The Tribune

By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

MARATHON Bahamas organisers have disclosed that the 442 international runners in this year’s event helped generate around 1,600 hotel room nights and $2.3 million in visitor spending.

Shelly Wilson, Sunshine Insurance’s vice-president of operations and a Marathon Bahamas director, said this year was one of the most successful in terms of the number of countries represented.

“In terms of total number of international runners, we had 442 but, in total, we had just over 1,000. Those international participants would have translated into roughly 1,600 room nights, and in terms of tourist dollars they would equate to roughly $2.3 million in tourism expenditure based on those room nights,” said Mrs Wilson.

“In terms of total countries represented, excluding the Bahamas there were 38 countries represented. The bulk of them [runners] were from the United States. The remaining countries included Brazil, Argentina, Austria, Czechoslovakia, Colombia, Costa Rica, Finland, France, the UK, Norway and Canada, and we had one participant from Japan.

“In terms of international representation, I think that this year was one of our most successful in terms of the number of countries represented.”

Marathon Bahamas began in 2010, and is a part of the Sunshine Insurance Race Weekend, which also includes the Susan G Komen Bahamas Race for the Cure.

The event, considered one of the nation’s leading annual sports tourism products, provides a much-needed resort industry boost during a lull in the winter calendar. This year’s race weekend took place on January 16-17.

“The Susan G Komen Bahamas Race for the Cure is primarily a local race. We had over 1,500 registrants in The Susan G Komen Race for the Cure. Only 61 of them were international. From those 61 participants it is estimated that 183 room nights were generated, translating into $183,000 in tourism expenditure,” said Mrs Wilson.

“The international draw is to the marathon event. We are challenged because there are a lot of races in the world taking place on the same weekend as ours, but we are happy because we were still able to have a sizable presence of international participants. We are always grateful for the local participants because that’s what takes us over the top.”