The Christmas and New Year festivities in 2021 involve a budget allocation of €635,000 for entertainment, logistics and associated projects, and €1,085 million for fireworks, said Eduardo Jesus.

The government official also recalled that there is an amount of €2.9 million for lighting, which is based on a competition that covers two years (2020 and 2021), and that the program this year runs from December 1 with the turning on of the lights and runs until January 9.

The Madeira official indicated that the New Year's Eve show, which entered the Guinness Book of Records in 2007, will last eight minutes, with fireworks being fired from 59 posts, 27 of which in the Funchal amphitheater, 25 on the city's seafront and five on the sea.

The island of Porto Santo will also have pyrotechnics.

Regarding hotel occupancy, Eduardo Jesus pointed out that, “in a first survey, it is around 58 percent at Christmas, slightly above what was seen in 2019, and at the end of the year it has the same occupancy, 85.1 percent.”

“We are aware that [occupancy rates] will vary positively, with no setbacks following the pandemic, because last minute bookings are emerging. It is more than natural for there to be greater demand in the days leading up to the end of the year”, he said.

Among other aspects, the regional secretary informed that this year there will be no obligation for people to watch the traditional fireworks show in Funchal bay restricted to squares drawn on the pavement, "a measure that does not apply" because the region has a high vaccination rate, imposed the use of masks and weekly testing of the population.

This year, the stalls in the 'Christmas Market', on Avenida Arriaga, in Funchal, will be able to sell drinks and other delicacies, with control carried out at the entrance of visitors, who must have a certificate of vaccination against Covid -19 and a negative antigen test, a measure that has already been announced by the president of the Government of Madeira.