The president of the Associação de Dinamização da Baixa Pombalina (ADBP), Manuel de Sousa Lopes, said that trade has not been as high as predicted in 2022, but traders are having “a normal Christmas, with some fluctuations”.

Manuel de Sousa Lopes explained to Lusa that sales “have remained reasonably well” due to the large number of people “looking for the lights, looking for the Christmas villages, looking for the Christmas train” in the capital’s downtown area.

“It’s a strong Christmas, we’ve had a crowd of people looking commercial space in Baixa Pombalina, which has bought happiness and hope to those who have businesses in our Baixa-Chiado”, stated the president of ADBP.

The president of the Associação de Valorização do Chiado, Victor Silva, says there is a noticeable “drop in consumption”.

“In general, people walk a lot and come to see the lights, but they don’t buy as much as in previous years, there is more restraint”, said Victor Silva in statements to Lusa.

This tendency was felt at the time of Black Friday, which Victor Silva considers to have been the “worst ever”.

The president of the Associação de Valorização do Chiado believes the Christmas lights are responsible for the large number of people seen downtown, however, in the areas that do not have lighting, “commerce is dwindling at this time, which is a very important time to carry out end-of-year business”.

The two associations agree that tourism in downtown Lisbon remains as predicted this season, which Victor Silva considers “is somehow managing to help in regards to the drop in purchases from national consumers”.

Manuel de Sousa Lopes also highlights the importance of tourists, stating “commerce in Baixa-Chiado no longer lives and cannot live without the boost tourism brings to the area”.