The Historic San Sebastián Street Festival of Old San Juan took place this past weekend, drawing a record-breaking number of visitors. With more than 700,000 visitors, the festival had higher attendance than ever before. However, despite the large crowds, many merchants reported that their sales did not reflect the significant number of people present. According to Diana Font, president of the Old San Juan Merchants Association, better sales were recorded on Saturday and Sunday, with Thursday and Friday being less remarkable.
The high rental costs of food and beverage kiosks, which ranged from $3,500 to $4,500, led to inflated prices for items and caused some commotion among festival-goers on social media. As a result, many people opted to bring their own food and drinks to the event, leading to a decrease in spending per person.
Arnaldo Pacheco, owner of the Camínalo Store accessory stores, reported that his sales experienced no significant changes compared to the previous year. Although there was an increase in sales compared to the recent decrease in overall movement in San Juan, Pacheco noted that there were still opportunities for improvement.
The public transportation system was heavily utilized during the festivities. The Tren Urbano registered a patronage of 115,300 passengers and the Cataño boat had 45,577 passengers. This resulted in a total revenue of $218,527. Taxis and Uber also played a significant role in transporting festival-goers, but taxi drivers reported suffering significant losses compared to previous years, while Uber had around 14,000 trips recorded during the weekend.
The SanSe festival also attracted cruise ships, which brought in 35,597 passengers over the four-day celebration. Crystal Bell, director of air and maritime access for the Puerto Rico Tourism Company, estimated the economic impact from the cruise ships to be approximately $5 million. Nevertheless, the total economic impact of the festival remains to be disclosed by the municipality, although Mayor Miguel Romero assured it will exceed the reported $50 million in 2023.