The Bad Bunny Puerto Rico Effect | Live From IPW 2026

Welcome to a special IPW 2026 series of View From Afar. In this episode, recorded live from the conference floor, Discover Puerto Rico⁠ CEO ⁠Jorge Perez⁠ sits down with Afar editorial director Billie Cohen for one of our most fascinating travel industry interviews yet: a look at the Bad Bunny Puerto Rico effect, and how one artist's residency rewrote the island's tourism story. Jorge's history is intertwined with the star. He ran the convention center for Bad Bunny's first major concert in 2018, then the Coliseo de Puerto Rico where the 2025 residency took place. That run brought roughly 420,000 visitors and more than 200 million dollars in economic impact, and his job now is turning a moment into a movement. In this conversation, Jorge and Billie discuss: What the Bad Bunny Puerto Rico residency actually meant, 31 nights, visitors from 108 countries, and a wave of organic content money cannot buy The strategy behind it, from targeting the low season to a call to come to the island rather than tour the mainland Why searches for Puerto Rico jumped 245 percent after the Super Bowl halftime, and how authentic culture, including three of the world's five bioluminescent bays, keeps people coming How stays nearly doubled, shifting the demographic toward Europe and South America Turning the spike into record numbers, 8.5 million visitors in 2025 and the best quarter in the island's history in early 2026, powered in part by the World Baseball Classic and the Puerto Rico Open The biggest lesson Jorge took from it all, and what Puerto Rico builds next This is one in a series of travel industry interviews and tourism experts interviews recorded live at IPW 2026, part of View From Afar's ongoing look at travel trends 2026, destination management, and travel consumer insights. For the full story of the Bad Bunny Puerto Rico moment and why the island's momentum did not fade when the music stopped, it is a front-row conversation with one of the hospitality industry leaders shaping the future of travel. Chapters 0:00 Welcome to Puerto Rico, live from IPW 2:00 Inside the Bad Bunny residency: 31 nights, 108 countries 4:00 The strategy: low season, longer stays, and a search spike 8:00 Turning a spike into record-breaking numbers 9:00 The best quarter in Puerto Rico's history 11:00 Bioluminescent bays and a built-to-serve island 16:00 The biggest lesson, and what comes next Resources The Afar guide to Puerto Rico Our Unpacked episode about exploring music on the island Stay Connected Subscribe to View From Afar to catch all our IPW 2026 episodes this week. Follow @AfarMedia on ⁠Instagram⁠ and ⁠TikTok⁠ for behind-the-scenes IPW content. ⁠Sign up⁠ for our travel industry newsletter, Afar Advisor. Rate and review the show to help other travel professionals discover these insights. Explore our other podcasts, ⁠Travel Tales⁠ and ⁠Unpacked⁠. This IPW 2026 special series was recorded live. View From Afar is a production of Afar Media and a part of Airwave Media's podcast network (email ⁠advertising@airwavemedia.com⁠ if you would like to advertise on our podcast). The podcast is produced by Aislyn Greene and Nikki Galteland, with assistance from Michelle Baran and Billie Cohen. Music composition from Epidemic Sound. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices