Crafts from the Christmas market in Budapest”s Vörösmarty Square, one of the most popular winter fairs in Europe, will now be sold online after the market was cancelled due to COVID-19 restrictions.
But business owners doubt that the move online will help them recover from the losses the cancellation brings.
The holiday season is key to the livelihoods of many artisans who work for months to make their products for the market.
And without the wooden sheds and huge crowds, Vörösmarty Square is hard to recognise, people say.
Ákos Kaszap has been preparing for Christmas for five months in his workshop.
He has sold his ceramics at Budapest’s Christmas market for eight years.
“The basic nature of our work is that customers like to grasp [the products and] to see them. You can really feel the essence of it,” Kaszap told Euronews.
Many artisans say it will be hard to sell their products, which normally are very popular at the market, without contact with the customers.
To help businesses, the organisers of the fair have created a website where products from workshops can be purchased, but many still expect a huge loss in revenue this year.
“For us in our entire annual budget, we’re sure we will have a 70-80 % drop, but at the same time our costs are lower…because we obviously are producing less.”
Watch Euronews’ full report in the player above.
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