Puerto Rico House tourism panel hears Cataño mayor’s pitch to designate waterfront a gastronomic tourism zone

The House of Representatives’ Tourism Commission on Oct. 26 heard extended testimony from Cataño Mayor Julio Alicea Vasallo in support of Proyecto de la Cámara 3-35, a measure to formally designate the municipality’s waterfront — including the Malecón Edwin Rivera Sierra — as a “zona de turismo gastronómico” and to direct the Puerto Rico Tourism Company to develop marketing, promotion and regulatory support for the area.

Why it matters: The designation would give the Tourism Company a statutory mandate to include Cataño’s waterfront in official marketing and promotion and could help channel public and private investment into infrastructure and events in the area.

Mayor Julio Alicea Vasallo told the commission the waterfront is already functioning as a tourism and gastronomy hub and that the bill would “ponerle nombre y dirección” to a transformation the municipality has pursued. He described the sample area in the bill as roughly 2.5 miles of waterfront that includes children’s water features, playgrounds, artisan vendors, kiosks and public-rest areas; he said the area is monitored by a camera system tied to the municipal…