Over 50 industry partners participated in the event, which included a digital marketing session for small and medium-sized tourism businesses
Discover Puerto Rico’s Workshop and Conversation Series Reaches Caguas
Emanuel Reyes Ruiz, founder and CEO of The Sangría Factory on Betances Street in Caguas, knows firsthand the challenges of marketing his product to tourists visiting Puerto Rico. His efforts have focused on attracting cruise ship passengers.
“We’ve had to knock on many, many doors because it’s hard to bring them here,” said Reyes Ruiz. “I’ve spent 10 years bringing cruise tourists to The Sangría Factory for sangría tastings. It’s a big challenge. Events like this help us tremendously by exposing us to what’s happening in the industry and keeping us connected with the promotion of gastronomic tourism in Caguas,” he added.
He was referring to Conversemos, Discover Puerto Rico’s traveling event series, which was held in Caguas on June 3 at the Eastern Technology Initiative Center (INTECO). There, more than 50 local entrepreneurs and tourism professionals attended workshops on attracting tourists to their businesses, digital marketing, brand development, and social media management.
“I’m walking away with a long to-do list for my business. Sometimes we know we should be marketing, but we don’t do it. This event reminded me—and now I’m going straight to work on it. Especially updating the photos on our social media and Google,” the business owner shared.
Conversemos is an initiative Discover Puerto Rico regularly hosts across the Island to connect with tourism partners and provide training to help them capture more of the visitor economy.
The event also highlighted the free services Discover Puerto Rico offers to the tourism industry. These include creating business profiles on the destination’s official website, amplifying event and festival promotions, access to a digital photo archive, and promotional support through media and social platforms. It also serves as a space to share Discover Puerto Rico’s expertise in market analysis, digital marketing, social media, and brand strategy.
“Discover Puerto Rico’s mission is not only to promote the Island as a destination. The organization was also created to provide tools that help and support local businesses in benefiting from tourism. It’s very important for us to train business owners so they can have the best possible presence in front of potential visitors and effectively offer their goods and services,” said Janid Ortiz, Director of Industry Affairs at Discover Puerto Rico.
The event also included an introductory session about La IDEA (Island Digital Education Academy), which will offer free one-on-one coaching through December to tourism businesses in digital marketing across the main platforms travelers use to plan their trips to Puerto Rico.
“The better represented our tourism businesses are on the platforms travelers use, the stronger the destination’s image, the more robust the visitor experience becomes, and the more broadly the economic benefits of tourism are distributed among local entrepreneurs,” Ortiz concluded.