Puerto Rico´s Tourist Sector Closed a Successful Year

The Puerto Rican leisure industry closed 2004 with a bang after averaging 78.9 percent hotel occupancy, up nearly three percentage points from the year before.

The Puerto Rico Hotel & Tourism Association (PRHTA) said the final tally for the island nation´s economy peaked $4.9 billion, up a walloping 42 percent from 2003. The local hospitality sector now accounts for 6.6 percent of the gross national product.

Employment in the tourist field grew 32 percent all through 2004, creating 20,000 new fulltime and part-time jobs, and hiring a grand total of 78,000 employees.

Puerto Rico has plans in the offing to spend over $1 billon in tourist project during 2005, including the grand opening of the much-anticipated Convention Center in San Juan.

In the course of its annual convention with representatives from 11,000 hotels, inns and guest houses, as well as 75 restaurants, PRHTA Chairwoman Allaine Tiphaine praised the organization´s alliance with municipal executives as the cornerstone of its Strategic Tourism & Transportation Plan.

Experts believe the Puerto Rican travel industry ought to implement a new expansion plan to capture far more trekkers and markets, especially in the United States.