Discover P.R. outlines 1st year efforts to reposition the island’s brand
Destination Marketing Organization Discover Puerto Rico presented the first industry report of the year, highlighting efforts and successes accomplished to reposition the island’s brand, and establishing priorities in which they will focus to continue strengthening the market abroad in 2019.
In front of an audience of nearly 400 professionals from the tourism, travel and convention industries, Discover Puerto Rico CEO Brad Dean, Chief Marketing Officer Leah Chandler, Chief Sales Officer Ed Carey, and Jeniffer Rosa, communications vice president, recounted key efforts made and how they’re working to position Puerto Rico among the main destinations to visit worldwide.
“Events such as Hamilton and the Puerto Rico Open not only managed to attract tourists to the island, but also had a ripple effect achieving unprecedented exposure, such as the taping of the Jimmy Fallon show and a significant increase of presence in social networks,” said Chandler.
The executive mentioned other achievements such as the
selection of Puerto Rico as an outstanding destination in 2019 by various global publications, including obtaining the first place in the famous New York Times list of places to go.
When it comes to the groups, meetings and convention segment, the DMO reported significant growth since July 1st, 2018.
“In the month of February, the industry produced more room nights than the average monthly production in our last best year of 2014,” said Carey.
“Leisure plan is being developed to target the island’s most important wholesalers, consortia and travel agents through historical data and direct feedback from partner hotels. This, along efforts made with industry retail organizations, has allowed us to maximize the reach of our message,” Carey said.
Discover Puerto Rico also touted the launch of the destination’s new website that seeks to captivate and convince visitors to select the Island as a place to vacation or carry out business events and conventions.
The website seeks to help improve content viewing, security and search optimization, providing an easy-to-use navigation structure with more than 300 pages of new content.
“This content reviews the attractions of all regions of Puerto Rico to meet the goal of marketing the entire island as a tourist destination,” said Dean.
The achievements are the “beginning of a more comprehensive plan” that includes the development of a new brand identity, the development of an international strategy in partnership with Brand USA, as well as the offering of digital workshops to the industry, Dean said.
“We have joined forces with major industry players, such as Google, Miles Partnership, and Brand USA, among others, to maximize the reach of Discover Puerto Rico. We will also provide workshops to local members of our industry in order to strengthen our digital presence. Promoting Puerto Rico is a team effort and developing collaborative alliances strengthens our position abroad,” said Dean.
“As we approach the first anniversary of Discover Puerto Rico, we continue to bring best in class practices and innovative tools that will allow us to achieve our strategic business objectives,” concluded Dean.
