San Juan, Puerto Rico – As Puerto Rico continues to recover from the 2017 hurricanes, Expedia Group data reveals an increase for package and mobile bookings for the Caribbean destination.
The most recent data reported that both package and mobile demand increased during the last quarter of 2018. Package demand grew almost 440 percent in Q4 2018 as compared to the same period in 2017.
On the other hand, mobile demand to Puerto Rico from the US increased almost 40 percent in Q4 2018.
Expedia Group data also reports that mobile demand has a large share of overall bookings, revealing that 1 in 3 booking transactions are made via mobile and app transactions grew nearly 50 percent.
In the case of Puerto Rico, the U.S., Bahamas and Spain reported the highest mobile demand for the full year 2018.
“Puerto Rico is an iconic Caribbean destination, with natural beauty and cultural offering. Despite the devastating hurricanes of 2017, we are confident that the island will continue to rise above,” said Rafael del Castillo, Senior Director of Latin American Resorts for Expedia Group.
Marketing Efforts Reaping Benefits
“Through our strong offering of effective solutions, technology and marketing expertise, we are looking forward to continue working and contributing to Puerto Rico’s tourism growth, side by side with our lodging partners and other tourism entities”.
To support Puerto Rico following the hurricanes, Expedia Group Media Solutions, working together with Travelocity and the Puerto Rico Tourism Company (PRTC), developed a creative marketing campaign to drive awareness that the destination was ready to welcome travelers.
“Travel for Good” Campaign Launched
The “Travel for Good” campaign not only inspired travelers to visit and enjoy the beauty and history of the island, but also supported the island’s relief efforts in a simple and pleasing way.
During the three-week campaign period, “Travel for Good” generated over 8.2 million impressions, with the on-site ads producing over 500,000 impressions, illustrating the campaign’s success in driving awareness for the destination.
Janid Ortiz, Director of Partnership Marketing for Discover Puerto Rico stated that their mission is “to market the country as a premier tourism destination and increase our visitor economy. Through cooperative marketing collaborations with Expedia Group, we not only amplify our strategic marketing efforts, but we also create short, medium, and long-term impact, which helps to increase big and small hotel bookings across the entire island”.
Expedia Group data also reported that Puerto Rico saw a significant increase in international travelers, with the U.S. and Canada remaining as the top feeder markets in 2018.
Other emerging markets showcasing significant year over year growth in demand for the island destination include:
• Bahamas, with more than a 400 percent growth YoY
• Spain, with more than 25 percent growth YoY
• Brazil, with more than 70 percent growth YoY
“The CHTA is thrilled to see the great strides being made as Puerto Rico’s tourism industry bounces back with new and refurbished product,” said Patricia Affonso-Dass, President Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association.”
The CHTA and Expedia Group have been pleased to support the industry’s recovery, starting with our commitment to the highly successful Caribbean Travel Marketplace event on the island early in 2018. This showcased to the world’s travel industry the extent to which Puerto Rico tourism had already recovered and its exciting plans for the future.
Puerto Rico’s future is bright as local travel providers and tourism entities continue to diversify and expand their offerings, providing travelers with greater choices and experiences.
According to the Puerto Rico Tourism Company, over 1.1 million international travelers visited the country, with an average stay of approximately 3 days in 2018.
The average daily rate increased from approximately $149.57 in 2017 to $154.17 in 2018.
Hotels also saw occupancy rates of 77 percent from January through June of last year, which is a five-percentage-point increase from the pre-hurricane rates.
