Discover Puerto Rico has completed the audit for fiscal year 2021 and obtained a positive opinion from auditors who found no significant results in managing the finances of the organization that promotes Puerto Rico as an offshore tourist destination.
The audit, prepared by RSM Puerto Rico, concluded that in fiscal year 2021, Discover Puerto Rico generated $47.4 million in revenue. This number is $21.8 million more than the organization’s revenue for fiscal year 2020. The increase is due to new funding from the Coronavirus Control, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES) and Community Disaster Development Grants (CDBG-DR).
Expenditures remained at $35.3 million, due in part to the postponement of some promotional investments into the current fiscal year due to the instability in the visitor economy caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. In this way, a surplus was created that became part of the investment for the current fiscal year which ends at the end of June.
“Since the creation of Discover Puerto Rico, all audited financial statements have shown similar results, with unqualified opinions from our external auditors, confirming that we have adequate internal controls in place to ensure sound management of funds in order to promote Puerto Rico as a wealthy tourist destination. This is consistent with our transparency policy. professionalism and commitment to our goal of bringing the visitor’s economy to its optimum level,” said Fernando Rodriguez, Chief Financial Officer of Discover Puerto Rico.
The document states that in fiscal year 2021, 84% ($29.7 million) of Discover Puerto Rico’s expenditures were directly related to marketing and sales promotion efforts in the entertainment, business and festive travel areas, events and conferences. The largest component was advertising purchases with an investment of $21.5 million. This ad focused on Puerto Rico’s primary and secondary markets, which in the United States include cities such as New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Chicago, Washington, D.C., Orlando, and others. Internationally, Discover Puerto Rico ads are concentrated in Canada, the United Kingdom, Spain and Germany.
The audited financial report also shows that payroll and related amounts were approximately $4.7 million, equivalent to 13% of total expenses. On average, destination marketing organizations spend about 35% of their expenditures on salaries and benefits for their employees.
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