Making It Up

PRTC marketing official plugs some incorrect facts.

As a long time fan of "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart," I'm very familiar with someone just saying whatever they want, regardless of whether it is true or not.  So when I saw the headline "Puerto Rico Tourism Company rolls out digital initiatives," recently, I was prepared to put on my boots and wade through the bullshit.

According to Nicole Rodríguez, the Puerto Rico Tourism Company’s Chief Marketing Officer:

"We have the advantage of being the only Caribbean destination capitalizing on this extraordinary promotional tool [the Internet] that has more and more users every day.  In fact, hits to our website increased by 217.88 percent in April 2012 vs. April 2011.  With the addition of social media to our promotional efforts, the destination will reach an even greater number of influential tourists.” 

It sounds like something that might be true, hard to say, right?  Well, it's not. I've met some folks at the St Thomas Department of Tourism, and I can assure they know about the Internet.  In other words, Puerto Rico is not the only Caribbean destination using the Internet to lure travelers using the Internet and Social Media.  Their website traffic might be better, but the sole Caribbean island on the Internet, we are not.

Puerto Rico Cruise Industry By The Numbers

Cruise Industry Dreams

Recently I did some Internet window shopping. You know surfing through a variety of websites looking for things you wish you had the money to pay for. Since the cruise ship industry has come under scrutiny. Is Puerto Rico growing or losing, with respect to cruise ship departures (or visits).

Cruising through the Carnival Cruise Ship Website, on a 7 tour beginning in Puerto Rico, and visiting St Thomas, Barbados, St. Lucia, St. Kitts, and St. Marteen. Puerto Rico had the least excursion opportunities. In order of the number of excursions offered:

1. St Thomas: 25 (Population: 51,634)
2. St. Lucia: 22 (Population: 174,000)
3. St Marteen: 15 (Population: 74,852)
4. St Kitts: 14 (Population: 52,402)
5. Barbados: 13 (Population: 273,331)
6. Puerto Rico: 5  (Population: 3,978,702) 

Analysis

We are 17 times the largest of those islands and 77 times larger than the smallest, yet we are last in excursions. Add another paradox to the list. How could this be?

Puerto Rico Tourism Wastes Another $20 Million

Soft corruption at its' best -

Recently Travel Weekly reported that the Puerto Rico Tourism Company was spending $20 million on a new advertising campaign that will run through June. The new marketing campaign for the upcoming winter and peak tourism season combines traditional marketing tactics with an emphasis on social media, smartphone apps and a revamped website.

The $20 million U.S. tourism campaign, makes use of nine electronic billboards in New York's Times Square to display the new advertisements, which feature images of tourists enjoying activities such as golf, snorkeling and gaming. The current ads offer a variation on the "Does It Better" theme, declaring that "We Do Winter Better."

Analysis

Most people can't imagine how much $20 million is. So let's try a few things. Imagine that we still have a population of 4 million. To pay for this campaign, every man, woman, and child paid $5 to have Puerto Rico splashed across the screens around Times Square. Have you ever been there? I have, it is literally an assault on your eyes and ears. Imagine being surrounded by around 50 huge LCD screens all playing a different commercial, at the same time. Oh yeah, that was money was spent wisely.

If we could only use 1/4 of that money to police and clean our beaches, maintain the bathrooms, ...., ahh screw it. I just thought you'd like to know how your hard earned tax dollars were being spent. The whole thing just disgusts me.

We're in the top ten on Puerto Rico Tourism

"Puerto Rico: Shit or get off the pot" has been popping up in my Google searches for Puerto Rico Tourism, which is cool, I guess.

Number 9 & 10 on my search*

* of source, with personalization in Google's PageRank formula your results may very. Especially if you're sharing you're browsing history with them. Then it becomes very unlikely that we could get the same results, even if we do the same search.

Puerto Rico Tourism By The Numbers

Caribbean Visitors in 2011

Destination	Period	Tourist Arrivals
Anguilla	Jan.-May	32,829
Antigua & Barbuda	Jan.-May	114,479
Aruba	Jan.-Aug.	595,155
Bahamas	Jan.-Apr.	467,603
Barbados	Jan.-Aug.	397,073
Belize	Jan.-June	140,616
British Virgin Islands	Jan.-May	175,131
Cayman Islands	Jan.-July	206,453
Cuba	Jan.-July	1,747,508
Curacao	Jan.-July	219,010
Dominica	Jan.-June	34,877
Dominican Republic	Jan.-July	2,712,307
Grenada	Jan.-June	56,208
Guyana	Jan.-July	89,899
Jamaica	Jan.-May	879,331
Martinique	Jan.-May	223,947
Puerto Rico	Jan.-June	781,362
Saint Lucia	Jan.-Aug.	212,486
St. Maarten	Jan.-March	134,025
St. Vincent & the Grenadines	Jan.-June	38,378
Suriname	Jan.-Aug.	143,872
U.S. Virgin Islands	Jan.-Aug.	487,588

Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/11/13/2500560/record-year-expected-for-tourism.html#ixzz1e3Atrhoq

Analisys

I bet we're spending more on tourism than everyone on this list and we're still getting our asses kicked. There has to be a better way! Why don't we want to be successful? If we could unite, I know we can do better. It's just that all signs point to more of the same. There is clearly collusion and soft corruption within the Puerto Rico Tourism Company and the Puerto Rico Hotels Association.

Corporations and governments are the key sources on unfair wealth distribution. I think if more people could get a larger share in the overall wealth distribution it would provide a more stable base to grow our economy.

But if there's more money available to us through the free market, and we don't go after it; what does that say about us? I for one, think the money spent on obvious boondongles within Tourism, should be spent on helping everyone on the island.

At one point I analysed the USVI budget, and they spend around 3-4 million a year on tourism, which includes sanitation and security. I recently heard that our Tourism budget seven-times that, at $28 million, and I heard a rumor that that was going to be doubling during 2012. "¡Mira como llueve antes de los elecciones!" Fifty Six million, and we might make it into third! Wow!

I wonder what the per capita rate is?

Puerto Rico By The Numbers

I was perusing the The World Almanac and Book of Facts 2010 and found some interesting statistics about Puerto Rico. As your reading these numbers, think about what some of them mean and how they influence our current situation.

Puerto Rico:

• Population density: 1,129
• Gross Domestic Product (GDP): $88 billion
• Employment distribution:
  
• 30.8% Government
  
• 17.2% trade/transportation/utilities
• 10.1% professional/business services
• 9.8% education/health
• 7.0% liesure/hospitality
• 6.7% construction
• 4.7% finance
• Unemployment (2008) 11.5%
• Per capita income (est 2006): $12,997
• Lottery:
  
  • total sales: $364 million
  • Profit: $126 million
• Federal civilian employees: 11,308
• Energy production: 23.8 billion kilowatt-hours
  

Analysis

There's a lot to chew on here, but these are the ones that always jump out at me:

1. Our population density is higher than any state in the United States; the simple fact is that we have too many people living here.
   
2. Our largest employer is the governement; nearly double the next closest category.
   
3. While we hear a lot of bitching and moaning about tourism, it only represents 7% of our GDP. You wouldn't believe how much of our budget goes towards supporting this 7%.
4. Our umemployment is high, but this doesn't include all of the people who aren't looking for "real" jobs. Since our black market is so lucrative, many choose to remain off the books.
5. Since many people are generating their revenues off of the books our per capita income looks surprisingly low. Don't believe it.
6. Finally, our lottery systems generate $126 million in profits annually. Where does all that profit go?
   

Hotels Increase 2012 Marketing Budgets for Mobile and Social Campaigns

From Travelclick: Hotels Increase 2012 Marketing Budgets for Mobile and Social Campaigns: Increases in Staff and Budgets Show Optimistic Outlook for Hotel Industry in 2012

Smartphone usage is rapidly increasing around the world. Recognizing this growing trend and the opportunity to capture market share among consumers booking travel via digital devices, global hoteliers are investing more resources into mobile websites and other marketing initiatives.

According to a recent poll conducted by TravelClick 50 percent of hotels plan to put more marketing dollars towards mobile websites and marketing. Overall, 43 percent of hotels are planning to increase overall marketing budgets for 2012. Of those surveyed, 34 percent expect to keep their marketing budgets the same as 2011, and only 3 percent plan to decrease their marketing spend.

"According to Nielsen, 40 percent of the Western Europe and 38 percent of the U.S. cell phone markets are dominated by smartphones. Given these rising numbers, it is essential that hoteliers optimize their websites for mobile use to increase direct bookings from travelers that are using their mobile devices to select rooms," said Jason Ewell, Senior Vice President, E-Commerce, TravelClick.

The poll, which was conducted during a webinar titled: "2011 Second Quarter Global Hotel Industry Update," also showed that almost all the attendees polled (95.3 percent) plan to either increase their workforce (50 percent) or keep their workforce the same (45.3 percent). Of the respondents planning to increase their workforce, 30 percent plan to hire staff specifically for social media.

"Not only are hoteliers increasing budgets for mobile websites and marketing, but they are also increasing staff in areas such as social media. Hoteliers are recognizing how important mobile and social media are to guests, and they have begun to put more resources towards creating and maintaining these channels through staff additions and marketing increases," continued Ewell.

JetBlue launches San Juan to St. Thomas and St. Croix flights

JetBlue Airways, Puerto Rico's largest carrier, today announced that it will launch San Juan Luis Munoz Marin International Airport's (SJU) twice daily service to St. Thomas (STT) and daily service to St. Croix (STX) International Airports – the airline's 69th and 70th destinations - on Monday, December 12, 2011, three days earlier than originally scheduled. Customers seeking a jumpstart on a vacation to the U.S. Virgin Islands can also save money on flights today through 11:59 p.m. ET on Friday, Sept. 23 at www.jetblue.com/new, where trips are selling for as low as $39 each way for travel through Feb. 15, 2012.

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

Puerto Rico Tourism Company Corrects Distortions

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico, Jan. 5, 2011

The following statement may be attributed to Mario Gonzalez Lafuente, Executive Director, Puerto Rico Tourism Company

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico, Jan. 5, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A recent article in the online publication eTurbo News concerning travel to Puerto Rico is riddled with inaccuracies, painting a highly distorted picture of the Island's well-being.

For example, the article suggests that the Island's economic condition is worsening, as measured by a diminution in the Island's bond rating. Exactly the opposite is true. The Island is on the rebound. Just a little over a month ago, for the first time in nearly 30 years, Standard & Poor's upgraded its outlook on Puerto Rico's credit to positive.

S&P credit analyst Horacio Aldrete-Sanchez stated that "the outlook revision is based on our view of the commonwealth's recent implementation of significant expenditure controls and revenue enhancement measures that we believe could help restore budget balance within the next two years." Similarly, the Wall Street Journal recently opined that Gov. Fortuno's economic program should serve as a role model for other U.S. governors.

The article also misrepresents the crime problem. Crime is a problem in many American locales and across the Caribbean. But Gov. Luis Fortuno, in office for two years, is working to ensure that lawbreakers, whatever their crimes, are punished to the fullest extent under the law.

Indeed, Gov. Fortuno has made crime fighting a major priority of his administration. Under his leadership and with federal support, corrupt police officers have been weeded out of the police force, and joint state and federal strike forces are on the offense in the fight against drug-related violence.

Finally, contrary to the author's point-of-view, Puerto Rico has been recognized by many leading travel authorities as a premier travel destination. For example, Fodor's has recognized Puerto Rico as the top travel destination in the Caribbean, while Arthur Frommer's called Puerto Rico one of the top nightlife destinations in the region. Puerto Rico's distinction as a leading destination is also confirmed by the number of leading hotel properties, such as the Sheraton Convention Center, the W Retreat and Spa in Vieques, the Condado Lagoon Villas and the St. Regis Bahia Beach Resort, that have opened in the past 18 months. In addition, the Condado Vanderbilt and the Ritz-Carlton Reserve Dorado Beach Resort & Spa are opening soon.

Puerto Rico faces a bright future, and the article should have reflected that.

SOURCE Puerto Rico Tourism Company

CONTACT: Greg Stanko, Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide.

Editors Note: This is a verbatim copy of the press release from Ogilvy .

The Engima of Puerto Rico Tourism

For me, nothing describes the enigma of Puerto Rico better than it's sorted relationship with tourism. For on the one hand we have our stated goal, which was recently summarized by Governor Luis Fortuño: "Tourism enriches our economy and is a very important focus for us." While on the other hand we have such an ineffective approach to managing our tourism industry that it makes one wonder if there is a coordinated and intentional plan to sabotage that industry.

I remember asking a highly intelligent, well connected, Puerto Rican friend of mine why Puerto Rico wasn't more like Orlando, and his response was "Did you ever consider that Puerto Ricans like Puerto Rico just the way it is?" Now I don't think he was jerking my chain or kidding, so like wine, savor his statement for a while, before reacting.

With recent reports of Governor Fortuño signing eight new tourism initiatives into law, it appears that reform of the Tourism industry is at hand. In this first post on tourism, I'll examine an initiative launched recently by the Puerto Rico Tourism Company, again I would like to remind everyone that I don't go looking for things to bash, they come to me. My wife sometimes tells me, "You don't think Puerto Ricans can do anything right," so I guess it does seem like I focus on the negative too much here in Dondequiera. I think for the most part I tend to stick to what I was taught as a child, "If you don't anything nice to say, then don't say anything at all." However, what gets my blood boiling is when people make claims that under examination only reveal hypocrisy, vanity, and plain old incompetence .

In my opinion, here in Puerto Rico we accept bad service too easily. I believe the tendency is to avoid a confrontation about "hot" topics like incompetence, bad service, or injustice because we don't want to make anyone look bad. So instead of confronting a situation head-on and calling someone (or some company) out on doing a terrible job, we say "¡Ay Bendito! and let it slide, but then we'll go around to all of our friends talking badly about someone (or some company). Then when presented with the same situation again, we try to navigate around the situation, just to avoid confrontation.

SeePuertoRico.com

Recently the Puerto Rico Tourism Company announced a new integrated marketing campaign designed to increase awareness and make Puerto Rico a "top of mind" destination. At the center of the initiative is a series of Elliott Erwitt photographs taken during a return trip to Puerto Rico last spring where the world-renowned photographer re-discovered the Islands' essence: romantic, rich in culture and experience.

The $10 million advertising campaign will run on networks like Bravo, Food Network, Fine Living, Travel Channel, CNN and CNBC. Print ads will run in titles like Vanity Fair, Architectural Digest, Food & Wine, In Style, Town & Country, and Travel & Leisure. The advertising plan, will run in New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Washington DC, Dallas/Ft. Worth, Atlanta and Miami, consisting of television, print and online webisodes with messaging that evokes a personal connection with Puerto Rico and inspires people to visit the islands.

Observations

First of all, and I've said this before, I don't think that big budget advertising campaigns are the answer to reforming our tourism industry. I'd say that advertising is more of the same, and by the way, I'll be getting to the scandal behind us re-adopting "Lo hace mejor" slogan. Now I've not seen any of the print or television ads, although I'm sure they're stunning. Nor have I found any of the webisodes mentioned in the press release. No, I'll be approaching this from a web perspective, specifically the Internet Marketing aspects of the campaign:

1. Non existent SEO - I hope they take a little bit of the money they are spending and buy their way to the top of any search for "See Puerto Rico", because right now the site they created SeePuertoRico.com doesn't even show up when you search for the words in the domain name. Ladies and Gentlemen, you have to try very hard to avoid getting a site associated with the words used in domain name itself.
   
   In fact, I would submit, only a complete noob would create a web site that couldn't be indexed by the words used in a domain name. Once again, I would point to Adobe Flash as the culprit, but the problem with Flash is usually indexing content inside the movie, I mean you can't even find this site if you search for it. I mean check out the meta name="keywords" collection. Did they leave anything out? Well perhaps one important one "See Puerto Rico."
   
   
2. All rights reserved - Did you know that there is an alternative to the traditional copyright, namely, Creative Commons? On the Flash movie, it clearly assigns the traditional copyright, "All rights reserved" to the Puerto Rico Tourism Company (PRTC). Now one can assume from that declaration that the photographer Elliott Erwitt transferred the copyright of the images used in the website to the PRTC. So they could license them anyway they want, so the question is: "Why wouldn't they want to "protect" the images?" The answer involves understanding the importance of the Remix culture on the Internet.
   
   Essentially the logic goes something like this. We assume that the PRTC paid a hefty amount for the world famous photographer to capture these images. Putting a "All rights reserved" declaration on the images only protects them in the United States, those words are mostly meaningless elsewhere. But if they did pay a lot for them, wouldn't you want the most people possible getting a hold of the pictures? If they are, as Jaime Lopez, executive director of The Puerto Rico Tourism Company says:

   "He depicted the true realism of Puerto Rico; he captured our beaches, yes, but he unveiled so much more with images of our rain forests, our architecture and culture that make Puerto Rico so special."

   Then wouldn't you want everyone to have access to the pictures to use as they want, just as long as they promote Puerto Rico as a, how did that go again? Oh yeah, a "top of the mind" destination.
   
   
3. Linking - Now one of the reasons that no one can find the website "See Puerto Rico," is because they don't even link to it from their own website. Go on, go check it out. So riddle me this: "Why would you create a new $10 million campaign and not even link to it from your main website?" Is it sabotage or ineptitude? If anyone has seen any of these ads, can you tell me whether they direct you to the "See Puerto Rico" site or to the main GoToPuertoRico.com site?
   
   
4. Flash - Again, why Adobe Flash? It takes a long time to load and none of the content gets indexed. When are we going to get over this hammer predisposition, that every website looks like an Adobe Flash nail?
   

By the way, as soon as I hit publish, I bet this article will be the number one hit in a search for "See Puerto Rico." Why, because Dondequiera is recognized by the search engines as an expert in all things Puerto Rico, in other words, we have a strong search engine optimization strategy that guarantees that our content is indexed effectively. I've also used a few tricks within this post to ensure a high index for the phrase "See Puerto Rico". Get it?

So once again, riddle me this: "Why doesn't the PRTC have a blog which shares information about Puerto Rico?" or "Why does the press link on the GoToPuertoRico.com have only one news item about No Passport Required?" or "Why doesn't it include a copy of the press release they sent out announcing the See Puerto Rico campaign?" And finally, "What conclusion am I supposed to come to, when you put all of this together?"

¡Ay Bendito! They did the best they could! At least they're trying! No! I'm sorry! If they are going to spend $10 million of our hard earned (and collected) tax dollars, I believe they can do much better. We can and should demand better, and the first step is criticizing them publicly for their shortcomings. I hope you can understand.

Two sides of the same coin: Puerto Rico empowers a criminal culture

When I read of the horrific events that lead to the kidnap, rape, and murder of Sara Kuszak, I was shocked and stunned. How could a human be so evil? But that was before I read the statements of psychologist Salvador Santiago, Dean of Students, School of Medicine. But to hear the true voice of evil, well that would be left up to Clarisa Jiménez, President of the Hotel and Tourism Association.

You know I was ready to lay out how the demonic tragedy of Sarah, so recent after the tragic loss of Emily Villanueva Caballero were two sides of the same coin. I was going to say that while these were acute examples of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, they were still perfect examples of the criminal culture which haunts Puerto Rico. But know I don't need to, because Dr. Santiago and Ms. Jiménez have clearly illustrated that for me. In my opinion, both of their comments demand that they be removed from the elite positions which they now occupy. THey are a both a disgrace to humankind.

First, while Dr Santiago is right that our "machista" culture tends to objectify women, treat them as property, and thus diminish their equality with men, I believe he is missing the larger issue. According to Dr. Santiago, "La magnitud de este problema no es tan grande aquí. La moraleja debe ser preguntarnos qué estamos haciendo para disminuir la cantidad de hombres que todavía piensan que las mujeres pueden ser ultrajadas, violadas o que no son iguales a ellos." Roughly translated with a little emphasis he says, "This isn't a big problem here in Puerto Rico. (Really? Tell that to Sarah's family and loved ones. I submit to you that any society which looks at the tragic end to this poor woman's life and rationalizes its' significance away is destined for an existence of misery, tragedy, and ultimate downfall. I say that that the only frequency that is acceptable is zero. No one should have to experience what she did.) The moral of this event is to ask ourselves what are we doing to reduce the number of men that still think women can be abducted, violated, or that they are not equal to men. (How about, what are we doing as a society to eliminate the number of people that believe that they can violate the essential rights of any human being and break, with total impunity, laws which are supposed to protect its citizens?)

But it's Ms. Jiménez's statement that really nails the collective thinking about crime in Puerto Rico. In a shameful excuse, she describes Sarah's death as having serious implications, “por tratarse de una mujer joven sin pasado criminal." Translated she is saying that there are serious implications for the treatment and death of a young woman without a criminal record. No Ma'am, there are serious implications when an "upstanding citizen" such as your self believes it is acceptable for this to happen TO ANYONE. Just because someone has a criminal past doesn't mean that they're not human anymore.

What we as a society have not realized is that we can not draw lines around crime and say these crimes are acceptable, but when it happens to someone like Sarah or Emily they are unacceptable. Crime should be unacceptable in all of its' forms and disguises. The level of denial someone has to have to believe that permitting a culture of crime within the poor and the drug addicted will not spill over to touch ever part of our society is bordering on psychotic. It is now clear to me that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. knew that the poor and drug afflicted of our society would become the new blacks, the new slaves to be treated as inhuman, unequal, and therefore in no need of our compassion or protection.

Oh and by the way, I think that it is incredibly disrespectful and even bordering on negligent for the new Director of Tourism, Jaime López Díaz, to state that his office needed to implement the Public Relations Crisis Plan, "para llevar el mensaje a nivel internacional de que esto es un caso sin precedentes en la Isla y que Puerto Rico continúa siendo un destino seguro y de excelencia.” What he is saying is that that are going to broadcast at the international level that this is an unprecedented case in the island and that Puerto Rico continues to be a safe and excellent destination. Yes it is so safe that it's elite citizens want to live in walled communities surrounded by 24 hour security. Yes, it is so safe that those that don't live in a secure community must place bars over every possible entrance to their houses. Yes it is so safe that the ex-Director of the power company needed 3 full-time body guards. Yes, it is such an excellent place that most of the bathrooms in our public beaches are either broken or locked. Yes our beaches are so excellent that they look like trash dumps.

With my deepest sympathies to the families of Sarah Kuszak and Emily Villanueva Caballero, I am only left with hope. As Puerto Rico continues its' rapid descent to the bottom in every possible aspect of civilization, we are one step closer to things getting better. We will finally wake up. This is not the Matrix, we will eventually have our eyes wrenched open to see the disaster, suffering, and insanity that we have created.

Flickr Creative Commons Contributor: Steve Rhodes

Why advertising won't save tourism

Do you remember back in 2007 when the Puerto Rico Tourism Company announced they were spending half a million dollars on creating a new brand for Puerto Rico? Besides it being a really stupid idea, did you know that they have yet to unveil that new brand?

Why is it a stupid idea? In Online Revealed Conference I had an interesting debate with an attendee about whether advertising worked. Now I admitted that an absolute position such as 'Advertising doesn't work' is unrealistic because it is a gross generalization and simplification of the issue. However, I still contend that the majority of advertising is completely useless.

Once again, Seth Godin put it much better than I could when he recently wrote about "What advertising can't fix." In my opinion, this sentiment describes nearly exactly the mentality behind the PRTC strategy for marketing Puerto Rico.

If you talk to a senior PRTC employee they will probably bring up the number of hotel rooms, the number of flights to Puerto Rico, the amount of advertising they are doing, but I doubt very seriously they will talk about what tourists experience when they visit Puerto Rico.

I know that it must be difficult for most marketing traditionalists to admit that advertising is not nearly as effective as they would like to believe, but it still baffles me how little credence most marketing directors, and especially the current one for PRTC, place in the importance of experience. If it isn't important, then please tell me why most people are insanely crazy about visiting Orlando and Walt Disney World. And plu-ease don't tell me that it's because of marketing. Unless you are willing to concede that the product is the marketing. From movies to DVDs to the amusement parks, everything works together to create an illusion. An illusion that is fulfilled when you check into their hotels or step foot into one of their parks.

Now imagine you are Joe Palooka from Ohio and you've decided to come to Puerto Rico to catch a cruise. You take a taxi ride to the Old San Juan Sheraton and you see buildings with bars on the windows, you see beggars at the stop lights, you see trash littering the streets. There is graffitti on most buldings that aren't covered with a thousand bills advertising everything from the latest politicians to strippers to fumigators. There are a bunch of people protesting and camping at the entrace to Old San Juan.

You arrive at the hotel, check-in, and get settled. You are determined to see Old San Juan and venture off into the streets. There you encounter abandoned buildings, abandoned cars, more beggars, more trash. You are bombarded by traffic with horns blaring from impatient drivers. Most of the citizens you encounter seem indifferent to your presence if not offended by your color and nationality.

Since you are close you decide to go to Escambron Beach, one of the "blue flag" beaches of Puerto Rico. You are let off in front of the beach and the trash cans are overflowing, the bathrooms are closed and port-a-potties dot the landscape. Again, there is trash everywhere; on the streets, in the parking lot, on the sand, and in the ocean.

Once back home your friends ask, "How was your trip?" They press for answers, "How was Old San Juan? It looks so beautiful in the ads." Now I ask you, what do you think Joe is going to say? When he relates his experience to his friends, his family, or his co-workers, what adjectives do you think he will use? Do you think he will use the adjectives that are highlighted in the advertisements or the ones from his personal experience? Ladies and gentlemen, I don't care what statistics you can provide, I'm going to have to go with Seth on this one: "But if it is broken, advertising isn't going to fix it."

Flickr Creative Commons Contributor: Experiencias de viagem de 1 Brasileiro

Destinia introduces English hotel search

One of these days, of course when DóndeEs.com is a huge success, I'd like to go back to Spain to visit my wife's aunt in Córdaba. While the hotel we stayed at last time was in a great location, right across from the 'La Mezquita,' we left wishing that we had stayed someplace else. The problem was, before we booked our hotel, we didn't really know that much about Córdaba. I wish we would have had access to a resource like Destinia.com. Note: The following is a paid review.

Destinia introduces in English market

Destinia is a Spanish online travel agency that is now introducing it's services for the English language market. With Destinia, travelers can search hotels within a catalog of more than 150.000 hotels in countries all over the world. In addition, the site provides searches for activities, beaches, car rentals, and flights.

Probably the best way to search for hotels is to use their wide selection of travel guides. This way simplifies the search by guiding you through selecting the continent, country, region and place and then choosing the hotel that most interests you. The other option is by using the hotel search engine, where you can enter your destination, the arrival and departure dates, the number of people traveling with you and rooms required. This will do an availability search and will offer up a list of the the best hotel deals.

I'm not sure when we'll be able to go back, hopefully soon, but I do know one thing. When we start our planning, I know we'll use Destinia.com to do our hotel research and probably make our reservations.

Vacationing in Utuado

Your old pal Don Dees and his family are heading out to the mountains of Puerto Rico. We're going to be staying at one of the paradores located in Utuado close to Lago Dos Bocas (Two Mouths Lake). We're looking forward to spending some time getting to know the central/western mountainous region of the island known as La Cordillera Central.

Did you know?

• In land area Utuado is the third largest municipality in Puerto Rico (after Arecibo and Ponce).
  
• According to the 2000 US Census the city has a population of 35,336 spread over 24 wards and Utuado Pueblo (the downtown area and the administrative center of the city).
  
• The name Utuado derives from the Taíno word “otoao", meaning "between mountains."
• In 1906 Utuado had the honor of being visited by President Theodore Roosevelt, who recommended building a bridge in the area known as "La Playita."

During my absence, I'll be automagically posting a few articles. I hope you enjoy them. When I get back, hopefully I'll have some interesting posts from my trip. Happy Constituion Day!

Online Revealed - An Internet Marketing Conference for Tourism

Have you ever wondered what it would do to our economy if airline tickets became too expensive for the majority of tourists? Will virtual tourism replace it? Maybe Second Life would become the preferred way to travel. Or even more plausible, maybe Cisco Systems would invent a variation of their incredible Telepresence system that would allow virtual tourists to visit Puerto Rico from the cheap and safe confines of a local Telepresence center?

Did you know?

In a recent presentation by John Chambers, CEO for Cisco Systems, Inc., mentioned that Cisco's TelePresence virtual conferencing system was a key component to their strategy. Chambers says the conferencing system has saved Cisco $180 million in travel expenses in the past year. Additionally, Chambers says he interfaced with twice as many customers but traveled 50% less.

Inaugural Internet Marketing Strategy Conference - Online Revealed Caribbean

Fortunately for us, the oil crisis hasn't reached such a drastic point, but it should be clear to everyone in the local tourism industry that competition for tourism dollars will get increasingly more difficult. If you ask ole Don Dees (hammer), I'll tell you that this problem (nail) sure looks like it needs an Internet-based solution.

So the recently announced Online Revealed Caribbean conference should hold immense value as Puerto Rico prepares for the heightened competition to come. Online Revealed Caribbean comes to Puerto Rico this September 17-19, 2008 at the Caribe Hilton. Travel industry professionals can register for the two day one of a kind opportunity at www.onlinerevealed.com and take advantage of the early bird registration fee of only $299, until August 15th.

Attendees of the first ever Online Revealed Caribbean Conference will hear straight talk about how to reach customers directly through tactics like Search Engine Optimization, Paid Search Advertising, Online PR, Social Media Marketing and more. Content will include real case studies of how destinations have been successful in driving traffic to their websites and realizing revenues that are trackable back to online marketing initiatives, along with practical application workshops covering how to get started with website development, web marketing, measuring online success, and more.

In the conference you'll learn how to (detailed agenda):

• Optimize a website to be found in search engines - above the competition (Did you know? Three-fifths of online travel shoppers cite search engines as resources to research their vacations, source:PhoCusWright)
• Maximize what your Destination Marketing Organizations can do to help your web presence
• How to build your online reputation through Online PR
• Going beyond Tripadvisor! Learn what you can do to become a part of the conversations about your brand online
• Analyze your best performing sources of online business and how to maximize each channel
• Hear case studies of successful online marketing within the Caribbean travel area and beyond to other destinations who have had success driving traffic to purchase travel online
• Network with industry professionals and technology experts in a interactive and fun environment.

Real People, Real Solutions, Real Caribbean!

Did you know? When online travel shoppers move from searching to travel planning, they usually begin at an online travel website (54 percent), source: Nielsen//NetRatings.

Who is Online Revealed? With three successful annual conferences in Canada reaching over 800 tourism professionals, presenting over 46 workshops and featuring innovative local and international tourism professionals and technology providers who together connect the dots and bring clarity to marketing tourism products online. Online Revealed recognizes the unique opportunity that the 24 countries within the Caribbean travel market have to reach the millions who are directly searching and buying travel online.

Flickr Creative Commons Contributor: blucolt