Security Costs Threaten Future of Germany’s Christmas Markets
According to the Federal Association of City and Town Marketing (BCSD), security costs have surged by an average of 44% over the last three years, largely in response to several high-profile attacks in recent times.
In 2016, a rejected Tunisian asylum seeker drove a truck into a Christmas market in Berlin, resulting in 12 fatalities and numerous injuries. More recently, a 50-year-old Saudi psychiatrist plowed his car into a crowd at a Christmas market in Magdeburg, killing five people and injuring over 200.
Event organizers are now required to surround venues with concrete barriers, establish entrance checkpoints, install surveillance cameras, and employ additional security personnel, a media outlet reported.
A recent BCSD survey of 258 market organizers revealed that rising security expenses are their primary concern.
The findings indicated that more than 75% of markets rely on subsidies, with only 1.6% generating a profit.
Gerold Leppa, head of BCSD, emphasized, “We need reliable, nationwide regulations that apply to all levels of government, otherwise, we will soon find no one willing to take on the ever-increasing responsibility for events and manage their financing.”
He added, “It cannot be that higher levels of government hold back and offload the responsibility and financial burden onto local law enforcement and… volunteer organizers.”
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