According to Discover Puerto Rico, Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl half-time show resulted in a measurable spike in interest in the destination.
The tourism board’s website saw 537,000 visitors last month, representing a 16% increase in month-over-month visitation, and Google data shows that on Feb. 9 (one day after the show) searches for "Puerto Rico travel" and "flights to San Juan" surged 213%.
Our Analysis: Market Shifts Create Opportunities to Turn Curiosity into Bookings
Bad Bunny, a Puerto Rico native, was the first Latin artist to ever headline the Super Bowl; his performance was almost entirely in Spanish, and the vignettes throughout the 13-minute show highlighted his pride for Puerto Rico and a range of the destination's cultural icons, from sugarcane fields and domino tables to coco frio (cold coconut) and taco stands. These details, combined with Bad Bunny’s epic act, ignited viewer curiosity for Puerto Rico’s people, music, history and more.
For travel advisors, it’s a lesson in market shifts, and the power of performance — turning curiosity into bookings is a great way to build business and to showcase advisor relevancy.
Fast Facts: Bad Bunny’s Performance Drove Up Interest in Puerto Rico and Local Culture
- During Super Bowl week, 143,000 users went to Discover Puerto Rico’s website and the Super Bowl landing page.
- The website’s overall performance was up 16% month over month.
- During the window of Feb. 2-11, Discover Puerto Rico saw a “high velocity rebound” that led to 31,275 direct partner referrals. In this case, partner referrals are defined as “outbound clicks from owned digital platforms that direct users to a partner’s website.”
- According to Google Trends data, searches for "local music San Juan" saw a 55% jump post-game, searches for "what is Plena Music" and "Bomba vs Plena" jumped by 300% and searches for Ponce Carnival (a pre-Lenten festival in Puerto Rico) jumped 42%.
What They Are Saying: Bad Bunny’s Show Went Beyond Entertainment, Igniting Intent to Learn More
“The big game was a global cultural spotlight, but what matters most to us is what happened after the applause,” said Storm Tussey, CMO of Discover Puerto Rico. “Within 24 hours, we saw searches for ‘Puerto Rico travel’ and ‘flights to San Juan’ surge more than 200%, with overall interest outpacing our Caribbean competitors. That tells us this wasn’t just entertainment, it was intent.”
Tussey adds that the searches showed a significant level of depth and engagement.
"We didn’t just see generic travel spikes,” she said. “We saw people asking, ‘What is Plena music?’ We saw searches for Ponce Carnival increase more than 40%. We saw rum tasting experiences, local music venues and even Spanish language learning resources trend upward. That is cultural curiosity turning into planned experiences.”
What’s more, the show represents a more modern form of travel marketing, according to Tussey.
“It is not about buying a moment,” she explained. “It is about being prepared to capture one. We leveraged a global stage to position Puerto Rico not just as a place to visit, but as a culture to experience. And when cultural pride translates into longer stays, higher spend and deeper engagement, that is when tourism becomes truly transformative.”
