Sunshine Insurance Race Weekend Gives Bahamas $2.5M Spending Boost

Sunshine Insurance Race Weekend (SIRW) generated more than 1,800 room nights and over $2.5 million in visitor spending.

The event, held in January, attracted 524 international participants from 21 countries, including the United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, Italy, Philippines, USA, Spain, Australia, Austria, Chile, Argentina, Brazil, France, Hong Kong, Japan, Sweden, Trinidad, US Virgin Islands, South Africa and New Zealand.

SIRW includes the Susan G. Komen Bahamas Race for the Cure® and the award-winning Sunshine Insurance Marathon Bahamas.

For SIMB, the average length of stay was 3.5 nights.

An average of 4.1 people were in a party.

Organizers say they have consistently found that runners from the US are travelling to the January event and opting to remain in The Bahamas to take advantage of the Martin Luther King holiday weekend.

SIMB, which won a Tourism Impact Award in 2015 and was named by Runners World UK as one of the “50 Best Races In The World” outside of the UK, features three events – the marathon, half marathon and relay.

Organizers are now encouraging local residents to register early for the 9th annual event in order to take advantage of cheaper rates.