Puerto Rico Hotel Data Reflects Visitor Boom

Puerto Rico’s growing visitor arrivals are producing booming lodging demand across the destination. The island’s overall hospitality demand has reached “unprecedented” levels, Discover Puerto Rico (DPR) officials said, with nearly three million room nights reserved through May, a 12 percent year-over-year increase compared with 2022.

Meanwhile, hotel demand has increased by 11 percent, with hotels and resorts representing 60 percent of total demand. Short-term rentals bookings grew 14 percent between 2022 and 2023 with demand doubling since 2019, DPR officials said in a July statement.

Puerto Rico’s strong demand is also reflected through its hotel rates, which have averaged $315 through May, a six percent year-over-year increase compared with 2022. However, the destination’s average daily hotel rate in May was $267, a smaller two percent increase over 2022.

“The post-COVID rush to travel pushed hotel and airline prices higher,” DPR officials said in a statement. “But hotel prices have grown much more slowly in recent months, with airfares falling last month, the first time since the start of the Omicron variant in late 2021.”

DPR also reports that through June 2023, more than three million visitors arrived at Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport, an 18 percent increase from last year’s record high through the first six months of the year.

Furthermore, between April and June 2023, international arrivals into Puerto Rico were up 32 percent year-over-year compared with 2022, according to travel research firm Forward Keys.

Puerto Rico additionally reports the highest domestic and international passenger throughput of any domestic destination through May 2023 according to the U.S. Travel Association.

The island posted a 34.6 percent growth rate compared with May 2019, while the national average remained down 0.5 percent from the same period, said DPR officials.