Updated 06:32 AM EDT, Fri, Mar 29, 2024

Puerto Rico Depending on Gay Tourism to Solve Debt Crisis?

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Puerto Rico is in the middle of a major economic crisis with about $70 billion financial debt. La Isla del Encanto is now thinking that gay tourism can help the Caribbean island rise up from its debt crisis. 

"There's a connection between more rights for gay people in Puerto Rico and have more impact in regards to gay tourism on the island and that will have a domino effect in regards to improve the economy," a gay advocate named Cecilia de la Luz said.

According to We are Mitu, it has been more than 40 years since she has been asking for the equal rights of the members of the homosexual community. In fact, she also believes that through this, the quality of life for every citizen on the island will improve -- not just for homosexuals.

Statistics show that 90 percent of foreign visitors come from the U.S., a lot of whom are "gay honeymooners," who often shell out a lot of money. Moreover, the executive director of the Puerto Rico Tourism Company, Ingrid Rivera, boasted that Puerto Rico is a great spot for wedding events.

Hence, the administration is trying their best to have U.S. airlines offer more flights straight to the Caribbean island. They are also working on with promotional ads for the "gay community."

However, there are no definite counts as to how much gay tourism can earn for the archipelago, but according to Rivera's assumption, it can be up to 350 to 500 million. Furthermore, Puerto Rico is the only island in the Caribbean, which has the same rules for gay people as the U.S.

This means that gay tourists are free to visit the island and are respected, unlike other areas of the globe. In fact, one of the gay visitors named Lee Hall got engaged to his boyfriend in Puerto Rico and said: "Everyone here, that I've experienced, is very gay-friendly, gay accepting."

Meanwhile, the Obama government and Democrats of the legislative body cried out for the Republicans to pass a law that will enable Puerto Rico to file for bankruptcy, The Washington Post reported.

The Republicans are also finding ways to set up a "financial control board" for Puerto Rico, similar to that which helped reinstate the budgetary arrangement in Colombia.

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