Foundation for Puerto Rico

We have collaborated with re+connect for over a year in the creation of an app that facilitates community participation and disaster response in Puerto Rico. We invite you to follow re+connect’s account to learn more about their progress. Download the app and register! You will be connecting with your community, sharing and receiving knowledge, preparing together for an emergency, and strengthening connections with other communities across our archipelago. ---

Community participation is fundamental to identifying and addressing the challenges related to access to El Yunque National Forest. Local perspectives provide a nuanced understanding of the specific obstacles residents and visitors face, ensuring that proposed solutions are practical and culturally sensitive. We invite you to participate in USDA Forest Service - El Yunque’s Community Meetings and join the conversation to find solutions for sustainable recreation in El Yunque. Learn more and reserve your spot at bit.ly/Eastern-Region

The eastern region of our archipelago represents an incredible opportunity for socioeconomic transformation. Currently, we are working with communities, non-profit organizations, and government agencies to unlock the economic development potential it offers, based on key assets such as El Yunque. We invite you to learn more about our goals in the region.

We are back with our Annual Golf Tournament on November 15th! ⛳ Save the date and join us for the 8th edition of this event that drives our mission. Participate and help us continue transforming Puerto Rico's economy into a prosperous and sustainable one. Join as a participant and/or sponsor by contacting [email protected] Learn more at https://lnkd.in/eQpwXyVM

Before the pandemic, Puerto Rico collected between $45 to $50 million in "room tax" revenue. This past year, nearly $145 million was collected, indicating that the tourism model is no longer seasonal but active year-round. This could also indicate an increase in the number of nights visitors stay in our archipelago. Beyond the "room tax," increasing the number of visitor nights brings numerous benefits, especially in communities located in disadvantaged regions. When visitors stay longer in these areas, they spend more money at local businesses and pay more municipal taxes, thereby improving the quality of life for the locals. Learn more about the economic impact of visitors this past year in this article from El Nuevo Día.

Community-based tourism is a model that places locals at the forefront of the tourist experience. Recent studies have shown that visitors increasingly seek authentic cultural experiences that reflect the reality of locals. Allowing communities to take center stage in these experiences, it also gives locals greater decision-making power and control over the state of their community's assets; enabling the community to play an active role in the preservation of their assets. We invite you to learn about some of the benefits of this tourism model.

Each day, visitors are giving more value to cultural tourism that closely reflects the authentic life of locals. This presents a great opportunity to achieve the decentralization of tourism, increasing the possibility for more communities, away from popular tourist areas, to receive the economic impact of visitors. Furthermore, there has been a noted trend among visitors to invest in small local businesses, which represent 80% of the workers in the private sector. Learn about global visitor trends from American Express Travel’s 2023 Global Travel Trends Report.

Increasing the responsible visitor capacity of El Yunque and offering tourist activities in nearby areas could be a determining factor in extending the stay of visitors in the eastern region. This is key to increasing visitor spending in local businesses and the taxes paid to municipalities, helping to improve the quality of life for families who live and work there.   We continue working on a sustainable economic development strategy for the eastern region, with the US Forest Service, USDA Rural, and other government agencies and nonprofit organizations. All of this is aimed at sustainably addressing challenges such as the access problem in the Rainforest, finding and facilitating the creation of new offerings in the area, and strengthening existing offerings, among other things.   Here are some data on the current visitor to the eastern region of Puerto Rico.

Have you ever attended the Festival de las Flores? 🌺 Recently, the 54th edition of this traditional festival was celebrated in Aibonito, which serves as an important economic boost for merchants in this municipality and the surrounding areas. The event featured over 31 landscape gardens, more than 30 floriculturists, and live music from renowned artists, attracting many visitors to the area during 10 days. Events like this allow visitors from other countries and other parts of Puerto Rico to invest in the local economy and learn about what Aibonito and its neighboring towns have to offer - encouraging them to return to this area in the future and continue investing in its culture. Discover a little about the impact this festival had.

Join the Global Entrepreneurship Congress in Puerto Rico! The Visitor Economy continues to significantly contribute to the country's economy, increasing the number of visitors through international events like #GECPlusPR. Thousands of founders, investors, entrepreneurship ecosystem builders, policymakers, researchers, and more are coming together to explore an ambitious roadmap for a more vibrant and thriving economy by 2035.   Learn more: gecplus.co/puertorico Register: https://lnkd.in/eD9xcQbR