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/ Wednesday, December 1, 2021
Edward Zayas,
Chief Strategy Officer, Discover Puerto Rico
The New Year’s tourism miracle
W
hen the clock marks midnight on Dec. 31st, and people around our time zone start to celebrate the arrival of a new year, more than 18 million people will be watching on their TV sets (or streaming to their phones or tablets) how Christmas is celebrated in Puerto Rico. To be honest, by that time, viewers will be well in-tune with images about the Island, different aspects of our culture, local attractions, and so forth. Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve in Puerto Rico is a huge marketing event. It is the real deal. A once-a-year event, to be exact. It is a onetime exposure, but what an exposure it is. According to the National Basketball Association (NBA), the 2021 Playoffs averaged 4.25 million viewers across ABC, ESPN, and TNT networks. The games peaked at 12.5 million viewers when the Milwaukee Bucks defeated the Phoenix Suns during the sixth game of the NBA finals.
The event is going to put Puerto Rico on top of the mind of millions of potential visitors.
The 2021 Major League Baseball World Series averaged 11.75 million viewers. As you can see, viewership is way beyond those stats for the New Year’s event. The over 18 million viewers it reaches is the equivalent of one in every 20 Americans. The first week after it was announced that Puerto Rico will have its Spanish count down and become one of Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve locations, we saw evidence of what a great deal this is for the island. The Convention Center District Authority is investing $3.6 million of American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds on the event. In one week only, we got over $10 million in earned media value. Just to give you an idea, that is the value of the exposure in different news outlets that Puerto Rico has had since the announcement. For every dollar invested, we have already received $2.7 in media exposure. And that can only increase from here. The event production team is
yet to announce Puerto Rico’s countdown host and musical guest. And the event itself generates its own news coverage. The purpose of the event is to bring the destination to the mind of the viewers. That effort is paired with digital marketing and public relations strategies. There is more good news. As of October 31st, the expected occupancy rate for the last week of the year is 41% higher in 2021 than in 2019. This metric is based on hotel bookings, and it defies some current understanding about the industry. Let me give you some context around this: in 2021, visitors are booking with way less anticipation. This means that while visitors now book their visits with around 35 days in
anticipation, New Year’s visitors are planning 60 days ahead. That shows a rising demand surrounding New Year’s celebrations, and Dick Clark’s event is definitely the new kid on the block. The event is going to put Puerto Rico on top of the mind of millions of potential visitors. It is the best way to culminate a record-breaking year in tourism in which the industry has bounced back from a terrible pandemic and, surprisingly, has experienced the highest lodging revenue in its history while arrivals are exceeding 2019 figures. Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve will hopefully extend this year’s tourism good fortunes throughout 2022, when the marketing budget will double with the federal ARPA funds.
