Tourist Spatial Behavior and Motivations: A Study of Non-U.S. Travelers in Puerto Ric

Puerto Rico is a struggling economy that relies heavily on tourism for its national GDP. Its long standing economic and political ties with the United States have created a dependency of the island's industry on U.S. visitors. With an increasing competition at a regional and global scale plus the opening of new destinations, the almost exclusive market of the island has become threatened. Using both quantitative and qualitative methodologies, this study examines the behavioral patterns and factors influencing the decision making processes of non-U.S. tourists in Puerto Rico. From user generated data from trip-advisor as a snapshot of the various concurred attractions and interviews to local business owners, this thesis reveals the following findings. First, tourists from different regions of origin visit the island during unique periods of the year. Second, travelers from Latin American have on average longer stays compared to other international tourists. Third, although distance traveled amongst the tourists from diverse regions of origin showed no significant difference, the spread of their activity across the island formed unique spatial patterns. Lastly, there are five recurring themes within the reviews left by non-U.S. travelers. Three were found to have positive inclinations ( Environment, culture/historic and price) and two negative (Entertainment and Transportation/Location). The findings and information produced in this project provide implications to local policy making and contribute to the existing literature of Caribbean tourism.