Tim Leffel’s Cheapest Destinations

Puerto Rico Wants You

I spend a fair bit of time in Make Your Travel Dollars Worth a Fortune on the fact that well-known tourist destinations buy a lot of good publicity and advertising. There’s nothing inherently wrong with that and it’s how business works, but most tourists are blissfully unaware of how much they are influenced by this onslaught of messages. They have no idea that England, for instance, spends more on marketing in the U.S. than all of Eastern Europe and a good chunk of Western Europe added together.

Here’s a very current example. Have you heard that you can visit Puerto Rico without a passport? Well in case you’ve been living in a cave or have been paying no attention to travel media stories and advertising, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands are the spots in the Caribbean where U.S. citizens can still travel without a passport. If you did hear this news or saw an ad about it, then you have been at least mildly attuned to the media around you. The Wall Street Journal reported last week that “Puerto Rico is conducting a $36 million advertising campaign, looking to capitalize on that sizable slice of the population that doesn’t have a passport.”

In anyone’s book, $36 million is a lot of dough to spend on ads and wooing the press. So here’s my point: there’s a good reason you’ve been hearing a lot about Puerto Rico. They spent a lot to make sure of it. There’s a good reason you read loads of tired articles about England and see their ads everywhere, yet see almost nothing about equally (or more) attractive destinations without much of a war chest. The wealthy destinations are spending like they’re Coca-Cola and devote just as much time talking about branding and quarterly ad campaigns. The same is true with Thailand, Las Vegas, Australia, Costa Rica, or Mexico. It’s no conspiracy, it’s not underhanded. But just be aware that if you lately have felt some nagging feeling you’ve always wanted to check out Puerto Rico, well, there are lots of other nice places to visit in the Caribbean. Just take a thorough look at all the options—and get a passport already!