FRANKFURT, Dec. 21 (Xinhua) -- On Christmas, Germans like to walk between the stalls of Christmas markets decorated as Christmas cabins, savoring mulled wine, currywurst, and watching carousels. But this year's Christmas season is particularly deserted.
Workers demolish a "Christmas hut" in the German capital, Berlin, on December 16. (Photo by Xinhua news agency reporter Shan Yuqi)
Since the beginning of winter, the number of covid-19 infections in Germany has remained high, and the second wave of the epidemic has been fierce, and the German government has decided to implement restrictions from the beginning of November. At the end of October, Nuremberg, Frankfurt, Erfurt and other places announced the cancellation of this year's Christmas market, which is deeply regrettable.
Dating back to the Middle Ages, the Christmas market is one of the most famous traditional events of winter in Germany. According to statistics, there are more than 2,500 Christmas markets in Germany, of which the Nuremberg Christmas Market is the oldest and largest, attracting nearly 2 million tourists every year.
The cancellation of Christmas markets inevitably dilutes the festive atmosphere. In view of this, some cities plan to hold "reduced" Christmas markets to reduce the number of stalls and disperse them, ensuring social distancing for tourists. For example, a playground in North Rhine-Westphalia was intended to be converted into a car-accessible Christmas market. However, with the German government announcing on the 13th to further tighten the epidemic prevention and control measures until January 2021, a deserted Christmas is a foregone conclusion.
The German government has stipulated that retail stores other than food and essential daily necessities will be closed, schools and kindergartens will be converted from face-to-face classes to remote classes, and corporate employees will be on leave or work from home. This is also bad news for the retail industry, which shares the festive consumption boom of Christmas market merchants.
Pedestrians pass by a closed "Christmas house" in Berlin, germany's capital, on December 16. (Photo by Xinhua news agency reporter Shan Yuqi)
Stefan Ghent, general manager of the German Retail Association, said a few days ago that due to the impact of the epidemic and prevention and control measures, the sales and footfall of retail stores in the city center are far less than last year.
The association lowered its full-year revenue forecast for the retail sector, expecting the retail sector, which was severely affected by the "lockdown" measures, to lose about one-fifth of its turnover compared to last year. The association also said that the new round of epidemic prevention measures may affect many retail enterprises, the vast majority of which are small and medium-sized enterprises.
Nevertheless, before the implementation of a new round of epidemic prevention and control measures in Germany, people in shopping malls in the center of Frankfurt carried various shopping bags and seized the time to purchase. This seems to reveal that people's enthusiasm for consumption is still undiminished. In addition, online sales may meet the consumer demand that people cannot purchase in stores during the Christmas period. According to the German Retail Association, despite the overall decline in retail sales in November and December, revenue from online sales is expected to grow by almost a third to almost 20 billion euros.
According to the forecast data released by the German Institute of Economic Research, private consumption expenditure will fall by 0.8% in the fourth quarter of 2020, after which, with the gradual lifting of a new round of epidemic prevention and control measures, the German economy is expected to achieve a strong expansion of 3.1% in the second quarter of next year, and continue to rise at a higher than average rate thereafter.
Source: Xinhua News Agency