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Over a hundred hotels and inns scattered across the archipelago are set to join the Junte Boricua initiative, thanks to a collaborative agreement between the Puerto Rico Hotel & Tourism Association (PRHTA) and GFR Media. The goal of this partnership is to improve the experience for the thousands of Puerto Ricans in the diaspora planning to visit the Island this summer.

The alliance—signed at the end of February—established the creation of multiple offerings for local tourists and visitors to enjoy while participating in over 100 events scheduled for the occasion. These events will take place at the 78 municipalities from May 1 to August 31.

The chief executive officer of GFR Media, Pedro Zorrilla-García, emphasized that “we’re seeking to make alliances with the industry at Junte Boricua, and different private sectors of the country, in order to prepare for a large gathering of Puerto Ricans during the summer of 2024.”

With the expectation of receiving around 50,000 Puerto Ricans from the diaspora during a four-month period, Zorrilla-García indicated that “we cannot ask to increase room stays in Puerto Rico if we don’t make a good deal with the hotels.”

As such, “we began to talk with the Hotel & Tourism Association about how to create different events to provide the diaspora with options on where they can stay and what they can do in our 78 wonderful municipalities. And, to our surprise, the Board of Directors unanimously supported the concept.”

Meanwhile, he explained that one of the reasons for choosing the summertime for the Junte is to encourage new opportunities for the tourism industry, aimed especially at the Puerto Rican community that lives outside the Island.

“The destination for the diaspora is a known one. They already know Puerto Rico, they remember their time in Mayagüez, Ponce, or Culebra. In addition to the fact that the behavioral pattern we have seen from the visiting diaspora is that 72% stay at their family’s hometown for a while,” he said.

“Not everyone stays the average 8.2 days in an inn while they visit Puerto Rico because they have a mom, dad, cousin, or uncle. What makes these additional experiences interesting is that they give you a reason to stay at a town in Puerto Rico to enjoy the surrounding geographical area,” he assured.

Some of the established terms in the agreement with PRHTA, according to Zorrilla-García are “the opportunities we have to send promotional material from Junte Boricua to hotels.”

For her part, the president of the PRHTA, Clarisa Jiménez-Mayoral, revealed that, in Puerto Rico, “there are over 15,000 rooms endorsed by the Tourism Company. If you add up those that are not endorsed, they probably amount to around 18,000 and 20,000, not counting short-term stays.”

According to Jiménez-Mayoral, “all our partners were invited to participate in this initiative. I would say that, at least, there should be 100 hotels that at the end of the day will share their offers across the Island.”

“I think that the focus has been for the hotel packages is to improve the experience, not complicate things too much because people are going to be staying at a hotel, but they’re also going to be exploring and participating in all the events. It’s something simple that carries value, added with other elements within that offer,” she pointed out.

“One of our participating partners are the Tropical Inns; they’re five small hotels, inns and, of course, large hotels. Basically, the offerings range from the small bed and breakfast to a resort,” she said.

She also predicted that “Junte Boricua will be very good for the destination, for other reasons other than to welcome back these people who, for whatever reason, left Puerto Rico, but who always come back home.”

“I think the Junte is a win-win for everyone. This market has always been important to us; the idea that people arrive during a period when different events are going to be held, which is usually a low season for tourism, except July. In other words, it fills a need within the industry,” she admitted.

Finally, Zorrilla-García outlined that “Junte Boricua is advertising the destination through our website and our partners who will also receive the advertisement. Currently, there are over four million people in the United States who have seen it which is multiplied by seven.”

“One of the interesting things is that we will bring 50,000 additional Puerto Ricans from the diaspora; 50,000 people tied to Puerto Rico. There are over five million people outside the Island who are our brothers and sisters. It will have a multiplier effect for the coming years,” he reminded.

“This agreement plants a seed for something that we will continue to witness for years to come... That’s why, this summer, it’s important that the Puerto Ricans who visit us become our spokespersons in the cities where they live,” he concluded.

For additional details, go to: https://communications.junteboricua.com/hotelsoffers.