REGGAETON REVENUE

It's usually Puerto Rico's slow season. This year, Bad Bunny's in town

- SHEFALI S. KULKARNI

Puerto Rico's economy is getting a bump from Bad Bunny.

The award-winning Puerto Rican rapper's three-month, 30-show concert series in San Juan is spurring a fan-fuelled surge in the island's economy at a time of year when tourism is usually slow.

During the Atlantic hurricane season, which runs June through November, tourism usually drops by 25% to 45%, and lodging prices fall by as much as 50%, according to the tourism agency Discover Puerto Rico. Tourism accounts for about 7% of Puerto Rico's US$114 billion economy.

Bad Bunny's residency, which ends Sept 14, is expected to draw an estimated 600,000 attendees and to have a direct economic impact of $250 million, according to Moody's Analytics. It estimated that total spending, which includes purchases not directly related to shows, will top out at $400 million.

Bad Bunny's home stay is ahead of an eight-month world tour beginning in December and comes on the heels of global mega-tours that have become a playbook for chart-topping artists. Taylor Swift's Eras tour grossed more than $2 billion in ticket sales, and Beyoncé's Cowboy Carter tour brought in $407 million. Bad Bunny's 2024 world tour took in $208 million.

Moody's recently raised its 2025 economic forecast for Puerto Rico to 0.4%, from 0.3%, partly because of the residency. Jesse Rogers, the head of LatAm Economics at Moody's Analytics, said if his team members were not Bad Bunny fans, “we would have probably missed this”.