Today marks two years since Hurricane Maria , and Puerto Rico’s tourism community wants to say THANK YOU to all the travelers who have helped Puerto Rico have a record-breaking year so far. With year-to-date tourism revenue and passenger arrivals at an all-time high, the tourism industry, currently one of Puerto Rico’s shining lights, and a success story worth sharing, has made a historical comeback and has never been stronger.
Discover Puerto Rico developed a video called “Thank you from Puerto Rico,” a compilation of stories and thank you’s from Puerto Ricans who depend on tourism. It shines a light on the importance of tourism and its impact on the local economy, and shows just how impactful a visit to the Island can be. Puerto Rico’s story is one of resiliency, especially among the local community, and those that tourism impacts each and every day. A slightly longer version of this video just went live here, as well.
Tourism Growth
• Welcoming over 4M visitors each year, Puerto Rico is on track to achieve a record-breaking year in 2019.
• According to CTO, tourism on the Island experienced an increase of 62.3% in the first 6 months of 2019.
• Puerto Rico is recovering 4X faster than New Orleans after Katrina.
Lodging
• YTD tourism revenue has been at an all-time high.
o Jan. – Apr. 2019 occupancy spending for hotels/independent rentals combined reached $373.6M, the highest in 8 years, and an increase of 12.4% compared to 2017 pre-Maria levels. The rest of ‘19 is booking 24.1% higher than ‘18 for hotels.
o Jan. – June lodging demand showed significant growth, with traditional lodging/independent rentals combined, Puerto Rico is less than 2% off record highs in 2017.
• YTD inventory is more than the Island has ever had.
o Overall, the number of room nights in hotels and independent rentals in Q1 increased 17% over 2018, generating the highest Q1 demand in room nights ever recorded in Puerto Rico.
o Puerto Rico dominated the list of the top 10 Airbnb world destinations this summer.
Air Access
• San Juan International Airport (SJU) set a June record for most arrivals in the month’s history, surpassing the previous record from June 2017.
• In the first 8 months of 2019, San Juan International Airport (SJU) has handled an 11.4% jump in passenger traffic, representing a total of more than 6.5M passengers.o Aug. arrivals to San Juan International Airport (SJU) saw 7.6% growth compared to Aug. 2018, with a total of 815.043 passengers.
• The Aguadilla airport established individual and collective passenger records for January – April, reaching 251,898 passengers, an increase of 98,271 compared to the same period in 2018. This, being a strong sign of growth as carriers expand capacity.
Cruise Industry
• The projection for 2019 cruise ship passengers is expected to break records at 1.8M passengers.
• Jan. 2019 numbers reflected an increase of 28.9% of visitors from previous years.
• There was a 56.6% increase in homeport cruise passengers compared to Jan. 2018.
MICE
• The Puerto Rico Convention Center, the most technically-advanced convention center in the Caribbean, experienced its most successful year in its 14-year history during the 2018-2019 fiscal year. It saw:
o An increase of 26% in total attendance (644,000 visitors) over the previous 13-year average.
o 96% overall customer satisfaction ratings along with a 21% increase in total events.
o 417 events in comparison to previous 13-year average.
• In addition to this, using 3-year historical volume, group sales on the Island are booking 212% higher for 2020.
(eTN):Puerto Rico says ‘thank you’ two years after Hurricane Maria | re-post license | post content