The 2019 Curaçao North Sea Jazz Festival (CNSJF) was held during the U.S. Labor Day Weekend between August 29 and August 31. The festival took place at its traditional venue, the Curaçao World Trade Center. This year’s festival offered, similar to the previous year, a unique promotion with one free admission to a show on Thursday night (August 29) featuring Juan Luis Guerra, Aymée Nuviola, and Havana D’Primera. The festival featured its customary super artists’ line-up, which this year included, among others, Maroon 5, Mariah Carey, Pitbull, Kenny G, Michael McDonald, David Sanborn, Gladys Knight, Third World, and Nicky Jam.
5,008 international visitors participated in the festival. The festival attracted for the first time in its history more international visitors compared to local residents. The majority of these international visitors came from the region, which is also a new trend. International visitors spent US$2,522 per trip per person, and US$413 per day per person. Spending per person was 10.3% higher compared to spending at the 2018 festival when spending per day per person was US$343, and 33% more than 2015 (US$311). The spending per person during this years’ Fest per day was twice and half as high as the average tourist spending per day (US$171) up to now in 2019 .
The 2019 CNSJF’s total direct spending is estimated at US$11,005,669, while the total economic contribution of the festival to the island’s economy is US$17,121,099. The festival’s overall contribution to the island’s economy represents two days of Curaçao’s GDP output. The promotional value of the festival is immense, reaching, by one account of the CTB, 22 million potential households in Latin America alone.
Overall, attendees’ satisfaction scores exceeded 90%, where attendees expressed their satisfaction with the musical quality of performers and the performers’ line-up. These are impressive satisfaction scores for a music festival. Similarly, respondents’ behavioral intentions were strong revealing intention to return and to recommend the festival to others. The festival has generated a strong fan base and has created a strong fandom with a clear CNSJF identity with compelling attendee behavioral intentions.
The festival has become a rite of passage for these international visitors because this festival experience is about the atmosphere, about the food they eat, the friends they make and the memories they create. The festival continues to draw thousands of international visitors to Curaçao, providing substantial business opportunities to the island.