SAN JUAN.- The day before giving the starting gun to thirty concerts in Puerto Ricowhich is expected to generate millions of dollars for the economy, and culture, of the island, Bad Bunny He published a message: “Local purchase.”
The phrase defines the philosophy of the 30 shows provided by the Puerto Rican star in San Juan.
The first nine are reserved exclusively for residents in this free state associated with the United States.
The remaining 21 will be open, which is expected to drive the tourisma sector that on this island does not escape the increasingly generalized criticisms in the world about the problems it causes in local populations.
“It is an incredible moment for the island,” says Davelyn Tardi, of the Discover Puerto Rico Promotion Agency.
The organization considers conservatively that the residence, as this battery of actions is known, will contribute to Puerto Rico about 200 million dollars during the approximately three months it will last, which coincide with the summer, normally of the low season.
– “Pride for Puerto Rico” –
Azael Ayala works in a bar in the plactia one of the most popular night leisure point in San Juan. It tells the AFP that the business is going stern even though it has barely celebrated one of the concerts, last Friday.
“The situation has completely changed” this season, says Ayala, 29. “We are delighted (…) the tips are in the clouds.”
But not only does the pocket matter. The fact that people from all over the world come to see Bad Bunny “is also a pride for Puerto Rico,” he added.
Arely Ortiz, a 23 -year -old student from Los Angeles, could not get tickets to see Bad Bunny, even so, the figure of his idol pushed him to travel for the first time to Puerto Rico.
“I love how open it is with their community (…) encourages more Latinos to be able to go for what they want. He has undoubtedly empowered Latinos,” he explains.
– Tense relationship with tourism –
But although tourism has been its economic engine for decades, the impact of this sector has put on a war footing for residents, concerned about gentrification, with the explosion of luxury real estate development, short -term rentals and the arrival of the so -called digital nomads.
Foreigners who visit the island, in general, are oblivious to the daily struggles that the premises have to deal with: an economic crisis aggravated by the increase in housing prices, the multiplication of natural disasters and blackouts, also increasingly frequent.
Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, Bud Bunny, has denounced these problems in his songs.
“In my life you were a tourist,” he says in his subject Tourist. “You only saw the best of me and not what I suffered.”
The historian Jorge Meléndez Badillo explains that Puerto Rico always waited for the arrival of foreign investment, but “many people see tourism as a kind of colonial background.”
Although when it comes to Bad Bunny everything changes. “We cannot deny the fact that it will bring millions of dollars” to the island, he added. “We can thank what Benito is doing and at the same time analyze it critically, and have a conversation about what kind of tourism” will attract.
– “I’m going to be here” –
Ana Rodado traveled to Puerto Rico from Spain after a Puerto Rican friend gave him an entrance for one of the concerts.
Rodado reserved a five -day trip with another friend who included a visit to Vega Baja beach, the municipality where Bad Bunny grew and worked packaging food before jumping to fame.
After posing for a photo in the town square, Rodado explained to the AFP that the musician’s call to buy “local” followed to the letter.
“Tourism is a global problem, not only in Puerto Rico, so I think that to the extent of the possibilities of each one you have to be responsible with the consumption elections and especially with the impact your trip in each place has,” he explains.
Be that as it may, Bad Bunny’s residence is a love letter to his people that focuses on inheritance, pride and joy.
“We are here, punch. And we are not going here for the next three months, three months is little (…) I return for the next 100 years if God allows me, I will be here,” he exclaimed the public at the first concert on July 11.
FOUNTAIN: AFP
