BERLIN — Iconic sites like the Brandenburg Gate and remnants of the Berlin Wall aren't the main attractions in Germany's capital at this time of year. In December, the biggest crowds can be found at one of the city's 80 traditional Christmas markets.

Their handcrafts, beautifully decorated stalls and medley of colorful lights attract festive visitors during what was once a bleak time of year for the tourism industry.

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Experts estimate that the Christmas market industry is worth about $5 billion annually to the German economy.

Cities across the United States are also trying to cash in on the centuries-old tradition. They include Chicago, Denver, Tulsa, Okla., Helen, Ga., and Arlington, Texas, where the local Chamber of Commerce has teamed up organizations including the Texas Rangers baseball team to bring some European traditions to the Lone Star state.

"Because Arlington has a German sister city, because we have about 3 million residents in Texas that have German ancestry and because many U.S. soldiers here were once stationed in Germany, we wanted to celebrate this German tradition," Henry Lewcyk from the Arlington Chamber of Commerce told NBC News.

'Tremendous boost'
In its second year, Arlington's German Christmas Market has also helped local businesses. 

"This new attraction has brought a tremendous boost to our local hospitality and entertainment industry," Lewczyk added.

The biggest Christmas market outside of Germany can be found in Birmingham, England. The event runs 38 days this year and combines two traditional markets with a total of 190 stalls. 

On average, three million people enjoy decorations, crafts and food products from Germany each year in the British city. Officials say that local retailers and hotels see a total of nearly $146 million in associated spending annually.

The markets weren't always such an easy sell.

“When I visited the first tourism fairs in Japan and the United States in the 1980s with my Christmas products, people first smiled at my presentations there,” German entrepreneur Harald Wohlfahrt told NBC News. "But very quickly, I became an ambassador for German Christmas customs."

Yet, when it comes to capturing the authentic German Christmas feeling, many say it can only be found in Germany.

“Christmas markets stand for German ‘Gemütlichkeit’, the coziness of the holiday season,” Wohlfahrt said.

“We want to avoid the commercialization of Christmas because our philosophy is that this special German tradition needs to be preserved.” 

Germany has been building on a rich Christmas culture and carefully attends to old traditions.

From the famous Dresden Christmas ‘Stollen’ – a fruit cake that dates back to a recipe created in medieval Saxony in the 15th century — to historic mouth-blown and hand-painted glass ornaments, there is a large number of Christmas products that are sold, and often manufactured, at local Christmas markets.

German craftsman Matthias Streckfuss has been coming to Berlin's "Christmas Magic" installation at the city's picturesque Gendarmenmarkt for nearly a decade.

“Every year, more and more people come to see our traditional handcrafts, they buy our works, but sometimes just want to get into the Christmas spirit with a chat about our professions or simply, the good old times,” the 50-year old Streckfuss said.

Streckfuss is one of only 10 mammoth ivory carvers in Germany, who crafts jewelry, miniatures and even sculptures out of fossil mammoth ivory, which is imported from the Siberian tundra.

“It is a dying trade but I still have a growing number of customers and a 5 to 10 percent sales increase every year, thanks to the Christmas market business," he added.

There are nearly 2,500 Christmas markets across Germany. The ‘Christkindlesmarkt’ in Nuremberg is the largest attracts more than two million people each year. And that means jobs.

“At our all-year Christmas stores and for our online shop we permanently employ 270 workers, but for the Christmas markets we always need to hire more than 700 additional people,” said Wohlfahrt, who is general manager of Käthe Wohlfahrt, a well-known family business that sells traditional German Christmas decorations.

The markets have become so popular that new creations have found their way into the scene: Berlin, for example, also hosts a Christmas designer market. Another sells authentic home-baked food and organically produced clothes.

"Christmas markets have become a magnet for visitors," said Katharina Dreger, head of public relations at Visit Berlin. She said the tourism industry's one-time "winter hole" in the German capital has been filled by visitors from across the country and abroad.

Often found with a cup of hot mulled wine or a bag of roasted chestnuts in their hands, many foreign visitors say the winter wonderland atmosphere can't be beat.

“These are my first markets in Europe and they are just amazing, they are magical,” said Emma Saligari, 33, from Australia, who was spending two weeks on a special Christmas Market Tour that includes more than 20 stops in Germany.

“We do have little winter markets in Scotland, usually with five or ten of the little stalls. But this is much more traditional, this is the real thing,” added Ray Cox, 57,  from Edinburgh, who came to Berlin with his wife Fiona.

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Updated at 7:51 a.m. ET: Karilyn Bales says that she finds accusations that her husband killed 17 Afghan villagers "unbelievable."

The wife of Staff Sgt. Robert Bales defended her husband in an exclusive interview with Matt Lauer for TODAY, which aired Monday morning.

"I just don't think he was involved," she said. When asked by Lauer if it was a case of mistaken identity, she said: "I don't have enough information."

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She later added that "nothing" would be able to change her mind that "this is not what it appears to be."

Read more on this story at TODAY.com

The Washington state woman said her husband joined the Army after the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, to "protect his family, friends and country. He wanted to do his part." She added that her husband is "very brave, very courageous."

Officials allege that Bales wandered off base in southern Afghanistan earlier this month and killed eight Afghan adults and nine children.

US official: Afghans paid about $50,000 per shooting spree death

'He's like a big kid himself'
According to Lauer, Bales' wife said the soldier had been very involved in raising the couple's two children.

"He is accused of killing nine children, innocent children," Lauer said to Bales' wife.

She responded that the accusations are "unbelievable to me."

"He loves children, he's like a big kid himself," the wife of the Joint Base Lewis-McChord soldier said. "I have no idea what happened, but he would not ... he loves children, and he would not do that."

Bales was formally charged Friday with 17 counts of premeditated murder and other crimes.

For alleged Afghan shooter, death penalty unlikely

U.S. investigators have said they believe Bales killed in two episodes, returning to his base after the first attack and later slipping away to kill again. He is reported to have surrendered without a struggle.

The 38-year-old married father of two from Lake Tapps, Wash., is being held at a U.S. military prison at Fort Leavenworth, Kan.

'A bit confused'
Karilyn Bales has spoken to her husband by telephone twice since he was detained. The soldier called his wife first from overseas shortly after massacre, and then last week from Fort Leavenworth where the two talked about family matters and "reaffirmed their love for each other," said her attorney, Lance Rosen.

She said that Bales "seemed a bit confused" during the phone calls.

Death toll in Afghanistan massacre climbs to 17

The couple has two young children, a girl named Quincy and a boy named Bobby.

Fourth tour of duty
Bales was on his fourth tour of duty in a war zone, having served three tours in Iraq, where he suffered a head injury and a foot injury. His civilian attorney, John Henry Browne, had said the soldier and his family had thought he was done fighting.

Speaking to Lauer, Karilyn Bales added: "He shielded me from a lot of what he went through. He's a very tough guy."

The family has set up a defense fund to help pay for Bales' legal fees.

PTSD: Having the courage to ask for help

The Bales family had a Seattle-area home condemned, struggled to make payments on another and failed to get a promotion a year ago. Karilyn Bales put the family's Lake Tapps, Wash., home up for sale days before the rampage.

The youngest of five brothers, Bales grew up in the working class Cincinnati suburb of Norwood, Ohio, and has been described as cheerful, all around good guy. He joined the Army two months after 9/11, after a Florida investment business failed and after he had worked with a string of securities operations.

The Associated Press, NBC News and msnbc.com staff contributed to this report.

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