The CEO of Discover Puerto Rico, Brad Dean, is moving on from his current role, after serving 7 years with the destination marketing organization. Dean on Thursday said he would take the same executive role at Explore St. Louis on February 17.
Dean has more than 20 years experience in the travel and tourism industry. Prior to his role at Discover Puerto Rico, Dean was CEO at Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce.
Skift wasn’t able to immediately reach Dean for comment.
Puerto Rico’s Tourism Turnaround
For years, Puerto Rico had lagged its Caribbean neighbors in visitor arrivals and spending, and Hurricane Maria’s strike in September 2017 damaged infrastructure.
Dean, who took over in 2018, worked with other other organizations and tourism sector stakeholders to take advantage of the publicity and name recognition from the hurricane.
In Puerto Rico, much of the work around tourism is divided between the private sector-led Discover Puerto Rico and the decades-old, government-run Puerto Rico Tourism Company.
Since the pandemic, Puerto Rico has seen growth in its tourism metrics, with demand for tourist lodging up 50% from 2018 levels by 2023. “Once the restrictions were relaxed, it was off to the races,” Dean told Skift in 2022.
Through November 2024, data from CoStar’s STR and AirDNA showed lodging demand had reached nearly 6.7 million room nights, a 7% increase compared to the same period a year earlier, Discover Puerto Rico said.
