{"id":5084980,"date":"2016-02-06T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-02-06T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ctlatinonews.com\/tourism-in-puerto-rico-up-despite-the-islands-debt-crisis\/"},"modified":"2016-02-06T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2016-02-06T05:00:00","slug":"tourism-in-puerto-rico-up-despite-the-islands-debt-crisis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/latinonewsnetwork.com\/ctln\/2016\/02\/06\/tourism-in-puerto-rico-up-despite-the-islands-debt-crisis\/","title":{"rendered":"Tourism In Puerto Rico Up Despite The Island&#039;s Debt Crisis"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> Photo credit: laht.com<br \/>\nDiane Alverio<br \/>\nCTLatinoNews.com<br \/>\nArriving in San Juan, Puerto Rico has always been one of my favorite experiences. It\u2019s the only place I know of that when you land, passengers cheer and clap wildly.<br \/>\nBut this year, in addition to the excitement over being able to exchange the harsh winter for sun, beach, and temperatures in the 80\u2019s every day, when the wheels touched the ground many\u00a0were also wondering if instead of a relaxed getaway, \u00a0would they\u00a0find themselves\u00a0 in the midst of a political saga.<br \/>\nFor months now, Puerto Rico has been mired in a debt crisis that has overshadowed other news from this Caribbean island, especially about its key business \u2013 tourism.\u00a0\u00a0 A commonwealth of the U.S., the local government has been struggling with a crushing\u00a0 72 billion dollar debt, its hedge fund collectors have called for austerity measures by laying off government workers and not paying pensions, this while the U.S. Congress battles it out on how to help restructure the debt.<br \/>\nIt\u2019s no wonder why many might be curious to know if all this political maneuvering affects the more than 3 million visitors who travel here each year.<br \/>\nThe answer is apparently &#8220;no&#8221; at this point. Tourists are not staying away.\u00a0 In fact, according to Milton Segarra, President and CEO, Meet Puerto Rico, the overall key tourism indicators in Puerto Rico are all up over last year\u2019s peak season. \u00a0As for the basic services travelers rely on, he said, &#8220;Airports, hotels, taxis, communication services and other elements of Puerto Rico\u2019s tourism infrastructure are not affected by the government\u2019s financial status.&#8221;<br \/>\nJetBlue, the only airline from Bradley International Airport with a direct daily flight to San Juan, reports that its flights have not seen a dip in traffic or demand.\u00a0 Instead, Elizabeth Ninomiya, a JetBlue spokesperson, said they have seen a capacity increase of over 24% over the same period in 2015. As a result, JetBlue is adding 85 more flights to meet the demand through September of this year.<br \/>\nFrom my vantage point of having spent a few weeks in Puerto Rico this past\u00a0January,\u00a0I encountered just a few signs regarding the island\u2019s financial issues. Goods are more expensive than I remember and the most noticeable change is the sales tax, which has increased to 11.5 percent and unless the debt situation is resolved, it may go up to 16.5 percent on April 1<sup>st<\/sup>.<br \/>\nNot to minimize the hardship this may cause residents, but for many tourists who have traveled to far costlier destinations, this increase apparently seems a small price to pay in pursuit of their enjoyment.<br \/>\nEven many residents say it\u2019s business as usual.<br \/>\nJoy Salvo, who grew up in Wallingford and now operates Barefoot Adventures in the scenic northwestern town of Rincon, says the debt issue is not going to affect tourists. \u00a0She is seeing the same number of visitors to her business as in previous years and more investors coming into Rincon.\u00a0 \u00a0&#8220;The news has been so hyped up. If you think about it, Puerto Rico\u2019s debt is so much smaller than that of the United States,&#8221; she said.<br \/>\nAnother former state resident, Fernando Comulada a retired banking executive, says \u2018this debt thing\u2019 doesn\u2019t mean you can\u2019t have a good vacation here. \u00a0He points out, &#8220;Many people today worry about traveling to many places in the world; Puerto Rico is a safe destination from that perspective.&#8221;<br \/>\nHe is also quick to add, &#8220;Having fun, enjoying life is part of our culture.\u00a0\u00a0 We will never give that up.\u00a0 Visitors who come here know that and love to share in it.&#8221;<br \/>\nMeanwhile Elby Pagano, CEO of\u00a0the Manchester based, Interpreters and Translators, Inc. \u00a0who has a second home on the island doesn&#8217;t believe tourists will really ever give up traveling to Puerto Rico.\u00a0\u00a0 She cites its many highlights, such as\u00a0Old San Juan,\u00a0 and other\u00a0popular tourist destinations like beautiful\u00a0beaches and the coffee plantations in the island&#8217;s mountainous region.<br \/>\nShe too adds,\u00a0&#8221;\u00a0One cannot find friendlier, more hospitable people anywhere in the world. When in a restaurant people wish one another, &#8220;Buen proevecho&#8221; and the greeting of choice is &#8220;Buen Dia&#8221;.<br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #434343;font-family: verdana;font-size: medium\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Diane Alverio CTLatinoNews.com Arriving in San Juan, Puerto Rico has always been one of my favorite experiences. It\u2019s the only [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","ghostkit_customizer_options":"","ghostkit_custom_css":"","ghostkit_custom_js_head":"","ghostkit_custom_js_foot":"","ghostkit_typography":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[998,1000,1001],"tags":[1032],"ppma_author":[565],"class_list":["post-5084980","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ct-business","category-ma-business","category-ri-business","tag-barefoot-adventuresdiane-alveriofernando-comuladopuerto-rican-debt-criistourism-andf-puerto-rico"],"acf":[],"mb":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":false,"thumbnail":false,"medium":false,"medium_large":false,"large":false,"1536x1536":false,"2048x2048":false},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Jermaine Smith","author_link":"https:\/\/latinonewsnetwork.com\/ctln\/author\/jay\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Diane Alverio CTLatinoNews.com Arriving in San Juan, Puerto Rico has always been one of my favorite experiences. It\u2019s the only [&hellip;]","authors":[{"term_id":565,"user_id":0,"is_guest":1,"slug":"news-editor","display_name":"News Editor","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&r=g","0":null,"1":"","2":"","3":"","4":"","5":"","6":"","7":"","8":""}],"mfb_rest_fields":["title","uagb_featured_image_src","uagb_author_info","uagb_comment_info","uagb_excerpt","authors"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/latinonewsnetwork.com\/ctln\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5084980","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/latinonewsnetwork.com\/ctln\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/latinonewsnetwork.com\/ctln\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinonewsnetwork.com\/ctln\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinonewsnetwork.com\/ctln\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5084980"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/latinonewsnetwork.com\/ctln\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5084980\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/latinonewsnetwork.com\/ctln\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5084980"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinonewsnetwork.com\/ctln\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5084980"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinonewsnetwork.com\/ctln\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5084980"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinonewsnetwork.com\/ctln\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=5084980"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}