Puerto Rico: Gateway to the Southern and Eastern Caribbean
76 T h e F C C A C r u i s e C o n F e r e n C e & T r A d e s h ow
Puerto Rico has a key geographical location that makes it the gateway to the southern and eastern Caribbean. Air access is one of its greatest advantages as a homeport. By being the gateway to the southern and eastern Caribbean, Puerto Rico makes it far easier for cruise lines to reach the other islands because of the shorter traveling distances and subsequent savings in fuel. As a transit destination, Puerto Rico also has a distinct advantage in that its overall destination offering is among the best in the Caribbean, given the diversified land product and superior infrastructure. And the proximity to other islands makes Puerto Rico an easy stop. Puerto Rico receives over 1.2 million cruise passengers on a yearly basis. The island’s cruise industry significantly contributes to the economy, generating close to 5,000 jobs in San Juan alone and having an impact of more than $240 million annually on the economy. Puerto Rico is also one of the main homeport facilities in the Caribbean, receiving a half-million homeport passengers per year, and is the best-prepared destination in the region for provisioning cruise ships. Furthermore, cruise ship visitors are found to be a captive market for promoting land stays, as 62 percent of cruisers who explore a vacation destination return as stay-over guests. Homeport passengers have an average pre- and post-stay of almost two nights in San Juan. And cruise ship passenger expenditures in San Juan have an economic impact of over $180 million per year. It is clear that it is of strategic importance for
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Puerto Rico to focus on this economic sector. Puerto Rico’s strategy seeks to facilitate everyone’s growth by reinforcing major initiatives that ultimately benefit the entire cruise sector. Among these are: improving air access for homeport passengers, offering attractive incentives to cruise lines, improving product quality and increasing attractions and tour offerings. Air access to the island has been improved, which has resulted in additional frequencies and new routes from cruise feeder markets. Puerto Rico’s main international airport in San Juan now services airlines such as Air
Canada, Air Sunshine, Air Tran, American Airlines, American Eagle, British Airways, Cape Air, Continental, Copa, Delta, Iberia, Insel, jetBlue, LIAT, Spirit Airlines, Sunwing, United, US Airways and Virgin Atlantic. In order to financially attract cruise business to Puerto Rico, what has become the standard incentives model for the cruise ship industry in the Caribbean has been developed. The incentives law establishes a fund to promote the island’s cruise ship industry providing cruise lines with incentives for: provisioning locally, increasing the volume of passengers visiting the
El Morro
PHoToS CoU RT E S y oF T H E PU E RTo R ICo ToU R ISm Com PA n y
Few places on earth can boast about having the combination of natural beauty and urban attractions that Puerto Rico has. While the entire island offers a rich bounty of nature’s beauties, San Juan offers attractions as diverse as its 500-year-old city: museums, galleries, shopping centers and excellent restaurants. Puerto Rico is a quality destination; its dedication to quality is comprehensive and encompasses its people, products, services, ecosystem and lifestyle.
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