Nuremberg Tries Luring Chinese Tourists to Market
Can the Chinese be enticed to buy tin toys when they visit Nuremberg?
Dec. 25, 2011— -- In its efforts to increase tourism, the city of Nuremberg, home to the world-famous Christkindlesmarkt, is seeking to attract more visitors from China. But a recent visit by Chinese guests to the market demonstrated how challenging it can be to pitch the holiday to guests from Shanghai or Beijing.
Can the Chinese be enticed to buy traditional tin toys when they visit Nuremberg? Will they enjoy the flavor of the local winter speciality, Lebkuchen gingerbread treats? What about the local culinary speciality of grilled bratwurst on a bed of sauerkraut?
Zhang Jun, 35, has come to Nuremberg seeking answers to these very questions. Zhang works for the German National Tourist Board in China. Commissioned by the German government, he has put together a nine person delegation of tourism experts from Shanghai and is giving them a quick tour of the Christkindlesmarkt, together with Nuremberg city guide Claudia Radtke.
It is through this group that Nuremberg is hoping to attract tourists from China to the city. Home to the world's second-biggest economy, China is important. Besides, with newfound money and eased travel restrictions, Europe has become a favored destination for many Chinese. If everything goes according to plan, the nine tourism experts will soon offer package tours each winter to Germany to visit the Christmas markets. That, of course, would be a Christmas fairy tale come true for a city like Nuremberg.'Winter Trips with Markets'But can Nuremberg succeed in selling the idea of Christmas to the Chinese? After all, it's not a holiday the Chinese pay much attention to. It isn't a tradition in a country where the majority of people are either Buddhists or not religious at all. While the Chinese language does have characters for writing the words for Christmas, people don't have any real emotional attachment to the December holiday.
Zhang admits it will be a hard sell. "Christmas trips to Germany will be difficult to offer in China, so it would be better if we called them winter trips with markets," he says, standing in the freezing cold at Nuremberg's main market after an 11-hour flight.
"This here is our famous Nuremberg Christmas angel," tour guide Radtke says in Chinese, as she holds a photo up in the air. A new Christmas angel is selected each year, and with her white and gold dress, long blonde curls and golden crown, she has become the symbol of the city's Christmas market. The Chinese stand in a half-circle around her, rubbing their hands against each other and remaining largely silent.
Nuremberg isn't home to the oldest or the biggest Christmas market in Germany, but it is certainly the most famous, attracting some 2 million visitors each year. Most of the visitors to the Christkindlesmarkt come from Italy, the United States or Austria. With the country falling into 13th place in the rankings for visitors, comparably few Chinese visitors come to the market each year. City officials are keen to change that, and they are placing considerable hope on the Chinese.
"The Chinese have a lot of money," says the city's tourism director. "They could spend it here."
Zhang Jun says the concept of Christmas is not one that is universally understood in China. He says Christmas has only been imported to the larger cities, where it is largely a celebration of consumer culture. It has a status similar to that of the American tradition of Halloween in Germany, meaning that it is recognized, but not widely celebrated.
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