This web page was created programmatically, to learn the article in its unique location you possibly can go to the hyperlink bellow:
https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/2026/02/09/puerto-rico-travel-tourism/88586760007/
and if you wish to take away this text from our web site please contact us
Editor’s word: This story was initially printed in March 2025.
On any given Friday, La Placita – within the neighborhood of Santurce in San Juan, Puerto Rico – is filled with partygoers ingesting on the road shoulder-to-shoulder as they hop from one bar to a different.
It’s a cacophony of music and smells with quite a few eating places interspersed in what’s in any other case a market in the course of the day.
At a look, it’s emblematic of Puerto Rican tradition – a neighborhood having fun with music, meals and dancing below the celebrities. But while you look nearer, you possibly can hear the music is usually a monitor taken from the American Top 40, the drinks are imported beer, and the meals is a few form of Puerto Rican deal with with an American twist. Your ears perk up while you hear Spanish as a result of virtually everybody round you is a vacationer.
La Placita, which was once an area haven in a vacationer space, has been by means of a change. It’s not a shock to locals, and it shouldn’t shock vacationers. In 2024, the island welcomed greater than 6.6 million air passengers, a record-breaking 8% enhance from the yr earlier than, in accordance with Discover Puerto Rico.
The island’s hospitality sector grew by 5%, all earlier than’s Bad Bunny’s 2025 live performance residency.
Many locations around the globe are grappling with the consequences of overtourism. European international locations have added vacationer charges to well-liked spots, some cruise strains are choosing smaller ports of name, and even Hawaiians have referred to as for limits on guests.
“We’re not opposed to tourism – we want it. But it has to be responsible,” Nilda García, president of the ecological group Coalición Pro Corredor Ecológico del Noreste, informed USA TODAY.
Tourism’s financial impression on Puerto Rico is simple. The sector contributed $7.6 billion to the island’s GDP in 2024, representing 6.6% of the whole economic system. Comparatively, tourism represented about 17% of Hawaii’s economy in 2023. But Puerto Rico’s speedy development has additionally raised considerations about sustainability, environmental degradation and cultural erosion. With an inflow of tourists – a lot of whom nonetheless focus within the San Juan metro space – Puerto Rico is at a crossroads: How does it maintain this development whereas preserving its wealthy heritage and fragile ecosystems?
Travel past San Juan
For years, Puerto Rico’s tourism advertising centered closely on its capital. Locals nonetheless bear in mind the “Puerto Rico ¡Lo hace mejor!” marketing campaign inviting them to be welcoming of foreigners. Now there’s a aware effort to take care of the identical hospitality whereas shifting from crowded areas.
Discover Puerto Rico, the island’s vacation spot advertising group, launched initiatives to teach guests about lesser-known areas, aiming to decentralize tourism from well-liked areas like Old San Juan and El Yunque.
The newest marketing campaign encourages vacationers to transcend the seashores and have interaction with Puerto Rican tradition, whether or not by means of gastronomy in Cayey, heritage tourism in Ponce, or journey journey within the central mountains. The technique is working. Though 66% of vacationers keep within the metro city space, in accordance with Discover Puerto Rico, 39% of tourists now discover the island’s east coast, 29% enterprise south and one other 29% head west.
“This is about changing perceptions,” Davelyn Tardi, public relations director for Discover Puerto Rico, informed USA TODAY. “We are not an all-inclusive Caribbean resort destination. We have history, culture, art and traditions that we want visitors to experience firsthand.”
Efforts to assist small companies and neighborhood tourism have additionally been essential. Through city halls and roundtable discussions, Discover Puerto Rico stated it has supplied coaching on digital advertising, social media and customer engagement to assist native companies adapt to the rising variety of vacationers. In Loíza, for instance, Sheila Osorio, founding father of Taller de Bomba N’Zambi – a bomba dance faculty – obtained social media and translation assist and now attracts guests from around the globe.
Tourism’s environmental footprint
As customer numbers climb, so do considerations about environmental sustainability.
“Ecotourism means more than just being in nature – it means respecting it,” García stated.
The northeast hall, house to lush forests and a nesting ground for the endangered leatherback turtle, has been one of many areas most affected by unregulated tourism. Visitors leaving trash, venturing into restricted areas and utilizing off-road autos in protected zones have develop into a rising drawback.
“We constantly educate visitors about respecting nature, but many still ignore signs and warnings,” García stated. “We’ve seen ATVs tearing through sand dunes and even horse tracks over turtle nests. It’s heartbreaking.”
To fight this, neighborhood organizations are pushing for stronger rules on tour operators (local- and foreign-owned alike) and stricter enforcement of environmental protections.
“Tourism should not just serve visitors; it should work for the people who live here year-round,” García stated.
Some companies have already embraced a extra accountable strategy to ecotourism. Roca Norte Climbing Gym in Vega Baja and Finca Gaia in Dorado have integrated sustainable tourism fashions, integrating agrotourism, conservation and cultural immersion experiences. These efforts align with Puerto Rico Tourism Co.’s sustainable tourism program, which ensures that companies meet environmental and moral requirements.
The rising toll on native tradition
“The biggest impact of tourism isn’t just waste or pollution – it’s cultural,” Arturo Massol Deyá, director of community-based group Casa Pueblo, informed USA TODAY. “When visitors come without integrating, they create a kind of contamination.”
While tourism brings financial advantages, it additionally has a rising price for locals. In cities like Luquillo and Rincón on reverse sides of the island, the place tourism has boomed, housing costs and the price of dwelling have surged, making it more durable for residents to afford properties.
“Many tourists don’t just visit; they come with the intention of buying property,” Massol Deyá stated. “This drives up land prices and displaces locals.”
The once-affordable meals kiosks alongside the beachfront are actually dominated by high-end eating places catering to vacationers, leaving many locals feeling priced out of their very own communities.
“We love welcoming visitors, but we live here year-round,” stated Massol Deyá, whose group hosts vacationers trying to volunteer in native communities and study from sustainable practices. “It’s great that businesses are thriving, but when a simple breakfast is suddenly out of our price range, it makes you question who tourism is really serving.”
This mirrors considerations in Hawaii. More Native Hawaiians now live in the mainland U.S. than on the islands, and a rising variety of residents have pushed for regulations on short-term rentals and foreign property buyers to guard native housing markets. Puerto Rico hasn’t launched comparable insurance policies.
What’s the way forward for Puerto Rico journey?
Puerto Rico is at a pivotal second. With 82% of Puerto Ricans supporting tourism as an financial driver, in accordance with Discover Puerto Rico’s analysis, the problem is guaranteeing that development doesn’t come on the expense of tradition, affordability or the atmosphere.
“If we don’t regulate tourism, the environment will be damaged, and in the end, everyone loses,” García stated.
Looking forward, new initiatives intention to additional combine community-based tourism into the island’s technique. A voluntourism mannequin, much like Hawaii’s Malama and the efforts of Casa Pueblo, is a attainable step ahead – the place companies are required to supply neighborhood service initiatives for guests.
“We don’t want a tourism of detachment, where people just enjoy the beaches and leave without understanding Puerto Rico,” Massol Deyá stated. “Tourism should create long-term relationships with the island, not just a collection of Instagram photos.”
Puerto Rico’s identification as a vacationer vacation spot is evolving – with an added increase from native artists with world recognition, like Bad Bunny or Daddy Yankee. Beyond its white-, black- or golden-sand seashores and historic forts, the island has the chance to carve out a brand new function as a mannequin for accountable journey, one the place guests don’t simply take from the island however give again to it.
Said Massol Deyá, “Responsible tourism isn’t just about what you do while you’re here but how you continue contributing after you leave.”
Josh Rivera is USA TODAY’s Travel Editor.
This web page was created programmatically, to learn the article in its unique location you possibly can go to the hyperlink bellow:
https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/2026/02/09/puerto-rico-travel-tourism/88586760007/
and if you wish to take away this text from our web site please contact us
