The president of the recently created Corporation for the Promotion of Puerto Rico as a Destination (DMO), Brad Dean, said today that his priority is to let the world know that the Caribbean island is already recovered for tourism after Hurricane María of last September.
Dean said at an event organized by the Association of Hotels and Tourism of Puerto Rico (Prhta), which discussed the future of the sector, that the most important thing is that abroad it is known that the island can receive tourists with all normality, having managed to recover quickly from the damage caused by the cyclone.
“Many people in the world do not know how close the island is to the final recovery and that perception must be changed,” Dean said at a hotel in San Juan in the presence of personalities from the sector and the president of Prhta, Clarisa Jiménez.
The DMO will become the official organization of sales and promotion of tourism in Puerto Rico off the island starting next July.
“We have to work together to make tourism a vehicle for progress,” stressed the US executive, after highlighting that Puerto Rico, in his opinion, has some of the best beaches in the world, exquisite cuisine, culture and, above all, a hospitality on the part of its population difficult to overcome.
“There is a great future for Puerto Rico,” Dean said during his presentation, after insisting that the potential of the Caribbean island has not yet been sufficiently exploited.
Dean indicated that before making changes in the strategy and the companies hired to make Puerto Rico known abroad, a careful analysis will be made of the needs of the Caribbean island in terms of promoting its tourism.
“When we say New York or Orlando, we know what the message is, and that is because it has affected the brand message again and again,” he stressed, to ensure that in the case of Puerto Rico an identification must also be built. clear with the destiny that lasts over time.
Dean stressed that it is necessary to change the model and opt for hiring highly specialized companies to carry out promotional campaigns for the island abroad.
He insisted on choosing companies with capacity and experience in very specific fields and flee from formulas that have been proven not to work in the past.
Regarding the main tourist issuing market for Puerto Rico, the United States, with more than 90%, said that the opportunities are many, after giving as an example that the great majority of tourists that currently arrive to the island come from only five states of the east coast of the USA.
Dean noted that this gives an idea of the great opportunities that still exist in many other US states, not only on the east coast, but also in California and the rest of the North American country.
