

A recent visitor profile study conducted by Discover Puerto Rico revealed an increasing number of older travelers visiting the island. The study indicated a 5% increase among Baby Boomers and a 2% rise among Generation X. Although currently only a small fraction of Baby Boomers consider Puerto Rico as a travel destination, this presents a significant growth opportunity, especially now that the COVID-19 pandemic crisis has subsided and this generation feels more comfortable traveling.

Dalissa Zeda, Digital Marketing Director at Discover Puerto Rico, provided updates on the Live Boricua campaign, including the production of new advertisements and strategic content placements during film premieres such as Fast X and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. The campaign also focuses on promoting the southern and western regions of Puerto Rico, as well as ensuring beach safety. Ed Carey, Chief Sales Officer, reported a 47% increase in events and conventions on the island between July 2022 and May 2023, resulting in a 4.8% improvement in reservations.

For more news about the Americas, click here.

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Puerto Rico Safety 2024: Is Puerto Rico Safe to Visit?

Puerto Rico might be the smallest island in the Greater Antilles, but trust us, it’s a gem waiting to be explored.

We are talking 300 beaches along 272 miles of coastline, a UNESCO World Heritage Site , world-class rum distilleries, enchanting bioluminescent bays, numerous lighthouses, forests, nature reserves, wildlife refuges, and internationally recognized festivals.

Puerto Rico is also part of the United States , so no passport is needed for American travelers. How awesome is that?

And the safety of Puerto Rico is as fantastic as the scenery . Millions visit yearly , and most have a worry-free experience. But, you know, nowhere is 100% risk-free.

That’s why we’re here to share some of the island’s social and safety tips. Master those, and your Puerto Rican adventure will be nothing short of amazing.

Is Puerto Rico Safe?

Puerto Rico is known for being very safe . The serious crimes are tied to local gang disputes, rarely impacting tourists.

Your primary concern in Puerto Rico should lean more toward the weather . Earthquakes and hurricanes are not uncommon, so it’s good to stay informed!

We’ll delve into each aspect separately, but for now, here’s an early heads-up on the safety scene in Puerto Rico:

• International travel advisories: Level One, practice normal precautions
• Crime rating: Moderate, 61.72
• Most common crime: Vandalism
• Public transportation safety: Buses and trains are well-maintained and safe, but may be less frequent during nighttime
• Safety walking alone during the day: Moderate
• Safety walking alone during the night: Low
• Road safety: Drive with caution on State Road PR-2, mountain areas of Utuado and Jayuya, Highway 143 in Barranquitas, Ruta Panorámica Luis Muñoz Marin, and interior roads in Toa Alta
• Beach safety: The Atlantic coast in the north has larger waves, while the Caribbean coast to the south has smaller waves
• Common natural disasters: Earthquakes, landslides, and hurricanes
• Carbon monoxide poisoning: Possible, bring a portable CO detector
• Police presence: A team of 11,532 members organized into 13 regions across the island
• Medical care quality: High-quality medical facilities and skilled healthcare professionals

Travel Advisory for Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico sits comfortably under a ‘Level One’ travel advisory, signaling a call for normal precautions – Canada , the United Kingdom , New Zealand , and Australia all give the green light.

For crime concerns, international travel advisories want you to be vigilant against pickpocketing and purse snatching . Keep a close eye on your belongings, including passports and travel documents.

While Puerto Rico isn’t a target for terrorist attacks, demonstrations are noted in the advisories. From time to time, these protests may turn violent, so stay clear of areas with ongoing demonstrations for your safety.

Power outages are not uncommon in Puerto Rico. After Hurricane Maria wreaked havoc in 2017, Puerto Rico has had its fair share of disruptions to power and telecommunications services.

If you’re thinking of renting a car, be aware that road conditions vary across the island—be on the lookout for aggressive driving, sparse use of signals, and heavy traffic in bigger areas like San Juan. Some mountain roads may also be narrow, winding, and containing potholes.

A Comprehensive Look at Puerto Rico Crime Statistics

Puerto Rico maintains a moderate crime rating of 61.72. In 2023, the Police of Puerto Rico recorded a total of 69,571 crimes, a slight decrease from the 70,022 cases in 2022.

The most commonly reported crime in Puerto Rico is vandalism (9,572). Noteworthy improvements include a decrease in homicides to 439, less by 116 from 2022 and 171 from 2021.

Breaking it down by police districts, Bayamon (35,249) and San Juan (31, 302) saw the highest number of criminal cases in 2023.

Police Presence in Puerto Rico

The Puerto Rico Police Force is a team of 11,532 officers , strategically organized into 13 regions across the island. The police officers in tourist hotspots are well-versed in dealing with visitors – they’re friendly, bilingual, and knowledgeable of local attractions. In high-crime areas, you’ll find more visible police presence, contributing to a secure environment for both residents and tourists.

Remember, in Puerto Rico, the police have the right to request your identification. Approach them with kindness and respect, and you’re likely to have a positive experience. And of course, being a law-abiding tourist is the key to steering clear of any run-ins with the authorities.

Public Transportation Safety in Puerto Rico

Public transportation in Puerto Rico is generally reliable and safe. There’s an extensive network of 30 bus routes—serving Toa Baja, Cataño, Bayamón, Guaynabo, San Juan, and Carolina, and an Urban Train connecting three municipalities—San Juan, Guaynabo, and Bayamón.

Buses and trains are well-maintained, but it’s important to note that service might be less frequent during nighttime or experience delays during peak hours.

For nighttime excursions, opt for a taxi . Licensed taxis have visible identification, like a rooftop taxi sign or an official taxi sticker. If available, you can also rely on ride-sharing services like Uber . Taxis generally have fixed rates for different zones, with rate sheets displayed inside. If unsure about the fare, clarify with the driver before starting your journey. If the taxi lacks a meter, negotiate and settle on a fare upfront. Always keep communication open, either with a door ajar or through the window, ensuring you can walk away if needed.

Road Safety in Puerto Rico

Driving in Puerto Rico is generally safe, but some locals can be a bit daring on the roads – changing lanes without signaling, speeding, and even running red lights.

Take extra caution on the following roads:

• State Road PR-2: Be cautious of speeding drivers.
• Mountain Areas of Utuado and Jayuya: Damaged drainage can lead to water flow on roads after heavy rains.
• Highway 143 in Barranquitas: Collapsed from hurricane winds and flooding, this road hasn’t been rebuilt.
• Ruta Panorámica Luis Muñoz Marin: Open but has potential hazards like potholes.
• Interior roads in Toa Alta: Large sections of missing tarmac and some entirely collapsed sections.

When parking, choose safe, designated areas, and never leave valuables in your car. Car theft is unfortunately a common issue, so taking precautions is crucial.

Medical Care Quality in Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico’s healthcare system stands out with high-quality medical facilities and skilled healthcare professionals, offering a standard almost comparable to what you’d find in the U.S.

Some of the best hospitals in Puerto Rico include:

• Spanish Hospital Auxilio Mutuo
• VA Caribbean Healthcare System
• Hospital Pavia Santurce
• Ashford Presbyterian Community Hospital
• Hima San Pablo Bayamon
• San Luke’s Memorial Hospital Inc
• Manati Medical Center
• Centro Cardiovascular
• Hospital Damas Inc
• Mayaguez Medical Center

If you opt for public healthcare, be prepared for longer wait lines, even with a scheduled appointment. Private healthcare, on the other hand, offers shorter waiting times but is pricier. If you’re just visiting, your U.S. health insurance should cover your medical costs, but it’s wise to double-check your coverage before booking your trip. Good travel insurance options include TravelSafe , Travelex , Seven Corners , HTH Worldwide , and World Nomads .

Is It Safe to Travel Solo in Puerto Rico?

Puerto Rico can be a safe destination for solo travelers. Urban areas like Old San Juan or Condado, with their high tourist activity, tend to be safer—so sticking to these tourist hotspots is a smart move. On the flip side, quieter and less frequent areas might have increased safety risks after dark, making it wise to avoid such isolated places.

Always trust your instincts and choose reliable transportation. Additionally, don’t overlook the basics—remember sunscreen during the day, moderate alcohol intake at outings, and inform someone when you’re heading out for a hike.

Perils of Nature: The Risk of Natural Disasters in Puerto Rico

Given its spot in the northeastern Caribbean, Puerto Rico is no stranger to nature’s challenges, from earthquakes and landslides to the big players: hurricanes.

Earthquakes

Puerto Rico is situated near the boundary between the North American and Caribbean tectonic plates, making it susceptible to frequent seismic activity.

For instance, in the winter between 2019 and 2020 , the island experienced over 500 earthquakes with a magnitude of 2 or greater on the Richter scale. The most significant one occurred in early January 2020—a 6.4 magnitude quake centered off the southern coast.

In the first ten days of 2024 , Puerto Rico had 65 quakes with magnitudes up to 3.6 :

• 14 quakes above magnitude 3
• 44 quakes between magnitude 2 and 3
• 7 quakes below magnitude 2, typically not felt by people

A destructive earthquake is rare during a short visit to Puerto Rico, but can still happen. In the event of an earthquake, you may only have seconds to protect yourself, so swift action is crucial.

If you are indoors:

• DROP to the ground
• Take COVER by getting under a sturdy desk or table
• HOLD ON until the shaking stops

If you are outdoors when the shaking begins:

• Find a clear spot AWAY from buildings, trees, streetlights, and power lines
• Drop, Cover, and Hold On

The mountainous terrain of Puerto Rico can be vulnerable to landslides, especially during periods of heavy rain or after seismic events.

For instance, the intense rainfall from Hurricane Maria in 2017 triggered over 40,000 landslides in Puerto Rico. The devastating 6.4 earthquake in January 2020 mentioned earlier resulted in more than 300 landslides across the region.

Landslides can occur unexpectedly, so here’s what you can do:

• Research the area you plan to visit in Puerto Rico, including its geological features and past landslide incidents
• Book a hotel located in a safe area, away from steep slopes
• Monitor the weather for any heavy rainfall or severe weather warnings
• When hiking, stick to marked trails

Puerto Rico is situated in the Atlantic basin and much like its neighboring countries – Mexico , the Dominican Republic , and the Bahamas   – it’s highly susceptible to hurricanes.

The hurricane season typically spans from June 1 to November 30, with an average of about 5 hurricanes affecting Puerto Rico each year. Most hurricanes not only come close to the island but also make landfall, especially impacting the east and west regions.

The most significant hurricane to strike Puerto Rico in 2023 was Hurricane Franklin on August 25th. According to the Saffir-Simpson scale , it was classified as a tropical storm hurricane. Out at sea, it reached speeds of up to 149 mph (241 k/h), hitting category-4 status.

Hurricanes don’t strike immediately like landslides or earthquakes. Some hurricanes may make landfall within a few days of formation, while others may change direction before reaching land. This provides ample time for evacuation and appropriate action.

If there’s a hurricane alert, keep away from the beach, and definitely avoid water sports like surfing. The water gets crazy with strong currents and big waves, so safety comes first.

Puerto Rico has shelters, mainly in public schools, ready for hurricanes. In San Juan, the Roberto Clemente Coliseum is the biggest open shelter. It’s smart to know where these shelters are and have an evacuation plan ready.

Beware the Silent Threat: Carbon Monoxide Poisoning in Puerto Rico

When Hurricane Lee showed up in September 2023, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) warned people in Puerto Rico about the dangers of carbon monoxide poisoning.

They pointed out that carbon monoxide can leak from generators, indoor charcoal use, candles, and faulty appliances and recommend having a CO detector —a device that blares an alarm if it senses dangerous CO levels in a room.

Whether a storm’s brewing or not, CO can sneak into your hotel room from a faulty hotel appliance. So before you book your room, ask the hotel staff if they’ve got CO detectors in the rooms. If you’re feeling extra cautious, toss a portable CO detector in your travel bag.

Carbon monoxide is invisible to our senses. However, it gives a heads-up with symptoms like nausea, headaches, and dizziness. Don’t ignore these warning signs. Act promptly because prolonged exposure can leave you unconscious, and in the worst-case scenario, be lethal.

Serenity by the Shore: The Safety of Puerto Rico Beaches

Puerto Rico’s beaches are not just beautiful — they’re plenty . If you like to sunbathe on the Atlantic coast in the north, expect some bugger, more lively waves. On the other hand, the Caribbean coast in the south has milder, more easygoing waves.

Puerto Rico’s more popular beaches are stacked with lifeguards, but not all of them, so it’s up to you to make a judgment of the water conditions.

First things first: check the color of the flag planted on the beach:

• Red Flag: Serious danger—high surf, life-threatening currents, or both.
• Yellow Flag: Rough swimming conditions, exercise caution. Potential high surf or risky currents.
• Green Flag: It’s safe to swim.
• Purple Flag: Spotted dangerous ocean animals (sharks,  jellyfish, sea urchins).
• Blue Flag: Eco-label for water quality, environmental care, and safety.

All in all, if you see a deserted beach in Puerto Rico, there’s probably a reason for it. It could be due to the presence of dangerous oceanic animals or strong undercurrents. If caught in a current, follow NOAA’s advice : conserve energy, and swim parallel to the shore until you’re free from the current.

Lastly, beach enjoyment comes with responsibility. Keep an eye on your belongings, avoid flashy items, and be cautious on high-traffic tourist beaches like Ocean Park and Isla Verde, where pickpockets may lurk.

Puerto Rico Weather Patterns: What to Expect

The climate in Puerto Rico is tropical marine —sunny, hot, and humid all year round. Coastal plains hover between 76°F and 88°F, while mountains keep it cool at 73°F to 78°F.

The island receives an average of 62 inches of rainfall annually, with the north coast getting more rain than the south. May to October brings the heaviest rains, overlapping with hurricane season from June to November.

Weather in San Juan

The temperature in San Juan remains consistently warm throughout the year —creating a perpetual summer atmosphere. The temperature spans from 72°F to 89°F (22.2 to 31.6°C), rarely falling below 69°F (20.5°C) or exceeding 91°F (32.7°C).

The sunny and dry season is from mid-November to April—the same time the island is buzzing with tourists. January stands out as the clearest month, boasting an 81% chance of clear skies and minimal rainfall of 1.3 inches (33mm).

Transitioning to the cloudy season , the sky is overcast from April to mid-November. June takes the lead as the cloudiest month, with cloud cover 68% of the time. May to October is the rainy period, with the possibility of a hurricane from June to November. September has the most rainfall, 4.7 inches (119mm), but it typically occurs as quick afternoon showers—refreshing rather than disrupting daily activities.

The windier season spans a brief three months from June to August, featuring average wind speeds surpassing 10.9 mph (17.5 k/h). July marks the peak of windiness, with an average hourly speed of 12.4 mph (19.9 k/h). On the flip side, October emerges as the calmest month, with an average hourly wind speed of 9.4 mph (15.1k/h).

For sunbathing and water activities , warmer water prevails from August to early November, with an average temperature exceeding 83°F (28.3°C). September, with an average water temperature of 84°F (28.8°C), stands out as the warmest month. Even in February, the coolest month for water temperature, it remains pleasant at 79°F (26.1°C), offering a comfortable opportunity for a refreshing dip.

Monthly Average Temperatures in Puerto Rico

When is the best time to visit puerto rico.

The best time to visit Puerto Rico is from December to April when the island enjoys nothing but sunny skies, minimal rain, and no storms.

December offers fantastic waves for surfing, while January boasts the clearest skies and rain-free days. The winter in Puerto Rico is nothing like the winter in other colder regions in the world, which is why many people opt for this destination to dodge the freezing temperatures back home.

If you opt for a quieter experience but still favorable weather, consider mid-April to May, Puerto Rico’s shoulder season. This period offers a more tranquil atmosphere compared to the bustling peak tourist season from winter to mid-spring.

Summer and fall may bring afternoon showers and the potential for hurricanes, but they also bring rock-bottom prices on flights, hotels, and activities. Yes, there may be occasional afternoon showers, but there are plenty of sunny days in Puerto Rico during these months—so sunbathing and other outdoor adventures are still given. Just be prepared with an umbrella and water-resistant shoes in case of unexpected rainstorms.

How to Stay Safe in Puerto Rico

So, Puerto Rico’s got some caveats that you should prepare for:

• Thirsty? Stick to bottled water. The tap water might be safe and up to standards, but it may give you diarrhea if you have a sensitive stomach.
• Watch out for sandflies and mosquitoes . Put on some insect repellent, and you’re good to go.
• Keep your guard up at night. Muggings can happen, especially in isolated areas. Avoid walking at night around San Juan’s Old City, especially off Norzagaray Boulevard.
• If you’re hitting the road, do it during daylight hours. Reckless driving is more common at nighttime, plus, wrong turns at midnight can lead to dangerous neighborhoods.
• Don’t leave valuables unattended on the beach. And if you’re off to a remote beach, stay sharp—the only company might be a not-so-friendly person eyeing your belongings.
• Learn some basic Spanish. Puerto Rico’s got a bilingual vibe – Spanish and English. However, the majority of locals speak Spanish. Blend in and learn some phrases on apps like Babbel and Duolingo.
• Plan your day. Citywiz is your go-to app for Puerto Rico’s best spots, recommending everything from the best restaurants to fun tours, and the latest cultural events.
• Learn how to navigate through the island. Get a map app like Citymapper . It lays out the cities and recommends transport options along with flights.

Emergency Numbers

• Emergency Services: 911
• Police: 787-343-2020
• Ambulance: 787-343-2222
• Fire Department: 787-343-2330

Wrapping It Up!

Puerto Rico is generally safe for tourists, but hey—stay aware and cautious.

Pickpockets and robbers are after the small treasures: cash, flashy jewelry, phones, and cameras. So keep a watchful eye, especially on public transport, bus stations, public beaches, restaurants, and venues.

Hurricanes might swing by, but with good planning and hitting the sweet spot weather-wise, you’ll soak up nothing but sunshine. Oh, and when you’re capturing those picture-perfect moments, keep your surroundings in mind—respect people’s privacy so you can avoid any unintentional conflict.

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