Puerto Rico’s Tourism and the Need to Go Global

By Verónica de Santiago

Exclusive interview with Brad Dean, Chief Executive Officer of Discover Puerto Rico, within the framework of IBTM World Fair in Barcelona, Spain

For decades, the tourism promotion in Puerto Rico has been handled by two governmental agencies. But the island nation recognized it needed a unified brand, especially on the heels of devastating hurricane Maria. With tourism being so important for Puerto Rico, both the public and the private sectors collaborated to create a new destination market organization (DMO).

“Discover Puerto Rico is the new DMO we opened July 1st of this year. Our role is to expand the brand of Puerto Rico beyond the United States and elevate prosperity throughout the island by using the power of travel. Tourism has never been so important to Puerto Rico as it is right now,” said Brad Dean, Chief Executive Officer of Discover Puerto Rico, during an exclusive interview with Caribbean News Digital (CND) within the framework of IBTM World Fair, underway in Barcelona, Spain.

CND: Mexico has just closed its DMO. What does that mean to the public sector?

BD: For the public sector, it’s vitally important. Tourism is not only a great generator of the tax base and job creation, but also a first date for commercial investment. So, for our public-sector partners is vitally important to have a robust and powerful tourism engine to fuel the entire economy. For the private sector, it’s also critically important.

Hurricane Maria set us back economically in some sectors, but tourism has a potential to grow and we feel that Puerto Rico’s brand is ready to launch. Beyond just being a destination for the American traveler, we feel that Puerto Rico has the potential to elevating itself to a worldwide aspirational brand. That means we have to invite and welcome global travelers and that also means we need to reposition the brand of Puerto Rico.

CND: What is Puerto Rico doing as far as the MICE travel sector is concerned?

BD: When it comes to MICE we’re looking for an efficient and effective travel package that will provide unique experiences that you just can’t get elsewhere. In Puerto Rico, we’re repositioning the brand beyond the sun-and-beach sector.

Puerto Rico promoting beaches is like Las Vegas promoting casinos. So, for the MICE traveler, Puerto Rico offers an extraordinary array of unique opportunities you just can’t find anywhere else. First of all, it’s got it rich and vibrant culture; Spanish, Indian and African cultures that are so important and highly celebrated in Puerto Rico.

The food scene is extraordinary, the gastronomy is very elevated itself. And also, for the MICE travelers, we not only have new and expanded, refurbished properties, including the return of the luxury segment, but also experiences throughout the whole island, not just in San Juan.

CND: Puerto Rico boasts to have 78 destinations. Does that mean the island has 78 different experiences?

BD: There are 78 different communities in Puerto Rico that play a major role in the travel industry. Some are more prominent than others. San Juan, for example, where many people recognize the city has some unique and historic offerings. But when you move outside San Juan, you notice there are some nice experiences and they are all interconnected.

There’s culture and history, and if you’re looking for something other than beach travel, the island offers so much more for the traveler. The two other islands outside the main island -Viequez and Culebra- offer a great daytrip or a getaway in which you feel like you have your own private island. Each individual community offers something unique and our job is to promote the whole island and the communities as one great destination.

CND: Unlike other Caribbean islands, such as Cuba or the Dominican Republic, what does Puerto Rico have to offer other than the ubiquitous choices?

BD: Puerto Rico has a couple of great things to offer. Outside the beaches, but the inner island has its extraordinary mountain ranges that are glorious. You can be in the mountains and see the lush tropical landscape, and yet have a visual panorama of the Caribbean Sea.

So, you’re never too far away from the ocean. There’s also the city on the southern coast called Ponce, where Ponce de Leon landed. Ponce offers this unique historical experience that’s very quaint and charming, and much more different than San Juan, and it’s also becoming a port destination. Its port reopened in December 2017 and we’re now seeing more cruises coming in. And there are also over 4,000 restaurants island-wide that offer a unique cuisine experience in Puerto Rico.

CND: Why did Puerto Rico take the decision to be under the umbrella of Brand USA?

BD: This is a major shift in our brand for two reasons. One is that Brand USA is investing heavily in promotion both in Europe, South America and beyond, and for Puerto Rico to be able to use the leverage that Brand USA offers while promoting of our brand, is a unique opportunity that we have never had before.

We’re also very excited at what Brand USA is now doing in terms of celebrating parts of travel that have been overlooked in a lot of our destinations. Music is a good case in point. We want to promote Puerto Rico as an extraordinary travel brand in the Caribbean and we feel Brand USA offers an opportunity to elevate that brand and use that leverage to help us share our message worldwide.

CND: How is airlift doing in Puerto Rico after hurricane Maria, as well as other travel-related sectors on the island?

BD: Puerto Rico is writing an amazing comeback story and that’s due to the resiliency of the people of Puerto Rico. Two and half weeks after hurricane Maria, the port of San Juan reopened and we’ve been seeing a steady tourism increase since then.

Today, we have a 110 daily flights from 28 airlines which include service via Frankfurt by Condor, with Iberia out of Madrid and also Avianca out of Bogota. We are hopeful to see more connecting service for global travelers, particular out of Europe over the next two years. We’re also seeing a steady resurgence of cruise ships. In fact, we have 14 cruise ships homeporting in Puerto Rico today, that’s three more than we had at this point last year.

We’re also seeing a tremendous comeback in the hotel industry. Today, 135 hotels are open, including the return of luxury properties. With those 135 hotels open now, we have over 11,000 guestrooms ready and by the middle of 2019 we’re expected to be at pre-Maria (hurricane Maria) levels in hotels, cruise ships and air access.

One of the most exciting things is underway and we’re very anxious for its, and it’s the opening of the District San Juan. This is an extraordinary five-acre entertainment complex right in the heart of San Juan, near the old city. It’ll feature urban zipline, a salsa club and quite a number of unique experiences people will be able to enjoy in late 2019.

The DMO is now redesigning its website and unifying everything, MICE, leisure and everything else under one brand, which is something we’ve had never before. We’re seeing increases in visitations from both the U.S. and Europe, but we also know we have a long way to go. One important thing we’re doing is expanding ourselves both in the U.S. and globally. We believe for Puerto Rico to reach its ultimate level of success, it has to move beyond being just a U.S. destination and attract more global travel.