Purpose

Christmas markets have more recently become important tourist attractions in Europe. The purpose of this study is to understand how does this recurring event impact local businesses and residents. The research focuses on the city of Cluj-Napoca, Romania.

Design/methodology/approach

This study used both quantitative and qualitative methods. First, a survey was conducted with local residents to evaluate the impact of the Christmas market on the local community. Residents’ perception of social impacts was ascertained by using a five-point Likert scale. The data collected was then processed using the SPSS software. Second, to assess the impact of the Christmas market on the businesses located in the city’s historic central square, semi-structured interviews with managers and front-line employees were conducted. In total, 21 people were interviewed for this study. The interviews were then transcribed, and the content analysis was applied to the textual data.

Findings

The study found that both residents and local businesses have a positive attitude toward the Christmas market. The only negative impact, identified by a segment of the population and some companies, was crowding of public spaces (including parking problems and traffic jams).

Originality/value

This study is novel in that, with one exception, there are no studies on the community impacts of Christmas markets. Moreover, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study on Christmas markets in Romania and one of the very few in Eastern Europe.

中文翻译：

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市中心的圣诞市场：它们如何影响当地居民和企业？

目的

圣诞市场最近已成为欧洲重要的旅游景点。本研究的目的是了解这种反复发生的事件如何影响当地企业和居民。该研究的重点是罗马尼亚的克卢日-纳波卡市。

设计/方法/方法

本研究同时使用定量和定性方法。首先，对当地居民进行了一项调查，以评估圣诞市场对当地社区的影响。居民对社会影响的看法是通过使用李克特五点量表来确定的。然后使用SPSS软件处理收集的数据。其次，为了评估圣诞市场对位于该市历史悠久的中心广场的企业的影响，对经理和一线员工进行了半结构化访谈。本次研究共采访了 21 人。然后转录访谈，并将内容分析应用于文本数据。

发现

研究发现，居民和当地企业都对圣诞市场持积极态度。部分人群和一些公司确定的唯一负面影响是公共空间拥挤（包括停车问题和交通拥堵）。

原创性/价值

这项研究的新颖之处在于，除了一个例外，没有关于圣诞市场对社区影响的研究。此外，据作者所知，这是对罗马尼亚圣诞市场的第一次研究，也是东欧为数不多的研究之一。