Features

Top ecotourism destinations: Puerto Rico

Published

10 years ago

August 17, 2014

Blue & Green Tomorrow

The Caribbean archipelago is home to many diverse species of fauna and flora and offers amazing eco-tours to travelers wishing to enjoy its tropical natural beauty in a sustainable way.

Puerto Rico is an unincorporated territory of the US, located between the Dominican Republic, the US Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.

Puerto Rico gets around $1.8 billion (£1.1bn) from tourism every year. But as with many other island states in the region, it is facing the unpredictable and devastating effects of climate change, such as tropical storms, high sea levels and depletion of natural resources.

For this reason and to fight pollution, which is impacting its coral reefs and mangrove forests, the country has started to promote a kind of tourism that is more respectful of the environment.

Despite being the most populated and developed of the Caribbean islands, Puerto Rico offers a wide range of natural experiences to visitors. Not only can travellers enjoy white sandy beaches, tropical waters and all kind of adventures but also golf clubs, luxury resorts, shopping and its 14 state forests, local fauna and the bioluminescent bays in Vieques.

These rare and fascinating places produce a blue and green light thanks to underwater microorganism called Pyrodimium bahamense.

Puerto Rico became the first territory in the Caribbean to develop a Green Certification Program for its tourism structures, to ensure they meet certain environmental and social criteria.

There are a good number of green hotels suitable for all pockets and tastes, which commit to energy efficiency, water conservation and recycling.