Fun Xmas shopping in Palma centre

THE Christmas Campaign “Palma, todo un centro de diversión” (Palma, a complete centre of fun) will encompass 150 activities directed at children, which is twice the amount of activities than offered last year in the city centre. The aim of this campaign is to make the whole Christmas shopping experience more fun and to intice more shoppers to the centre of Palma.
These Christmas activities will take place every Friday and Saturday from 26 November until 7 January in many streets and squares in the shopping area of the city. To date, around 400 shops have joined up to the campaign out of the 2'000 shops located in the centre of Palma, which is twice the amount at this same time in 2004, explained the President of the IBI-Comerc Fundación, Pere Pau Mesquida. The central logo for this present campaign will be the “Na Bosseta” (a shopping bag), which from now on will be the new image for the traditional shopping in Palma, added Pere Pau Mesquida. The campaign does have a great impact on the commerical sector in Palma, he confirmed yesterday during the press conference and presentation.
The fun shopping campaign focuses on offering shoppers music and entertainment while they shop, to the delight of many of the children who are dragged around the shops at this time. There will be workshops, musical acts, puppet shows and mime performations along many streets and in squares in Palma, explained the local councillor for Work, Economy and Trade in Palma City Council, Sebastia Sansó. The President of the Chamber of Commerce, Miquel Lladó, highlighted the fact that the commercial sector in the Balearic Islands is the “first exporter”, since the shopping that tourists make whilst here on holiday are over and above the total of exports made from the islands. The commercial sector employs 50'000 people and represents 14 percent of the GNP (Gross National Product), which makes it a strategic” sector for the island's economy, he added. However the shops in Palma have their own singular problems to face, and for this reason the Christmad campaign is a welcome initiative which helps boost sales during this time of the year. The campaign, which will mainly offer activities between 6pm and 8pm, hopes to attract more passer-bys to the city centre, this will go hand in hand with better shop sales. Palma city council has made a lot of effort to clean the streets and make Palma city centre an attractive experience for residents and tourists, Miguel Lladó added.