Vigo’s Christmas figures

For a few years now, Abel Caballero has converted the Vigo Christmas in the most media in Spain. The lighting of the millions of lights that decorate the streets is already another party, some city councils compete with the Galician city by adding more and more decorations until reaching exorbitant figures and Vigo becomes completely impassable until after Three Kings due to the number of people who They want to see the Christmas decorations.

This afternoon at eight o’clock, Caballero pressed the traditional red button on the Puerta del Sol before about 7,000 people when the lighting is turned on to kick off Christmas. As the City Council has explained, this year the party has been more sober than on previous occasions out of respect for the DANA victims. Of course, with two giant screens to follow the action from other parts of the city.

Precisely, Puerta del Sol will once again be one of the nerve centers of Christmas in Vigo and one of the spaces with the greatest novelties. The giant tree more than 44 meters high crowned by a giant star but this time it will not be surrounded by the hanging lights that were usually placed throughout the square, but rather a kind of enchanted forest.

The tree will be accompanied by eight other trees between six and eight meters high that have been installed throughout the pedestrian plaza for several years and will be the meeting point for the thousands of tourists who will arrive in the city in the coming weeks. These new fir trees have bases installed at the bottom so that anyone can sit and admire the exorbitant lighting in the area.

It will not be the only novelty this Christmas, “the best on this planet” according to Caballero, since this year what has been dubbed a “corridor of light” will be created that will cover several streets in the city. It has been achieved by installing several light porches at key points to end up creating a completely illuminated route.

Vigo’s Christmas figures grow every year and this time it was not going to be less. The data, which can be consulted in a document published on its website by the City Council, confirms that the Galician city will be illuminated by 11.5 million LED lights which, as usual, has been installed by the Andalusian company Ximénez, leader in the sector. But this is not all, here is a small summary of what the people of Vigo and visitors will find in the next two months:

Furthermore, as usual, the City Council has confirmed that the city’s food markets will be decorated with different ornamentations, there will be “umbrellas” in the squares, that is, a kind of spider web of lights that covers the entire upper part, which will also be installed at some intersections. There will be no shortage of sculptural elements throughout the city, huge labels by Bo Nadal —Merry Christmas— or the ‘fabrics’ of lights that will cover historic buildings such as the Casa das Artes.

Among all those decorations, ornaments and figures that will be installed in the streets will be some old acquaintances of Vigo’s Christmas such as giant gift that is installed on Gran Vía, a big color changing ball and that can be crossed through the middle, the snowman of enormous dimensions that change location every year, or the elves and nutcracker that are installed along the busiest streets in the center. Does anyone give more? Yes, there will also be sleighs, Christmas villages and dozens of Christmas trees throughout the city, but especially in the center.

Nor will there be a lack of the now legendary giant ferris wheel of more than 60 meters and its riot of colored lights, which will be installed again in the Plaza de Compostela next to the christmas marketwhere dozens of food or craft booths and a machine to make artificial snow have been placed again. There will be no shortage of attractions that usually drive residents crazy, although this year the hours have been reduced to try to calm things down. Among them there is a grasshopper, a merry-go-round, trampolines, jumpinga children’s Ferris wheel and even a pirate ship.

In Policarpo Sanz, one of the arteries of the city center that leads to Puerta del Sol, this year Santa Claus and the Royal Postman will repeat, who will have a large booth to receive all the children. Both will also be in charge of traveling through the streets of the city on designated days, just like the Christmas train that will travel through the streets of the city while the lights are on. The journey will have hilo musicalthe one of the dozens of speakers that the city council has placed around the city to create the atmosphere when the lights and decorations are turned on each evening.

How much money the city council spends and how many people visit the city

A few weeks ago, Vigo’s Christmas throne was threatened by Cádiz, which just as he explained The Countryhas become the Spanish city that spends the most on Christmas lighting per inhabitant. The Andalusian city will spend almost 17 euros per resident, while the Galician city will spend 7.8 euros per inhabitant.

Last year Vigo contracted the Christmas lighting for the next four years for 9,440,147.87, which represents around an expense of 2.3 million euros a year in lighting for the city, which currently has around 300,800 inhabitants.

However, just as the newspaper broke down a year ago Faro de VigoChristmas in the Atlantic city does not only cost 2.3 million euros, since in addition to lighting, more expenses must be added to maintain the abundance of light, music and attractions. Specifically, in 2023 the local newspaper estimated the City Council’s budget for Christmas at 3.3 million euros.

These expenses included, for example, the giant figures and light decorations that decorate many streets or the entire production of the Three Kings Parade, for which more than 200,000 euros were allocated last Christmas. In addition, the local newspaper points out that 45,000 were paid to Santa Claus and the Royal Postman and 50,000 euros were allocated for the speakers and the music that plays during the two months of festivities.

According to Abel Caballero, this expense compensates and the mayor has estimated the economic return of the Christmas display at one million euros, although there is no precise official data. Yes, there are visitors, who continue to increase year after year, especially on special dates such as the December long weekend.

Last year, 214,151 people visited Vigo during the months of November and December, 20% more than the previous year, as revealed data from the National Institute of Statistics (INE). Of all these visitors, more than 80,000 were foreign tourists and, of them, more than 46,000 Portuguese. This figure represents 69% more than the previous year, a figure that confirms that the campaign to promote Vigo Christmas in Portugal is having results.

It will be necessary to see in a few months if the Vigo Christmas snowball continues to spin and attract thousands of visitors, but what is clear is that those who travel to the Galician city in the coming weeks will find a display that Caballero promises to expand even further. more in 2025.