Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Here is what my DIL says about PR. She is a native, and her family is upscale, economically. She lives in NC now, and will never go back to PR. She and her siblings went to the International School, so they are bilingual.
1. There are WAY to many small political factions, many of them corrupt, to ever get anything done. Instead of 78 or 58 (?I forget) political divisions, there should only be about 5. She told a story of how her grandfather owns a commercial building in their town. The new mayor took the parking lot of her grandfather's building by eminent domain to build a new library, which caused him to lose all his tenants. To add insult to injury, the library was so poorly constructed that it was condemned and never used. This kind of thing goes on all the time.
2. Almost everyone can go to college there, because it is inexpensive, but there are not enough businesses to absorb the graduates, so most of them leave. She is an architect and her brother is a lawyer. Her little brother is still in college and will most likely stay and work for the family construction business. Her lawyer brother is practicing there and will probably stay.
3. Tourism accounts for only a small amount of PRs economy. This is a huge waste of potential.
1) Agreed entirely, Puerto Rico should move towards a county system of government. Of course it will never happen because then a ****load of mayors and municipal legislators will be out of a job
2) This isent really a Puerto Rican problem, it's a national problem especially here in the Northeast and in other places like San Francisco, LA, etc. I know alot of Puerto Ricans don't want to hear this but why not shut down some of the UPR campuses and convert them into 2 year community colleges or trade schools?
3) Unfortunately I think this ship has sailed. Puerto Rico has wasted too much time focusing on trying to attract manufacturing via tax breaks thus allowing other places like the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, and the British and Dutch islands to win the tourism wars. They failed to learn from Detroit that manufacturing in the US is dead beyond the defense industry - and defense firms already make up a good portion of what manufacturing base there is still left on the island.
3) Unfortunately I think this ship has sailed. Puerto Rico has wasted too much time focusing on trying to attract manufacturing via tax breaks thus allowing other places like the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, and the British and Dutch islands to win the tourism wars. They failed to learn from Detroit that manufacturing in the US is dead beyond the defense industry - and defense firms already make up a good portion of what manufacturing base there is still left on the island.
I think Puerto Rico still has much potential to exploit in the tourism industry. Puerto Rico has been heavily marketed within the USA as a winter playground and this shows in the tourism data with over 90% of touristas arriving from the USA. This means that in Spain, France, Italy; Great Britain, Germany, Switzerland; Austria, Hungary, Poland; Belgium, Netherlands, Portugal; Russia, Sweden, Norway; Finland, Iceland, Ireland; Israel, and a very long and windy etc Puerto Rico is not really in people's minds as a tropical winter getaway destination. If the Puerto Rican government wants to take advantage of that and make tourism grow, then the writing on the wall is more than clear.
I think Puerto Rico still has much potential to exploit in the tourism industry. Puerto Rico has been heavily marketed within the USA as a winter playground and this shows in the tourism data with over 90% of touristas arriving from the USA. This means that in Spain, France, Italy; Great Britain, Germany, Switzerland; Austria, Hungary, Poland; Belgium, Netherlands, Portugal; Russia, Sweden, Norway; Finland, Iceland, Ireland; Israel, and a very long and windy etc Puerto Rico is not really in people's minds as a tropical winter getaway destination. If the Puerto Rican government wants to take advantage of that and make tourism grow, then the writing on the wall is more than clear.
you make it sound Puerto Rico is only tropical island for vacation in the world ............not only Puerto Rico has competition in the Caribbean with other nice islands and not so over-crowded but Europe has nice areas like in Spain. Spain's mainland its nice on itself but they have an island of the Mediterranean coast of Spain call Majorca (part of Spain) nice!
I will name off top of my head nice islands in Europe to vacation which is a lot closer and cheaper to Europeans:
1) Zakynthos (Greek Island)
2) Gozo (Island of Malta)
3) Isle of Skye (Scotland)
4) Kefallinia (Greek)
5) Santorini (Greek)
6) Jersey (Channel Islands)
7) Naxos (Greek)
8) Fuerteventura ( Canary Islands)
9) Mainland Island (Scotland)
10) Capri (Italy)
the Cruises helps Puerto Rico a lot but I think they hit the ceiling in the tourism department. I don't think it can grow any bigger.
Winters will get longer and longer each year in the US. The US is well aware of this and have started moving gears towards tackling this issue. Puerto Rico will have a pivotal role in a possible exodus to the south in the coming years. The US is also planning to take some pieces of land to ensure Food Production which is extremely important for stability. There will be a huge focus and changes in Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic in regards to this matter.
Puerto Ricans no longer have control in the future of the Island.
you make it sound Puerto Rico is only tropical island for vacation in the world ............not only Puerto Rico has competition in the Caribbean with other nice islands and not so over-crowded but Europe has nice areas like in Spain. Spain's mainland its nice on itself but they have an island of the Mediterranean coast of Spain call Majorca (part of Spain) nice!
I will name off top of my head nice islands in Europe to vacation which is a lot closer and cheaper to Europeans:
1) Zakynthos (Greek Island)
2) Gozo (Island of Malta)
3) Isle of Skye (Scotland)
4) Kefallinia (Greek)
5) Santorini (Greek)
6) Jersey (Channel Islands)
7) Naxos (Greek)
8) Fuerteventura ( Canary Islands)
9) Mainland Island (Scotland)
10) Capri (Italy)
the Cruises helps Puerto Rico a lot but I think they hit the ceiling in the tourism department. I don't think it can grow any bigger.
The DR and Cuba get well over 1 million Euro tourists, and in fact maybe closer to 2 million. So its not that Euros aren't interested in the Caribbean. Its that PR is expensive, very Americanized, and not seen as unique in the way that the DR, Cuba, and Jamaica are.
One also doesn't get the impression that the average Puerto Ricans wants tourists, and people generally don't go where they suspect they aren't wanted. In fact even Spain, with its strong ties to PR, could have been a market in better times, but they preferred to go to Cuba and the DR.
Winters will get longer and longer each year in the US..
Where did you get that idea from. In fact in the NY area we barely have winters.
All one needs to remember is that in late August there was a noticeable drop in temperature, with Labor Day being the end of summer. Now we can wait until mid October before we must wear outer garments. September is now part of summer.
What we have are more storms, and if they hit when the Jetstream drops, letting in Artic air, then we might get blizzards.
Are you for real caribny? You do realize the US has been secretly working in ways to stop the melting of the Poles for more than two decades now? They don't even have interest in going outer space now. The Focus has been drifted completely into to slowing down the the process of the Earth losing rotation. Ensuring Food Production is the priority.
The DR and Cuba get well over 1 million Euro tourists, and in fact maybe closer to 2 million. So its not that Euros aren't interested in the Caribbean. Its that PR is expensive, very Americanized, and not seen as unique in the way that the DR, Cuba, and Jamaica are.
One also doesn't get the impression that the average Puerto Ricans wants tourists, and people generally don't go where they suspect they aren't wanted. In fact even Spain, with its strong ties to PR, could have been a market in better times, but they preferred to go to Cuba and the DR.
Puerto Rico gets over 4 million tourists a year. Most come from the mainland because they don't need a passport to go to P.R. since its a U.S. territory.
Other groups of tourists that visit Puerto Rico in significant numbers include French, German, Spaniards, Mexicans, Venezuelan, Brazilians and Asian tourists.
of course Puerto Rico is more expensive than Cuba and R.D.. remember P.R. operates within the US economy with US minimum wages and US regulations
Cuba min. wage is 8 cents an hour.
D.R. min. wage is 44 cents an hour
but that doesn't stop Puerto Rico in getting over 4 million tourists a year. Being a U.S. territory has its advantages.
Puerto Rico gets over 4 million tourists a year. Most come from the mainland because they don't need a passport to go to P.R. since its a U.S. territory.
Other groups of tourists that visit Puerto Rico in significant numbers include French, German, Spaniards, Mexicans, Venezuelan, Brazilians and Asian tourists.
of course Puerto Rico is more expensive than Cuba and R.D.. remember P.R. operates within the US economy with US minimum wages and US regulations
Cuba min. wage is 8 cents an hour.
D.R. min. wage is 44 cents an hour
but that doesn't stop Puerto Rico in getting over 4 million tourists a year. Being a U.S. territory has its advantages.
Looking at the available Caribbean Tourism Organization data (most recent is 2010, anything more update they charge and I'm not going to pay for this), I do wonder what percentage of tourists that visit Puerto Rico are Puerto Ricans that live in the USA and descendants of Puerto Ricans.
Focusing on the Puerto Rican numbers for 2010, out of 3,747,142 tourists arrival only 1,369,944 stayed in hotels/resorts. That's just 37% of all tourists. The tourist figure doesn't includes cruise ship arrivals and I highly doubt the majority of tourists in Puerto Rico are staying in touristic villas. Seem to me most tourists to Puerto Rico are Puerto Ricans and they stay either at their homes or with a relative. On top of that, the average length of stay of the tourists is just 2.9 nights. Plus 90% of the tourists arrived from the USA, 2% from Europe, 2% from the Caribbean; 1% from Canada, and 5% from the rest of the world.
In that same year, Cuba had 2,531,745 tourists. It doesn't say what percentage stayed in hotels/resorts, but looking at the place of origin of tourist arrivals its safe to assume that most tourists are not Cubans. Just 2% of tourists arrived from the USA while 38% were from Canada, 32% from Europe, 15% from the Caribbean; 7% from South America, and 6% from the rest of the world.
Dominican Republic had 4,124,543 tourists with 77.7% of them staying in hotels/resorts. 32% were from Europe, 28% from USA, 16% from Canada; and 24% from the rest of the world (I bet most of that is from Latin America and Caribbean).
I'm positive that since that time the only real thing that has changed much is the total number of tourist arrivals in each of those places, but I doubt the composition of who those tourists are has changed much.
Looking at the available Caribbean Tourism Organization data (most recent is 2010, anything more update they charge and I'm not going to pay for this), I do wonder what percentage of tourists that visit Puerto Rico are Puerto Ricans that live in the USA and descendants of Puerto Ricans.
Focusing on the Puerto Rican numbers for 2010, out of 3,747,142 tourists arrival only 1,369,944 stayed in hotels/resorts. That's just 37% of all tourists. The tourist figure doesn't includes cruise ship arrivals and I highly doubt the majority of tourists in Puerto Rico are staying in touristic villas. Seem to me most tourists to Puerto Rico are Puerto Ricans and they stay either at their homes or with a relative. On top of that, the average length of stay of the tourists is just 2.9 nights. Plus 90% of the tourists arrived from the USA, 2% from Europe, 2% from the Caribbean; 1% from Canada, and 5% from the rest of the world.
In that same year, Cuba had 2,531,745 tourists. It doesn't say what percentage stayed in hotels/resorts, but looking at the place of origin of tourist arrivals its safe to assume that most tourists are not Cubans. Just 2% of tourists arrived from the USA while 38% were from Canada, 32% from Europe, 15% from the Caribbean; 7% from South America, and 6% from the rest of the world.
Dominican Republic had 4,124,543 tourists with 77.7% of them staying in hotels/resorts. 32% were from Europe, 28% from USA, 16% from Canada; and 24% from the rest of the world (I bet most of that is from Latin America and Caribbean).
I'm positive that since that time the only real thing that has changed much is the total number of tourist arrivals in each of those places, but I doubt the composition of who those tourists are has changed much.
Puerto Rico needs to put more attention to potential markets in Europe and Latin America to bolster its numbers.
I'm sure if Puerto Rico changes the MIN. WAGE to 8 cents an hour and the workers have NO rights we could be like Cuba, come one dude.
Put things under perspective. The U.S. federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour applies to Puerto Rico, meaning that a worker doing a 40-hour week will get about $290. Workers at all-inclusive resorts in the Dominican Republic run by AMResorts are paid less than $60 . In communist-ruled Cuba, average weekly wages are a lot lower just $4 based on government documents provided by the United Nations(which you know its lower because the dictatorship in Cuba always lies about their stats since there is not a free press in Cuba to verify the 1 party government's stats.
there s a huge advantage when you pay your workers less than 4 dollars a week compare to $290 running an hotel, you can offer your rooms, food and services cheaper.
With all that Puerto Rico does well because it gets most of their tourism from the mainland U.S.A. because people don't need a passport to P.R. and the airfares are pretty low and many routes from airlines goes to P.R.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
............not only Puerto Rico has competition in the Caribbean with other nice islands and not so over-crowded but Europe has nice areas like in Spain. Spain's mainland its nice on itself but they have an island of the Mediterranean coast of Spain call Majorca (part of Spain) nice!
