Chamber claims Christmas sales stagnation in Gibraltar – but Dastis concentrating on cross-frontier workers and not on wider fluidity

The comments were made on GBC by Chamber Vice President John Isola who believes that the low statistics are not reflective of issues surrounding Brexit.

“I don’t think that it is necessarily a Brexit related issue,” he said. “It is more about the challenge faced by retailers everywhere, particularly in Gibraltar, of online purchases. Gibraltar does not have the scale of businesses across the border and therefore cannot match their prices. There are always exceptions, but generally speaking retailers are fairly tame about how Christmas has been for them this year.”

Panorama recently highlighted the fact that over 100 shops remained closed during a Spanish long weekend and at the height of the Christmas shopping period.

When asked if 2018 was a period where Main Street retailers should reinvent themselves in order to become more competitive in an ever-evolving market Mr Isola said:

“Absolutely. Despite the Chamber running an advertising campaign over November and December on radio channels up the coast to attract shoppers to Gibraltar, we haven’t really seen a significant effect on retailing over Christmas.”

The ‘strong’ advertising campaign focussed on three radio stations (Spectrum FM, Central FM and 40 Principales) and social media, reaching an audience of over 550,000 people.

A more detailed report on the campaign will be released in a week or so once statistics from the participating local retailers are collected.

“More than ever it is clear that traders across all sectors cannot be complacent and need to keep abreast of global trends, apply innovative thinking and deliver an excellent product and standard of service to the consumer to survive in today’s market place,” a Chamber spokesperson said.

<b>CROSS-FRONTIER COMMERCE</b>

Mr Isola said that the Chamber, which forms part of the Cross-Frontier Group (CFG), consisting of unions and delegates from both sides of the border, held a meeting with the President of the Mancomunidad.

The President was quizzed on the meeting he held along with the seven other mayors from the Campo de Gibraltar with the Spanish Foreign Minister, Alfonso Dastis.

“We had some concerns that Sr Dastis was concentrating on continuity for cross-frontier workers, whereas the CFG aspires to the continuity of the status-quo of fluidity for cross workers as well as for goods and the general public,” he said.

The President of the Mancomunidad assured the CFG that the feeling was mutual and something they were working towards.

“This is encouraging and we are cautiously optimistic on this,” he said.

Mr Isola believes that 2018 will be more challenging than the previous year due to the uncertainty looming in a post-Brexit environment.

“In its history Gibraltar has faced headwinds of different strengths and we have always risen to the challenge,” he said. “We need to look at things positively and Brexit could very well create all sorts of opportunities.”

<b>CAVALCADE CELEBRATIONS
</b>
This year’s cavalcade was one to remember as thousands of people flocked to Main Street to enjoy the floats, whose numbers have almost doubled since last year.

“We couldn’t have asked for a better cavalcade. Both the public and participants enjoyed it tremendously,” said Cavalcade Committee President Eric Abudarham. “I think it went remarkably well and I was very impressed with the quality of the floats as well as the numbers of participants.

The weather thankfully held out and by late afternoon Mr Abudarham believed that it wouldn’t rain, despite the dark clouds looming overhead.

“Comments I received from the public were all positive and we hope for a similar cavalcade for next year,” he said. “There were thousands in the street and that is exactly what Gibraltar deserves. The only thing is that I would like to see the cavalcade go through the whole of Main Street and not just up to the Cathedral.”

<b>FIREWORK FRENZY</b>

Even though there was widespread heated debate on social media and in the Press regarding the use of fireworks and the noise pollution allegedly caused, there were no reports of any arrests.

Many took to social media to voice their concerns on the loud bangs caused by firecrackers in and around Gibraltar’s estates, with some comparing the scene to a warzone.

However, the vast majority of people stopped short of calling for a total ban on fireworks, despite the disturbance caused to animals and those sensitive of hearing.

The Royal Gibraltar Police received six complaints relating to fireworks during the festive season. However, on police attendance to each of these complaints no persons were identified.

“We dealt with complaints of fireworks at Eastern Beach, Glacis Estate, Grand Parade and Mid Harbours Estate,” said Inspector Patrick Payas from the RGP. “In seeking to reduce the period in which the louder fireworks were discharged, HM Customs has for the past two years imposed an embargo on the sale of fireworks, restricting their sale to the period between the 27th and 31st of December. As a consequence a marked decrease in the discharge of fireworks outside these dates has been observed.”

9-1-18 PANORAMAdailyGIBRALTAR