When winter rolls round, vacationers predictably flip their consideration to seashores. And this 12 months, it’s the vacation spot that comic Tony Hinchcliffe referred to as “a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean” that’s experiencing outsize demand from Individuals planning a heat island trip. Speak about trashing stereotypes.
Puerto Rico has recovered abroad guests (excluding these from Canada and Mexico) sooner than any U.S. state or territory — a staggering 85 % improve over its 2019 abroad inbound customer ranges as of 2023, based on an October examine from the U.S. Nationwide Journey and Tourism Workplace. There at the moment are extra each day flights from the U.S. West Coast, and resort bookings are 6 greater to date on this final quarter of 2024 year-over-year.
It’s a trifecta of tourism progress: extra guests, but in addition longer stays and the next spend that reached a file $9.8 billion in 2023, boosting small companies in addition to main manufacturers. “We don’t have a slow season in Puerto Rico anymore,” mentioned Brad Dean, chief govt officer at Uncover Puerto Rico.
Even when they’re not reserving, persons are dreaming about “La Isla.” By monitoring flight searches for journeys between November 2024 and February 2025, a measure of “inspirational” demand, tourism intelligence firm Mabrian Applied sciences studies Puerto Rico is up 9 % in contrast with the identical interval final 12 months and leads Barbados, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica and the Bahamas within the Caribbean correct. Solely Costa Rica ranked greater within the wider area.
Dean attributes Puerto Rico’s ongoing tourism progress to a strategic effort to reposition the island’s model as greater than a sun-and-sea vacation spot, beginning again in 2018. That led to the Stay Boricua marketing campaign, which started in 2022 and leaned closely on tradition, historical past and delicacies and was, Dean mentioned, “a pretty bold departure” in the way in which Puerto Rico was showcased to vacationers. He added that a minimum of $2 billion in tourism spend is linked to this marketing campaign.
“We (also) haven’t shied away from actively embracing the LGBTQ+ community, and that has opened up Puerto Rico to audiences that may not have considered the Caribbean before,” Dean mentioned.
Inns are making ready to satisfy this rising demand: A variety of established boutique properties are present process upgrades valued between $4 million and greater than $50 million, together with Resort El Convento; La Concha, which is able to be a part of the Marriott Autograph Assortment; Condado Vanderbilt Resort; and the Wyndham Grand Rio Mar.
That’s along with ultra-chic choices which can be coming on-line in 2025, together with the adults-only Alma San Juan, with rooms overlooking Plaza Colón within the coronary heart of Outdated San Juan, and the five-star Veranó boutique resort in San Juan’s stylish Santurce neighborhood. The beachfront Ritz-Carlton San Juan in Isla Verde can even be reopening seven years after Hurricane Maria decimated the island.
The journey trade’s success helps increase employment on the island, to the tune of 101,000 leisure and hospitality jobs as of September 2024, a 26 % improve over pre-pandemic ranges, based on the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Efforts to advertise Puerto Rico’s provinces past the San Juan metro space — comparable to browsing hub Rincón on the west coast, historic Ponce on the south coast and Orocovis for nature and occasional haciendas within the central mountains — have unfold the demand to small companies beforehand ignored by the journey trade.
Take Sheila Osorio, who leads workshops on Afro-Puerto Rican bomba music and dance at Taller Nzambi, within the city of Loíza, 15 miles east of San Juan; or Wanda Otero, founding father of cheese-producing firm Vaca Negra in Hatillo, an hour’s drive west of Outdated San Juan, the place you possibly can be a part of a cheese-making workshop and bask in artisanal cheese tastings. “The list of businesses involved in tourism has gone from 650 in 2018 to 6,100, many of which are artists and artisans,” Dean mentioned.
Whereas New Yorkers and Miami residents have all the time been the biggest customer demographic, Dean mentioned extra mainland Individuals now understand that going to Puerto Rico means passport-free journey to take pleasure in seashores, in addition to alternatives to dine in Michelin-rated eating places, hike the one rainforest within the U.S. and kayak in a bioluminescent bay.
Guests from Chicago and Dallas, for instance, have elevated by roughly 40 % from July 1, 2023, to June 30, 2024, in contrast with the identical interval in 2022-2023, and extra vacationers are anticipated from Denver now that United Airways Holdings Inc. has kicked off its first nonstop service to San Juan, starting on Oct. 29.
Beforehand, seashore locations that had been simple to achieve on direct flights from Denver included Mexico, Belize and California, however now Puerto Rico joins that record with a 5.5-hour nonstop route that cuts greater than two hours from the next-best possibility. Given United Airways’ hub in San Francisco, it might imply extra vacationers from the Golden State within the close to future, too.
In December, U.S. airways could have 3,000 extra seats per day to the territory in contrast with the identical interval final 12 months, for a complete of 84,731 — surpassing even Mexico and the Dominican Republic in air capability, based on knowledge from aviation analytics agency Cirium. Luis Muñoz Marín Worldwide Airport, the island’s main gateway, is projecting a file quantity of 13 million passengers by 12 months’s finish — far surpassing the 9.4 million it noticed in 2019.