Earlier this summer, the Puerto Rico Department of Health declared the Zika virus epidemic over, with "substantially decreased" levels of transmission on the island. Senior editor Jamie Biesiada interviewed Jose Izquierdo, executive director of the Puerto Rico Tourism Co., to discuss a promising boost to tourism in Zika's wake.
Q: How was tourism impacted by Zika in 2016?
Jose Izquierdo
A: There was a situation in 2016, but that has been addressed, and the great news right now is that cases have significantly decreased, and it is now on the retreat in Puerto Rico. This is a fact that's been confirmed by both the Puerto Rico Department of Health as well as the CDC, and it's only positive news right now coming out of Puerto Rico in this regard.
Q: What about tourism this year?
A: We're seeing a record number of [arrivals], specifically with cruise ships. We've seen an increase in passengers in this fiscal year, and we're also projecting upwards of 1.6 million passengers for fiscal year 2017-2018, which would be a record, as well. Just to give you an idea, the past two months have been record-breaking months. The month of April, we received 143,000 cruise ship passengers, the highest number in the past 10 years for that month. And in May we also saw a 47% increase in comparison to May of last year. That would be a record for the last 19 years.
Q: What's going on with hotels?
A: There's definitely a lot of interest in hotel development here. We're also seeing trends throughout the island with smaller properties corresponding to certain niches like ecotourism, agritourism and all sorts of specifics. Smaller properties, beds and breakfasts, are also sprouting throughout the island.
Q: To what are you attributing that increased interest in Puerto Rico?
A: There are a lot of factors. We're obviously being really aggressive with our [marketing] campaign. We're having a summer campaign called "This Summer in Puerto Rico." Again, it just serves to heighten what our diversity of offerings is. It's designed to generate awareness that the island is, in fact, an ideal summer destination. We're highlighting all those attributes of Puerto Rico, not only the traditional ones like our beaches, but we want to focus on the diversity of experiences like culture, adventure and certainly gastronomy. Puerto Rico is a foodie's paradise, and we want the traveler to experience that.
And obviously, all of this is in the context of a destination that is easily accessible from a majority of cities in the mainland U.S. ... there's no requirement of [a] passport. It means it's easier to get down here, and we want to send that strong message.
There's also a little bit of a heightening interest due to that No. 1 hit song that I'm sure you know about, as well.
Q: "Despacito," the Justin Bieber song?
A: All of these are opportunities, whether we're in the song on top of the charts or whether it be our campaign, it's our opportunity to send that strong message that Puerto Rico is open to receive tourists of all kinds, and we're focusing on that.