Tourism chief touts big bounce from CAC Games

The two-week CAC Games being staged in Mayagüez and surrounding towns in the western region are in the final stretch and are scheduled to close Sunday. Delegations from more than 30 countries participated and tens of thousands more people flooded into the region to attend the events.

Many more have tuned in to watch the CAC Games on TV in nearly three dozen countries.

The transmission through ESPN Deportes reached 20 million homes in Latin America and the U.S. mainland, according to López Díaz.

The broadcasts included images of Puerto Rican tourism attractions that would have cost between $10 million and $15 million to place as advertising, said López Díaz, noting that outpaces the roughly $10 million the agency spent last year on efforts to lure tourists from the mainland.

The PRTC’s investment in the CAC Games totaled roughly $3 million in accords with the CAC Games Organizing Committee, the Puerto Rico Public Broadcasting Corp. (WIPR) and on promotional activities including concerts and receptions.

“This investment has a return of $116 million in economic impact,” said López Díaz.

He broke down the $116 million as $74.5 million for the hospitality industry, $29 million in sales of food and beverages, $5 million in other purchases and more than $7 million in transportation.

Those numbers are estimates until firm figures are tabulated in the coming weeks, the PRTC chief said.

López Díaz said that the target of foreign visitors has been met, with more than 20,000 “athletes, family members and fans” coming to Puerto Rico for the CAC Games.

The PRTC chief downplayed the potential negative impact on the image of the island and the 2010 CAC Games from complaints about the quality of early TV transmissions and an anti-government protest banner unfurled by Puerto Rico athletes during the opening ceremony.

The original July 17 start date was pushed back after gusty winds toppled a scaffolding and light and sound riggings at the main stadium in Mayagüez. The opening ceremony, which was held in the facility, was staged there the next day after crews work around the clock to fix the damage.

“This was a titanic task at the last minute. The transmission quality has dramatically improved over the course and the problems have been corrected,” López Díaz said.

The PRTC addressed complaints voiced by the president of the Paradores Association this week that occupancy rates leading up to the CAC Games fell short of expectations. López Díaz said the agency pushed the small inns the same as it did in summer 2009, which was a record season for the sector.

“People were holding back in early summer and waiting for the last minute,” said López Díaz, expressing hope that a lag in reservations in May and June would be covered by an uptick seen in the latter part of this month.

The PRTC chief expects the staging of the CAC Games to keep paying dividends for the island’s tourism industry in years to come.

“This is a springboard to attract other global sporting events. The facilities are here and will be maintained and reused,” López Díaz said.

“Puerto Rico is already a center of sports tourism,” he said. “The economic impact of sports is clear—it is a business that generates a lot of money.”