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Interest In Puerto Rico Surges Thanks To Justin Bieber’s ‘Despacito’

Interest In Puerto Rico Surges Thanks To Justin Bieber’s ‘Despacito’

Undoubtedly the song of the northern hemisphere’s summer, Justin Bieber’s ‘Decpacito’ is responsible for an unexpected surge in interest in the Caribbean island of Puerto Rico.

It turns out, people are interested to understand just “how they do it down in Puerto Rico” with global web searches for the island surging as much as 50 per cent since the song was released in April. And it could mean a tourism boom is on the way, with searches for flights to the island rising by 30 per cent.

The tropical island features heavily in the original film clip for ‘Despacito’, which features Puerto Rico natives Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee. It’s been viewed over two billion times on YouTube (the remix is the current number one single on Australia’s ARIA charts), with local reports suggesting tour operators have added some of the clip’s more memorable locations – like the La Perla district and Club La Factoria in Old San Juan – to their offerings.

Puerto Rico beach
Photo: Breezy Baldwin / Flickr

“What a joy it is to read this in international media,” Fonsi wrote on Instagram after reading about the song’s unexpected effect. “Puerto Rico is the true protagonist of this song and this video.”

Puerto Rico is an unincorporated US territory around 1700km off the coast of Florida. San Juan is its capital and largest city, while the Old San Juan neighbourhood boasts photogenic Spanish colonial-style buildings.

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Fuel your wanderlust with the original clip:

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(Lead photo: Ian D Keating / Flickr)

[qantas_widget code=SJU]Check out Qantas flights to San Juan.[/qantas_widget]
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