End of year festivities: good attendance figures for downtown Nîmes

La parade de Noël, un moment toujours très attendu. Midi Libre – MiKAEL ANISSET

Alors que la période de fêtes autour de Noël se referme ce dimanche 7 janvier, le bilan des animations et spectacles proposés par la Ville de Nîmes est plus que positif selon la municipalité.

"Over the whole month of December, attendance in the city jumped by more than 20% compared to last year. With sure values ​​and some promising new features, estimates the City in a press release.

A more than positive assessment

As the 2023 edition of the Christmas festivities closed this Sunday, January 7, it is time to take stock. The city thus estimated that this period had "flirted" with attendance records. Lots of people in the streets, well-attended events, full rides, satisfied traders: the results are more than positive.

Frédéric Pastor, deputy mayor responsible for Festivities, Bullfighting, Returnees and Local Traditions, is delighted to see that the magic of Christmas still operates, with crowds there for more than a year. month. The City's ambitious program for these 2023 holidays has a lot to do with it. Thus, still according to the figures given by the municipality, the city experienced an increase in attendance of 21% compared to last year, according to the Nîmes Tourist Office and its data recorded thanks to to the FluxVision tool, based on mobile phone demarcation (11% of foreign visitors, or 3 points more than in 2022).

Monumental projections always seduce

A trend that we find on the day of the various activities offered throughout these five weeks of celebrations. "On Friday, December 1, during the launch of the festivities carried out by Jean-Paul Fournier, Mayor of Nîmes, with the lighting of the city center and a gospel concert offered to the public on the steps of the Maison Carrée, the city experienced a peak in attendance of 29%,” continues the City, which announces an attendance of 618,000 visitors in the center over the three days of monumental image projections on the Tour de l& rsquo;Clock, the Museum of Old Nîmes and the north facade of the Maison Carrée (+15% compared to 2022).

"special mention" for the seven floats and 120 extras in the December 24 parade which attracted 184,000 visitors to the city during the day (+13% compared to last year). A sure bet, judges the institution. New for 2023: the polar village with synthetic ice rink and gourmet chalets, installed on the square in front of the arenas from December 22 to January 7, has "known how to find its audience". Before this Sunday and last day, nearly 6,000 people put on skates. 

A polar village "set to develop"

"These are very satisfactory figures which reinforce our strong choice to offer synthetic equipment, in line with our desire to act in the face of climate change. The polar village is a great success that we will try to develop in the coming years, says Frédéric Pastor.

The Musée de la Romanité, which had a special offer (one entry purchased, one entry free) during the end of the year, also showed a 6% increase in attendance in December. Finally, attendance at the Tourist Office jumped 137% with more than 9,700 people welcomed. Rather promising as we begin the year 2024, concludes the City.