HOLIDAY RIVALRY:GERMANY'S TOP-SELLING newspaper, Bild, has fired an opening salvo in the annual war of the sunloungers by publishing a guide for its readers on how to avoid holidaying Britons.
Bildwas reacting to a British court decision to compensate a British tourist who found his hotel dominated by Germans.
The newspaper responded by publishing some choice comments about drunken, sunburnt Britons. To add insult to injury it included a jibe about England's failure to qualify for the Euro2008 football championship, which starts today.
It said: "Dear Tommies, you don't want to be on holiday with us? No problem. We'll play football without you this summer."
The paper advised German tourists to avoid six European resorts particularly popular with British holidaymakers: the Bay of Palma, in Majorca; San Antonio, in Ibiza; Playa de las Americas, in Tenerife; Ayia Napa, in Cyprus; Faliraki, in Rhodes; and Malia, in Crete.
Bildpointedly noted that Germans are off to Switzerland and Austria this month to attend Euro2008 on a "holiday without Wayne", referring to the England striker Wayne Rooney, who was in Ibiza for his stag party this week.
Last week David Barnish, of Madeley, near Stoke-on-Trent, was awarded £750 (€950) damages following a family holiday on the Greek island of Kos. A judge found that tour operator Thomson did not make clear that the hotel's entertainment and activities were in German.
A spokesman for the Association of British Travel Agents played down talk of conflict between British and German holidaymakers, saying: "We have been taking foreign holidays en masse for the last 40 years. Over that period our customers have happily shared their hotels with French, Spanish, Scandinavians and Germans without encountering any problems."