Christmas is a time for business lunches, jams, family gatherings and, increasingly, above all, business. Especially for tourism. The festivities have become a strong attraction for visitors, as Christmas has become a mass phenomenon in cities, with large ornamental displays on the streets of cities such as Madrid, Vigo, Cádiz and Badalona. We saw this at night when the lights were on in Vigo, Malaga or Seville. And everything points to this happening again on Twelfth Night.

His Majesty’s parades in the East always cause excitement, but renting balconies overlooking the floats has now become a full-fledged business.

Christmas, time for the masses. Christmas has always been a time of holidays, travel, spending and crowds. This is not new. Yes, it has become a mass phenomenon in some cities, the result of a well-planned attempt to make the festivals a strong tourist attraction. Sometimes even at the expense of significant budgetary effort.

Madrid reported a 4.4 million euro contract for Christmas lighting in September; Vigo recently signed a multi-year 9.4 million euro deal for the same purpose, and Cádiz made a big splash this year with an investment of around 17 euros per capita in decoration. Spending per capita far exceeds that of the most aggressive cities in the “war of light.” These are large sums of money, but city councils have long argued that the investment is more than recouped by visitors.

Strengthen the calendar. The best example of this Christmas fever (or at least the most media-friendly) is probably Vigo, which bills itself as the “Christmas city” and advertises its festivities in places as far away as Rome, Paris, London or New York. Until recently, December was synonymous with low season for hotels. Now they welcome an influx of tourists. So many, in fact, that the mayor claims that Christmas mobilizes more people in Vigo than the Camino de Santiago, which has millions of visitors.

But the flow of tourists, no matter how far they are taken across the Atlantic, is encouraged by more than press coverage or advertising campaigns. To consolidate tourism At the beginning of Christmas, two other strategies were chosen that are well defined in Vigo, although they could be expanded to other cities: to expand the Advent calendar, in some cases to make it start in mid-November, and to “create” new events capable of creating anticipation. and “macro festivals” to turn on lighting will attract visitors.

From lighting to riding. Massive lighting parties, such as the ones we saw a few weeks ago in Seville, Barcelona, ​​​​Madrid, Malaga or Zaragoza, are not the only ones that have proven to be effective hooks for attracting tourists. If they mark the beginning signal of the festivities, their closing, namely the parade of the Three Wise Men, is equally effective.

The buoys have created anticipation in Spain for decades. This is nothing new. What is striking is that this celebration has not remained alien to society. tourism Christmas celebrations in certain cities of the country. And this can be seen in basic matters such as the request for accommodation on the night of January 5 or how much a balcony costs to enjoy a privileged view of Her Majesty’s parade. In addition, cities invest in decorating their floats.

So how much does horseback riding cost? Adhere to. Not all municipal councils in Spain allocate the same amount of money to parade the Three Wise Men of the East through their streets. At the beginning of the year, just before the 2024 rides, Newtral published a comparison with some interesting data.

For example, according to its calculations, the Madrid City Council parade had a budget of at least 1.5 million euros, a large part of which was devoted to artistic works. In Barcelona, ​​this figure is around 950,000 euros; 250,000 in L’Hospitalet de Llobregat, 110,000 in Alicante, 107,800 in Logroño and 100,000 in Leganés.

Deployment of millions. Since then, new data on publicly traded investments has been released. In September, the Alicante City Council announced that the parades budget for the next three years would be 540,000 euros, with an annual allocation of 180,000 euros, that is, 70,000 more than in the previous competition.

And that’s not the only person who knows. Langreo has decided to strengthen its investment and Motril will undertake a much larger expenditure as a result of a change in organisation. It was decided to rethink the format in other cities as well. In Vigo, for example, a “static” parade takes place in the morning and the tradition takes place in the afternoon.

The value of a date… The interest in Christmas, and especially the Three Kings’ parade, seems to be reflected in accommodation prices. At least that’s what a few indicators suggest. For example, a quick and random search on Booking shows that the same four-star hotel in Vigo charges 79 euros for a double room for the night of the Three Kings (January 5-6) the following Sunday and Monday (12-13). It shows you got it. ) price drops to 64.

When we search in Madrid, we see that the price of the same accommodation (three stars) increases from 134 to 104, while in Barcelona (four stars) it decreases from 149 to 121. Pioneer conducted a similar study and asked how much it would cost for a family consisting of a couple with three children to stay in one of the hotels in Madrid located on the march route on the evening of January 5. He found options for 370, 391 and even 549 euros, which are the rates at which VAT must be added.

These are the results of a random investigation limited only to very specific cases, but they are consistent with other signals left by the industry. For example, a recent study by medium- and long-term room and apartment rental platform Spothome analyzed how much it costs to rent in the most central areas of cities with gateway views.

…And the value of views. What Spothome is trying to find out is how this peak in demand affects rents. More specifically, how much is the monthly rent for apartments located in exclusive areas with the best views from their windows or floating balconies? It is clear that the figures are influenced by various factors (first of all, location), but they are striking.

He mentioned a wage of between 970 and 1,930 euros a month in Madrid on streets like Castellana or Cibeles, and in Barcelona between 1,010 and 1,880 euros on Paseo de Colón or Avenida del Marqués de l’Argentera. In Malaga, the monthly price of a one-bedroom apartment with a view of His Majesty’s Passage was approximately 1,160-1,230 euros, while in Vigo, 720-1,220 euros were targeted in important areas such as Camelias, Praza América or Porta do Sol.

A trip for the price of a cruise. The Spothome study should also be considered as an indicator, a clue. There are others too. The most striking of these was probably published in the newspaper a few days ago. Vigo LighthouseThis reflected that owners of tourist apartments in the Galician city increased their prices between January 5 and 6, exploiting views of the Eastern Majesty’s parade, a major attraction.

After consulting the local offer, the newspaper claims that in some cases rates of over 1,000 euros per night are being charged, meaning prices rise rapidly in the summer for the city, which seems more typical of coastal areas. A search on booking shows that a three-bedroom tourist apartment in Camelias, one of Vigo’s best-located spots for the parade, cost 1,368 euros for the night of January 5-6. From the 8th to the 9th, the price drops to 152 euros, and for the night from the 12th to the 13th it remains at 141 euros.

Pictures | Madrid City Council 1 and 2

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