That was the chief finding of a recently released survey of travelers to Puerto Rico undertaken in 2011 by the Planning Board, the Puerto Rico Tourism Company, the Public- Private Partnership Authority and the Puerto Rico Institute of Statistics.

Nearly 90 percent of travelers at the two main airports – Luis Muñoz Marín Airport in San Juan and at the Rafael Hernández Airport in Aguadilla – and the capital city cruise ship piers said they would recommend Puerto Rico for a vacation.

The yearlong survey was aimed at gathering information in order to draw up strategies to boost the important tourism industry, which contributes roughly 6 percent to the island’s GDP, or $3.6 billion, and supports about 62,000 direct and indirect jobs, a 27 percent increase since 1990.

“This constitutes a statistics tool to measure the impact of the tourism activity in Puerto Rico,” said Planning Board Director Rubén Flores Marzán.

Of the 89.9 percent of respondents who said they would recommend Puerto Rico,

56.3 percent were in “total agreement” and 32.6 percent were in “agreement.”

The survey results did not list the percentage of visitors who would not recommend the island as a tourism destination.

Some 54.4 percent of the travelers, which were from the U.S. mainland and Europe, said they came to Puerto Rico to shop; 35.6 percent to visit pubs and restaurants; 3.2 percent to enjoy the nightlife; and 1.9 percent to enjoy marine activities. Another 0.5 percent came to Puerto Rico to spend time at the casinos; 0.5% for ecotourism and 0.3 percent to play golf.

The survey also found that 41.9 percent of the respondents stayed at hotels while 42.7 percent stayed with relatives or friends. Around 4.3 percent had homes, 2.3 percent leased apartments and 1.9 percent leased homes. Only 0.5 percent stayed at paradores. Around 0.9 percent stayed at guest houses, 0.8 percent stayed on boats and 0.4 percent on military bases.

Regarding their origin, around 43.4 of the visitors were from Florida and New York, 17.1 percent were from Canada; 9 percent from Mexico and 7.8 percent from the Dominican Republic. The rest were from other states or other countries. The respondents were evenly divided between women and men.

Regarding the age of visitors, the survey showed that 45.5 percent of the travelers were between the ages of 35 to 54, with the highest number (24.0 percent)between the ages of 45 to 54, followed by individuals between the ages of 35 to 44 (21.5 percent).

Luis Fortuno Visitando Empresas hace tres anos

“Por tercera ocasión esta semana visitamos las instalaciones de empresas netamente puertorriqueñas que representan el gran caudal humano que tenemos en la Isla. El lunes el retrato de la reinvención lo tuvimos en Rebecca Feliciano, en Setas de Puerto Rico, en Aibonito.  Ayer, en Guaynabo, Ángel Pérez y su grupo de talentosos profesionales, que ninguno sobrepasaba los 30 años, nos demostraron cuán capaces somos de vender conocimiento. Y hoy, María Meléndez. Todos son muestra de que los puertorriqueños somos capaces de reinventarnos, que no debemos temer a los cambios. Cuando el proyecto es bueno, el Gobierno puede ser un ente facilitador. Y que grandes proyectos se pueden hacer realidad para beneficio de todos”, expresó Fortuño.

Su propietaria, María Meléndez, logró abrir MM, y proveer así un lugar de empleo para 325 familias del suroeste de Puerto Rico, a través de un incentivo de $245,740 de PRIDCO para la creación de empleos y los servicios del Federal Contracting Center, para identificar oportunidades con el Gobierno Federal.

“Aquí la noticia no es solamente como un pequeño negocio está creando cientos de empleos, sino el impacto de esos nuevos empleos en las familias puertorriqueñas de la región. Solo basta con mirarles a los ojos a estos trabajadores. Para ellos, es más que un simple trabajo. Es la satisfacción de saber que contribuyen al bienestar de su familia. El trabajo les brinda estabilidad y seguridad”, concluyó el líder PNP