Advertising Feature
A semi-autonomous territory of the United States with a tax
free status and a successful mix of Latin vibrancy and business
resolve, Puerto Rico has engaged in a determined strategy to
become a center for tourism and knowledge-based investment in
theAmericas.
“I think that PuertoRico has starteddreaming again,”says Bartolomé
Gamundi,Secretaryof theDepartment for EconomicDevelopment and
Commerce.“We have a country that is
very lucrative for business and favors
ambition and progress.”
Already considered one of themost
successful economies of the Caribbean,
PuertoRico is still undergoingavigorous
transformation intoahub forsophisticated
industries and a preferred destination not only for leisure but for business
tourism and investment.
Themigrationofmanufacturing to LatinAmerica andespeciallyAsia has
meant that Puerto Rico has had to use its tax and employer incentives,
location, superior physical infrastructure and educated, bilingual
population to shift the industrial paradigm into knowledge-intensive
sectors such as pharmaceutical, biotechnology and IT. “We are focusing
on life sciences and knowledge-based industries becausewe know it’s a
growth area,” says Chief of Staff Jorge Silva Puras. The Puerto Rico
Industrial Development Company (PRIDCO) has been key to the
success of this shift by promoting the industrialization of the island since
1950. PRIDCO now encourages high technology ventures and gives
scholarships to scientists and toR+D projects.
However, at slightly above 7% of the GDP, tourism is a major force
driving theeconomyandakey sector
for the development strategy of the
current government. “Puerto Rico is
an ideal tourism destination, but we
haven’t historically taken advantage
of our unique position as we could
have done,” Silva Puras points out.
Puerto Rico has taken stock of its
performance and, considering its natural andman-made assets, has found
that it had slipped into a comfort zone in relation to tourism.“In the last
ten years (tourism numbers) have been very stable, but haven’t grown
that much,” addsTerestella González Denton, Executive Director of the
Puerto Rico Tourism Company. “We see a growth in the cruise ship
industry, but we have the same number of hotel rooms as we did ten
years ago.”
One of the challenges for growth is hotel infrastructure: with only
14,000 endorsed rooms at present, Puerto Rico is working towards
adding 5,000 rooms in the short term and getting to a total of 30,000
by 2020.The private sector needed to be actively encouraged through
the streamlining of bureaucracy, in particular through the reduction of
permit times for construction and renovationof projects aswell as fiscal
advantages given to investors.Terestellabelieves that these changes have
made the investment package offered by PuertoRico very attractive to
some of the world’s top tourism brands. “In the year 2005 we didn’t
have a single 5-star hotel in the island,” she says “Nowwe’re looking at
three 5-star hotels with threemore to go.”
A study revealed that the lengthof stays of visitors on the islandwas
approximately two and a half days. Many tourists never stray far from
San Juan, consideredoneof themost seductive capitals in theCaribbean
with itsmixtureofmodernity,world-classmuseums,colonial architecture,
and white beaches the throw of a towel away. But great natural and
Puerto Rico: Beyond the Shore
“Wehavea sophisticatedproduct.
We canoffer somuchdiversity to
visitorswhoare looking tohave
anexperience!”
TerestellaGozález Denton,
ExecutiveDirector of thePuertoRico TourismCompany
Advertising Feature created by Star Communications. www.star-communications.us
Tourism in the country is growing through a diversified offer of history, outdoor activities and the enjoyment of nature.
