Fuel price hikes mean the Germans are holidaying at home - so, for once, other nations have a chance of a sunbed, writes Derek Scally.
GERMANS ARE travel mad, with a unique yearning for distant climes known as "Fernweh", a term that is the precise opposite of homesickness.
The yearning goes back at least to the 18th century when Johann Wolfgang von Goethe visited Tuscany, penning the lines: "Know'st thou the land where the lemon-trees bloom?" For most Goethe fans in the 18th century, the answer to that question was a definite "no", but it didn't stop them dreaming.
The economic miracle of the 1960s made that dream a reality. Cavalcades of shiny Volkswagen Beetles began crawling across Alpine passes to Italy, to France, and beyond. Milky-skinned Brits were disgusted on their first Spanish sun holidays in the 1970s to find that the Germans had already made themselves comfortable beside the hotel pool, sparking the famous "war of the sunbeds" that continues to this day.
Surveys show that travel and cars are the things Germans prefer to spend their money on, ahead of clothes, food and entertainment.
A British survey last week confirmed the trend: 70 million of Germany's 82 million citizens boarded a flight at a German airport last year, a higher percentage than in any other country in the world. This week, however, the German media spotted a threat to the national travel bug.
"Holidays expensive like never before!" screamed Bild in large letters usually reserved for its annual summer warning about looming beer shortages. Even taking into account Bild's love of a good catastrophe, that and other reports make for grim reading.
Airlines have experienced the biggest shock from the fuel price hikes. Package tour operator TUI says that the cost of filling one of its Boeing 737's fuel tanks has jumped from €5,000 three years ago to €12,000 today.
"This is going to have worse consequences for our industry than September 11th," Roland Keppler of TUI told Die Zeit newspaper.
Like most major airlines, Lufthansa is now asking its customers to cover the petrol price rise: it has increased its fuel surcharge to €24 on short hop and €92 for long-haul flights. Consultants McKinsey have already predicted the end of the budget airline as we know it, noting in a recent travel analysis that "the price of air travel will rise - considerably, and permanently".
So the skies are darkening, but Germans will always have the autobahn, won't they? Record petrol prices of €1.58 a litre mean the cost of a summer road trip from Stuttgart to St Tropez now costs on average €185 - that's €45 more than last year.
ADAC, Germany's equivalent of the AA, released a report this week analysing typical holiday expenses in European countries. The verdict: drastic price increases across the board since last year.
Caravan site fees in Germany, France and the Netherlands are up 18 per cent on average. Suncream in Greece costs 23 per cent more, the average beer price in Turkey has risen 49 per cent, and even French fries in French tourist resorts cost on average €3.45 a portion - 55 per cent more than in 2006.
"But it's not all bad news, it depends on the country and Poland is much cheaper," said Katharina Bauer of ADAC. Poland offers holiday-makers good value, with a half-litre of beer for €1.47 and a litre of petrol for €1.40.
Germans, who still can't overcome the wall in their heads towards their eastern neighbour, are increasingly taking holidays at home. Last year the number of at-home holidays rose three per cent to 360 million overnight stays. If that trend continues, it could mean that, for the first time in modern history, other tourists might have a chance at a sunbed.
