House committee hears DDEC concerns and recommendations on bill to reestablish independent Puerto Rico Tourism Company

Legislators heard testimony on House Bill 822, which would reestablish the Puerto Rico Tourism Company as an independent public corporation responsible for promoting tourism and defining tourism policy, during a committee hearing where the Department of Development, Economic Development and Commerce (DDEC) presented a written analysis and recommendations.

DDEC legal counsel Luis Méndez del Nido told the committee the department does not oppose re-creating the tourism company but recommended changes to preserve a policy link between tourism promotion and the island’s broader economic-development strategy. "The secretary of the Department of Development, as today, should serve as chair of the tourism company’s board of directors," Méndez said in the department’s presentation, arguing that would maintain coordination with the department and address concerns raised previously by the Financial Oversight and Management Board under PROMESA.

DDEC recommended that, if the tourism company…