Caution for Europe’s Christmas markets as Covid cases on rise

SOME of Europe’s Christmas markets have begun warily opening amid surging coronavirus infections.

In Germany, the picturesque Frankfurt market is open over a wider area to thin out the crowds, while in Budapest the markets are fenced off and customers have to show proof of vaccination.

Despite the restrictions, it is a huge relief for merchants to be open after losing their Christmas business last year.

In Frankfurt, the Christmas tree towers over the main square as chestnuts and sugared almonds are roasted, and children clamber aboard the merry-go-round just like they did before the pandemic.

But a surge in coronavirus infections has left an uneasy feeling hanging over the market.

To savour a mug of mulled wine, masked customers must pass through a one-way entrance to a fenced-off wine hut, stopping at the hand sanitiser station. Elsewhere, security officers check vaccination certificates before letting customers head towards the steaming sausages and kebabs.

Despite the pandemic inconveniences, stall owners selling ornaments, roasted chestnuts and other Christmas-themed items in Frankfurt and other European cities are relieved to be open at all for their first

Christmas market in two years, especially with new restrictions taking effect in Germany, Austria and other countries as Covid-19 infections hit record highs.

Merchants who have opened are hoping for at least a fraction of the pre-pandemic Christmas sales that can make or break their businesses.

Others are not so lucky. Many of the famous Christmas events have been cancelled in Germany and Austria. With the market closures goes the money that tourists would spend in restaurants, hotels and other businesses.

Jens Knauer, who crafts intricate, lighted Christmas-themed silhouettes that people can hang in windows, said his hope was simply that the Frankfurt market “stays open as long as possible”.

While Christmas is 40 per cent of annual revenue for many retailers and restaurateurs, “with me, it’s 100%”, Mr Knauer said. “If I can stay open for three weeks, I can make it through the year.”

Traders are on edge after other Christmas markets were abruptly shut down in Germany’s Bavaria, which includes Nuremberg, home of one of the biggest and best-known markets.

Stunned exhibitors in Dresden had to pack up their goods when authorities in the eastern Saxony region suddenly imposed new restrictions amid soaring infections.

Austria’s markets closed as a 10-day lockdown began on Monday, with many stall owners hoping they can reopen if it is not extended.

Markets usually attract elbow-toelbow crowds to row upon row of ornament and food sellers, foot traffic that spills over into revenue for surrounding hotels and restaurants. This year, the crowds at Frankfurt’s market were vastly thinned out, with the stalls spread out over a larger area.

Heiner Roie, who runs a mulled wine hut in the shape of a wine barrel, said he is assuming he will see half the business he had in 2019.

A shutdown would cause “immense financial damage – it could lead to complete ruin since we haven’t made any income in two years”, he said.

But if people have a little discipline and observe the health measures, “I think we’ll manage it”, he added.

Next door, Bettina Roie’s guests are greeted with a sign asking them to show their vaccination certificates at her stand serving Swiss raclette, a popular melted cheese dish.

The market “has a good concept because what we need is space, room, to keep some distance from each other”, she said. “In contrast to a bricks-and-mortar restaurant, they have their building and their walls, but we can adjust ourselves to the circumstances.”

The extended Roie family is a fifthgeneration exhibitor business that also operates the merry-go-round on Frankfurt’s central Roemerberg square, where the market opened on Monday.

Ms Roie said it was important to reopen “so that we can bring the people, even during the pandemic, a little joy– that’s what we do, we bring back joy”.

The latest spike in Covid-19 cases has unsettled prospects for Europe’s economic recovery, leading some economists to hedge their expectations for growth in the final months of the year.

Other European countries where the pandemic is not hitting as hard are returning to old ways. The traditional Christmas market in Madrid’s Plaza Mayor, in the heart of the Spanish capital, is due to open today at the size it was before the pandemic.

It will have 104 stalls of nativity figures, decorations and traditional sweets, in a country where 89% of those 12 or older are fully vaccinated.