Discover Puerto Rico Launches "Awaken Your Senses," A Global Campaign Built on Consumer Psychology and Sensory Travel

New campaign builds on the success of "Live Boricua," shifting from traditional tourism storytelling to showcasing experiences that feel utterly alive, sensorial, and deeply immersive.

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico, March 10, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Discover Puerto Rico, the Island's official destination marketing organization, today announced the launch of "Awaken Your Senses," a new global marketing campaign anchored in consumer psychology insights that positions Puerto Rico as a destination where travelers reconnect with joy, belonging and culture through sensory experiences.

The campaign was inspired by using consumer psychology insights and traveler research that highlight the growing demand for sensory-driven travel experiences. Rather than simply showcasing destinations, "Awaken Your Senses" focuses on how travelers experience Puerto Rico through rhythm, flavor, landscapes and human connection.

"Awaken Your Senses goes a step further by inviting visitors to experience Puerto Rico through all their senses. In a world saturated with notifications, alerts, conflicts, and constant distractions, our Island offers something different: a place where people can reconnect, live in the moment, and rediscover the simple pleasure of truly feeling. Puerto Rico is a destination that encourages travelers to awaken their senses," said Jorge L. Pérez, CEO of Discover Puerto Rico.

The campaign seeks to stimulate how sensory immersion can help foster cultural belonging. When travelers engage with a destination through multiple senses, from music and food to landscapes and community interactions, their sense of connection deepens, and the feeling of being an outsider begins to fade.

The announcement comes as Puerto Rico continues to see strong tourism momentum. The Island welcomed 8.1 million visitors in 2025, an eight percent increase over the previous year, according to Tourism Economics forecasts.

Launching today, "Awaken Your Senses" marks the next success of Discover Puerto Rico's award-winning "Live Boricua" platform. While the previous campaign introduced the world to the Island's vibrant spirit, "Awaken Your Senses" invites travelers to engage with Puerto Rico more deeply through its music, cuisine, natural landscapes and communities across all 78 municipalities.

"At its core, this campaign is about how travel should make you feel," said Storm Tussey, Chief Marketing Officer at Discover Puerto Rico. "This campaign isn't responding to trends. It's answering a global heartbeat. Travelers are no longer asking where to go, but why they should go at all. They're searching for belonging, connection and meaning, which Puerto Rico naturally offers through its landscapes, music, food, culture and community."

"'Awaken Your Senses' is grounded in consumer psychology research showing that sensory experiences create stronger emotional memory and deeper connections with a place," she continued. "When we invite travelers to feel the rhythm or taste the culture, we're not just promoting a destination. We're offering restoration. We want Puerto Rico to be the place travelers think of when they need to feel alive again. Our job is to ensure that when travelers arrive, they show up as guests who respect our home and contribute to our future."

Responding to the Rise of Purpose-Driven Travel

The campaign arrives at a moment when travel behavior is shifting globally. Research across the industry shows that travelers increasingly prioritize immersive experiences, local culture and emotional connection when choosing where to visit.

Discover Puerto Rico's strategy responds to this shift by positioning the Island not simply as a destination, but as a place travelers actively participate in.

Through storytelling centered on artisans, musicians, culinary traditions and local communities, the campaign highlights the reciprocal relationship between visitors and the Island. Travelers are encouraged to connect with the people behind Puerto Rico's culture, from meeting local craftspeople and supporting small businesses to exploring landscapes that span seven ecosystems across the Island.

Building on the "Live Boricua" Foundation

"Awaken Your Senses" builds on the global recognition achieved by Discover Puerto Rico's "Live Boricua" campaign, which helped introduce millions of travelers to the Island's culture and identity.

The new campaign deepens that narrative by shifting from introduction to immersion. Instead of simply showing Puerto Rico's culture, it invites travelers to experience it firsthand through sound, taste, movement and human connection.

Puerto Rico's diversity of experiences, from the only tropical rainforest in the U.S. Forest System to three bioluminescent bays, vibrant coastal communities and a dynamic culinary scene, provides the foundation for the campaign's sensory storytelling.

A Long-Term Strategy for Sustainable Tourism Growth

"Awaken Your Senses" represents the first phase of a three-year marketing evolution designed to strengthen Puerto Rico's global tourism presence while increasing the economic impact of travel across local communities.

The campaign focuses on several key goals:

• Increasing visitor engagement and emotional connection with Puerto Rico
• Encouraging longer stays and deeper exploration across the Island
• Supporting small businesses and cultural creators
• Driving sustainable visitor spending that benefits local communities

The initial campaign rollout begins March 10 with the debut of a global halo creative campaign. Beginning April 1, additional targeted storytelling will roll out across key audience segments in priority domestic and international markets.

Over the next three years, Discover Puerto Rico will continue expanding the campaign with new creative assets, partnerships and digital experiences designed to connect travelers with the Island's culture in more personalized ways.

Celebrating Puerto Rican Creativity

Authenticity is at the heart of "Awaken Your Senses," which was developed in collaboration with Puerto Rican creatives, brands and cultural partners. Local production company World Junkies led the creative production, bringing together Boricua directors, artists, and collaborators deeply rooted in Puerto Rico's cultural and creative community.

The campaign also features a curated group of Puerto Rican fashion brands, culinary creators and local businesses, including Al Este, Arrecife, Bike Stop, Bohemia Cocina en Movimiento, Calipso, Carabalí Rainforest Park, Chiringas.com, Conjunto Achiote, Don Q, Elede, El Papelón, Hacienda Siempre Viva, Isleñas, Laid Back, Medalla, Palmeira, Pine Grove Surf Club, Piraguas Viejo San Juan, Rogative, and Valija Gitana, ensuring the voices shaping modern Puerto Rican culture are at the center of the campaign.

"We are not featuring our community as props," Tussey noted. "They are the voices, directors, and architects of this campaign. When we center local businesses and cultural creators, we're ensuring that the economic and cultural heart of the Island stays firmly in the hands of the community."

"Awaken Your Senses" positions Puerto Rico as a destination where travel goes beyond escape and becomes a way to reconnect with culture, community and the joy of discovery.

For more information on Discover Puerto Rico's "Awaken Your Senses" campaign, visit discoverpuertorico.com/born-island-movement-modern-traveler.

About Discover Puerto Rico

Discover Puerto Rico is a private, not-for-profit Destination Marketing Organization (DMO) whose mission is to make Puerto Rico visible to the world as a premier travel destination. The DMO brings prosperity to the people of Puerto Rico by collaboratively promoting the Island's diversity and uniqueness for leisure and business travel, and events. It is responsible for all global marketing, sales, and promotion of the destination and works collaboratively with key local governmental and nongovernmental players throughout Puerto Rico's visitor economy and the community at large, to empower economic growth. To discover all the beauty the Island has to offer, visit DiscoverPuertoRico.com.

SOURCE Discover Puerto Rico