Puerto Rico Tourism - Shit or get off the pot

Lose yourself in paradise!

In many ways Puerto Rico really is an island of enchantment. It truly is a paradise. People like to visit paradise to take them away from the drudgery of everyday life. Put simply, people will pay to be swept away in an illusion of  perfection that they want to represent paradise. It seems like an easy sell. Want to visit paradise? Then come to Puerto Rico.

Yet, even though we want, no NEED, the revenues and jobs that tourism offers, we consistently indulge in self-destructive acts. It's like we can't move forward with any consistent strategy of  delivering paradise, because we keep tripping over ourselves.

And while some will say the market will bear only the extent of the providers ability to fulfill and generate demand. We have a consistent laissez faire attitude of we're happy with the revenues we obtain, because we're not willing to work any harder. Who in business could every understand this sentiment: "I know there's more money on the table, but I'm not willing to DO anything to GO get it."

Yes, Puerto Rico is an island of enchantment, but it is also an isle of paradoxes. How can you both believe that tourism is extremely important to the financial markets of Puerto Rico, and that it is not worth the effort to actually obtain the prosperity a more vibrant tourism market would bring to the island.

Why can't we be honest about this paradox and admit that while tourism is important, it is not vital to our economy. In the United States, a common expression to force someone to make a decision or take action is to tell them to "Shit or get of the pot!" In this expression, pot is an obvious reference back to times when the toilet was literally a pot of some kind that needed to be emptied after each use. I'm very thankful that we can at least keep the toilets working. :-/

Creative Commons Flickr Contributor: abnelphoto.com