“I could go on and on about the virtues of living in the Caribbean and in Puerto Rico”
My comment have nothing to do with “life in the Caribbean. I am sure that it’s as nice as Hawaii weather wise. I just didn’t find Puerto Rico “welcoming” as a visitor. I speak Spanish so I wasn’t put off by the fact that the people there didn’t want to speak English, but had to in the tourist business. Like Mexico has been for many years, it seems Puerto Rico has places where they cater to tourists, but do it somewhat grudgingly. I don’t know what the major economic drivers are there, but like Mexico, I’d have to bet that tourism is way up on the list. And yet they seem not to like the “intrusion” even though it pays some of the bills. Somehow there needs to be some fundamental change there. The people need to come around to the fact that they are not going to be “kept” by the rest of us.
Contrary to the rest of the Caribbean, tourism here is less than 10% of our GDP. But, I work in tourism and can assure you that our employees enjoy our line of work very much. So does the rest of the industry. I know that the Caribe Hilton used to have a very rotten workers union (like form the 80s - 90s), and their service quality was at government levels (who owned the Hilton and several other hotels), but that has changed a lot. Unions no longer dominate the industry. Mainland chains like Marriott and Starwood now own and run the properties. And then many individual entrepreneurs and small businesses run tours and attractions. Our cruise ship industry is also booming. Tourism has improved a lot and only recently has the rest of the island realized its potential. Previously, all government efforts were directed at promoting manufacturing, which still is the largest chunk of our GDP. Now we are leaning more towards the service industries.