Puerto Rico shows stable growth in visits and tourism jobs

As of April, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that 92,700 are employed in the industry, 19% more than before the pandemic .
Job growth has expanded beyond typical tourist hubs. The regions of Aguadilla and Mayagüez have had double-digit employment growth year after year and Ponce leads with 16% more jobs than in the same period last year.

The US Travel Association continues to monitor the recovery of the international travel market. As of March, international arrivals to Puerto Rico are 3% higher than during the same month in 2019. International travel has been slow to recover from the pandemic, with the US averaging 75% of 2019 volume during the same time period. The state of Hawaii has been hardest hit, as overall arrivals to the US from Asia take the longest to recover

. International arrivals to San Juan during the first quarter of the year increased 6% compared to compared to last year, with significant increases in arrivals from Colombia, Canada and Mexico.​​

With strategic marketing efforts in key international markets, including Spain, Colombia, the United Kingdom, Discover Puerto Rico continues to drive interest in the destination as the air transport capacity of these markets continues to grow.

With additional new flights from the Dominican Republic, Colombia, Mexico and Spain for the summer season, overall international capacity is 47% higher than last year through September 30.​​

According to the May issue of the Forward Keys Travel Trends Report, Panama City has become a key gateway hub for Latin America, in particular, for connecting this region with the Caribbean. This is the result of a determined and successful strategy to transform Panama's Tocumen International Airport into an intra-regional airport hub. Panama has become the first option in the transition to the Caribbean, gaining a share over other regional airports, such as Bogotá, Lima and Miami. Passenger movement capacity from Panama to SJU is currently 25% higher than last year through September.

During the winter and spring season in April, the port of San Juan received more than 650,000 visitors, reaching 94% of the 2019 level. Although visitors arriving via cruise ships tend to spend less than other types of visitors to the Island, are a major economic engine for business throughout the San Juan area. Thanks
to more than eight cruise ship flags confirming home port activities as of October, the port of San Juan is getting closer
to achieve pre-pandemic passenger volumes and will result in higher individual visitor spend compared to port-of-call visitors.