Puerto Rico cashes in on Bad Bunny's residency as fans flock to the island

Puerto Rico cashes in on Bad Bunny's residency as thousands of fans flock to the island and create short-term economic boost.

VEGA BAJA, Puerto Rico — Tourists slipped into borrowed red polyester vests from the Puerto Rico supermarket where Bad Bunny once worked, grinning as they posed for photographs in the superstar’s old uniform.

They listened intently as his former boss recalled how he loved classic salsa songs. “He always liked going to the parking lot to gather the shopping carts because it seemed that he felt free there and would sing,” said Delza Vélez, the head of HR at Econo, the supermarket.

In 2016, Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio quit that job, leaving Vélez a note. Two years later, he launched his first album — and the singer known as Bad Bunny stepped into stardom.

This summer, thousands descended on Puerto Rico, where the singer’s concert residency in San Juan, running from mid-June through mid-September, has single-handedly boosted the island’s fragile economy. The prodigious son has elevated the global profile of the U.S. territory, singing about Puerto Rico’s turmoil and identity.

Visitors come not only to see him but to explore his island. Thousands have stood in line for days or waited hours online to snag a ticket for the reggaetón singer and rapper, one of the most streamed artists in the world.