{"id":54510,"date":"2025-12-27T21:25:32","date_gmt":"2025-12-27T21:25:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/27\/how-much-did-bad-bunnys-residency-generate-for-puerto-ricos-economy\/"},"modified":"2025-12-27T21:25:32","modified_gmt":"2025-12-27T21:25:32","slug":"how-much-did-bad-bunnys-residency-generate-for-puerto-ricos-economy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/27\/how-much-did-bad-bunnys-residency-generate-for-puerto-ricos-economy\/","title":{"rendered":"How Much Did Bad Bunny\u2019s Residency Generate For Puerto Rico’s Economy?"},"content":{"rendered":"


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\n\tAt the peak of his popularity, Bad Bunny<\/a> ditched the typical North American tour to center his homeland with a historic 31-show residency in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The sold-out residency, titled \u201cNo Me Quiero Ir de Aqu\u00ed\u201d (I Don\u2019t Want to Leave Here<\/a>), attracted more than half a million attendees. The shows were held at the Jos\u00e9 Miguel Agrelot Coliseum (known locally as \u201cEl Choli\u201d<\/a>), and took place Friday, Saturday, and Sunday nights starting on July 11, 2025, with the first nine shows open only to residents of Puerto Rico. The following 21 shows encouraged non-residents to travel to Puerto Rico to experience Bad Bunny<\/a> in his homeland. While several studies have measured the economic benefit of the residency to Puerto Rico, with a focus on the spending of individuals who traveled there for the concerts, the full cultural and economic impact of the residency on Bad Bunny\u2019s homeland goes far beyond those dollar amounts.<\/p>\n

\n\tIndira Luciano Montalvo, associate professor at the Department of Economics at the University of Puerto Rico-R\u00edo Piedras, conducted a study on the economic, cultural, and social impact of the residency. The study, which she calls \u201cvery conservative\u201d in its estimate, shows that the residency brought in a minimum<\/em> of $176.6 million, mostly through documented wages and taxes. \u201cThe methodological approaches vary by study, which causes the estimates to vary,\u201d Luciano Montalvo explains. \u201cMy study estimated the economic impact of the event itself: How much it generated in production, revenue, employment, and audience spending, not including the cost of tickets or expenses at the venue.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tThe non-profit DMO Discover Puerto Rico estimates that the residency brought in about $200 million in tourist dollars spent on lodging, transportation, and food. A report from Gaither International<\/a> estimates $733 million in gains from the residency, which also include the estimated value of the increased international exposure to and shifts in global perception of Puerto Rico. <\/p>\n

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\t\tEditor\u2019s picks<\/p>\n<\/h2>\n<\/section>\n

\n\tBut the indirect economic benefit, which is difficult to fully measure, might be more significant. \u201cThere\u2019s a direct impact of the residency that we can measure tangibly,\u201d Javier Hern\u00e1ndez Acosta, Dean of the School of Arts, Design and Creative Industries at Puerto Rico\u2019s Universidad del Sagrado Coraz\u00f3n says. \u201cBut more important than that is being able to see all the impacts it has on different aspects of the economy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\tThe Musical Effect<\/strong>\t<\/h2>\n

\n\tSome examples of these economic benefits included a 340 percent increase in the sale of vejigante masks in Ponce, local bookstores reporting a 280 percent increase in sales of Puerto Rican authors, or an average of 65 percent income increases for local salsa, bomba, and plena artists, as reported by the AMW Group<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tOne of the primary beneficiaries of the exposure some of these studies have measured include other Puerto Rican musicians who Bad Bunny featured at the residency. The group Chuwi, for example, performed at all 31 shows and is now opening for the Latin American leg of Bad Bunny\u2019s world tour. \u201cI think there\u2019s an invisible value that\u2019s difficult to measure, given all the opportunities that [Bad Bunny] opened up simply by putting us in the spotlight,\u201d says Wester Aldarondo of Chuwi.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tAnother one of the groups that performed every night of the residency was Los Pleneros de la Cresta<\/a>. This group first met Bad Bunny on Nov. 3, 2024, at the Festival de la Esperanza, the closing event for political candidates in Puerto Rico advocating for independence where many major Puerto Rican musical artists performed.<\/p>\n

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