The traditional Christmas tree was already installed on Tallinn’s Town Hall Square on Wednesday, and the fair itself will open and close earlier this year than in previous years.
The opening of the fair is scheduled for November 22. For example, last year the fair opened on December 1st. It is also not entirely usual that the fair will close before the New Year – December 27th.
According to Andla, this decision was made for practical reasons.
“The fair organizer conducted a detailed analysis of previous years. It shows that in January, the attendance at the Christmas market and the turnover of traders drop sharply compared to the first weeks of the trading period,” the elder noted.
“Scandinavian tourists visit the Christmas market mainly in November and December, while locals are interested in the fair from November until the Christmas holidays. Statistics have shown that after Christmas the fair is not as attractive to locals as it was before the holidays,” Andla added.
He explained that in March of this year, the city government held a round table on tourism, at which the timing of the Christmas fair was discussed:
“The Estonian Association of Tourism Enterprises has sent a request to start the Christmas market earlier, and precisely for the reason that tourists from Scandinavia wished for it.”
The decision to end the fair immediately after Christmas was also influenced by the lack of Russian tourists, Andla admitted.
“It is also true that Russian tourists who came in January now no longer visit the fair, and this also played a role,” he concluded.
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Source: www.dv.ee
