Articles tagged “puerto rico”

So far as we know, a planned mobile app from Puerto Rico will be the first by any tourism board that offers text-based help for visitors from local concierges while they're in a destination. Other efforts at enhancing the digital marketing of the island's businesses show promise, too.

When it comes to destinations post-disaster, bad publicity can usually be flipped on its head and retooled to portray an encouraging comeback story. Puerto Rico's tourism industry is on its way to such a story, not letting disaster images and videos derail its progress.

Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Rosselló is not shy about advocating for the island's potential future as a U.S. state. At Skift Global Forum, he reminded us that the travel industry has a duty to fight injustice and build connections despite political drama.

While many headlines continue to depict Puerto Rico in tragic terms, and there certainly are plenty of areas that are still struggling, many hotels and restaurants are back on their feet and better than before Maria. The island's tourism industry is on its way to real change as it tries to put the hurricane behind it.

For more than a century, Puerto Rico has been divided along two identities – Puerto Rican and American. But Hurricane Maria has forced it to reach a point where its tourism industry must merge the two, and market the destination in a way like many others on the mainland have done for decades if it hopes to become a global success story.

In the year after Maria, restaurateurs are building new relationships with local farmers and seeing more interest from customers in supporting local agriculture and celebrating food that is grown entirely on the island.

At 1919, executive chef Juan Jose Cuevas explains how last year's hurricane has unexpectedly boosted Puerto Rico's farm-to-table movement.

Travelers held off on booking cruises to the Caribbean in the aftermath of the 2017 hurricanes. One big question is how many of them will want to risk sailing during this year's hurricane season — and at what prices.

Puerto Rico hasn't had the chance to grow up as a destination over the years, and its tourism industry finally thinks it has a shot to do that. But to become known for more than its beaches and golf, it'll have to overcome an intense political establishment that's been defined by its financial woes and disorganization.

The Puerto Rico Convention Bureau is actively selling for 2018 meetings and conventions despite the fallout from Hurricane Maria, but with the rebuilding efforts, the island should reposition itself more as a hub of industry innovation rather than just a U.S. tropical paradise.