Why do so few Britons holiday in Germany?

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Tequila
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25 Feb 2013, 10:08 am

Quote:
Freiburg, Germany: Europe's huge secret gem
  • It has great food and scenery – why do so few Britons head to Germany, wonders Bee Rowlatt on a trip to the Black Forest.
“Germany? You’re going on holiday to Germany? But why?” I’ve been asked this often enough to feel that some kind of excuse must be in order. Like “the agent misheard when I booked - I asked for Chamonix”. Oddly, this question never arises if you travel to Italy or France. Or Nepal or Paraguay for that matter. No, there’s something about holidaying in Germany that requires an explanation. Or should that be, there’s something about British people that requires an explanation. The country is after all a close neighbour, and the biggest nation state in Western Europe. So why the kneejerk reaction?

I don’t know. Can it still be the unmentionable? We’ve had plenty more wars since then. There you go - it just slipped out. Oops. But if it is still the war, then surely it’s time we got over it. The Germans have. And - breaking news - they lost! Plus it’s plain undignified to nurse a lingering one-sided grudge about which the alleged offender is blithely carefree. So Germany it is.

To be precise, the city of Freiburg, among the mountains of the Black Forest. And as it happens I do have an excuse for coming here. Three excuses in fact: delicious food, wonderful scenery and family fun. The first two are easily ticked off in one go, by heading straight out to one of Freiburg’s Strausse.

I don't think this entirely holds true. My cousin (who I'm fairly close to) regularly holidays in Bavaria.

I suppose the other question that might as well be asked - and it's just as well worth asking - is this: why do so few Germans choose to holiday in the UK?



FalsettoTesla
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25 Feb 2013, 10:22 am

There were plenty were I lived. I also see a fair few around London.

My grandma likes to shout at tourists on public transport. English tourists as well, so I suppose that's something.



lotuspuppy
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25 Feb 2013, 11:31 am

I have a good German friend who lived in Reading for a year with her aunt. She said most Britons she met turned cold on her when they figured out she was German. Maybe the two nations do not like each other?



Tequila
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25 Feb 2013, 12:12 pm

lotuspuppy wrote:
I have a good German friend who lived in Reading for a year with her aunt. She said most Britons she met turned cold on her when they figured out she was German.


There are quite a lot of people like that, but these people are prejudiced a***holes who are not worth the time of day. I find it rather sad that she had that experience with us.

I could perhaps understand it if they were NPD supporters or something, but the vast majority of Germans want nothing to do with neo-Nazis.



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25 Feb 2013, 3:17 pm

I think the article is correct.

There’s a noticeable amount of Brits that hold on to WW2 and anti German sentiment, despite the wars outcome. This is most noticeable whenever England and German play football against each other, or when German influence in the EU is discussed on comment boards of UK newspapers or the BBC.

The like below indicates that Germany has points to recommend it as tourist destination, and that the number of Brits visiting German has been on the increase.

http://www.etoa.org/news/2012/12/18/ger ... -operators

I couldn’t find any numbers for 2012, but according to the link below Germans were in the top three nationalities to visit the UK in terms of numbers.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/enviro ... gures.html



Tequila
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25 Feb 2013, 3:33 pm

ICY wrote:
I think the article is correct.

There’s a noticeable amount of Brits that hold on to WW2 and anti German sentiment, despite the wars outcome. This is most noticeable whenever England and German play football against each other, or when German influence in the EU is discussed on comment boards of UK newspapers or the BBC.


I don't like the EU, but I think Germany is a wonderful country and can't wait to go back there later this year.

Anti-German sentiment today is completely pointless and needless. We aren't fighting World War II and haven't for nearly 70 years.



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25 Feb 2013, 4:05 pm

Tequila wrote:
Anti-German sentiment today is completely pointless and needless. We aren't fighting World War II and haven't for nearly 70 years.


I think some Brits hold on to WW2 as their core idea of British national identity. Personally I find it sad that they can't find something more contemporary to inform their sense of nationhood, like their saying that the best days of the UK are behind it.



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26 Feb 2013, 2:24 am

Tequila wrote:
ICY wrote:
I think the article is correct.

There’s a noticeable amount of Brits that hold on to WW2 and anti German sentiment, despite the wars outcome. This is most noticeable whenever England and German play football against each other, or when German influence in the EU is discussed on comment boards of UK newspapers or the BBC.


I don't like the EU, but I think Germany is a wonderful country and can't wait to go back there later this year.

Anti-German sentiment today is completely pointless and needless. We aren't fighting World War II and haven't for nearly 70 years.


Dare I ask - - is this Anti-German prejudice directed at just citizens of Germany? Or does it include Americans of German extraction as myself?

-Bill, otherwise known as Kraichgauer



Nambo
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26 Feb 2013, 3:53 am

And dont forget who own most of Britains press, they are most anxious to keep anti-German sentiments alive and the memory of the holocaust constantly fresh in people's minds so they can continue getting away with Palestinian apartied.

Its no longer politically correct to have a dig about anyone these days except the Germans whom the press will still make reference to towels on deck chairs etc.

I spoke with a German tourist at work recently, he asked me why Britain was still so obsessed with the war, I told him it was supposedly our finest hour so we still cling to such in absence of any other reason to be proud of this country, guess that's why most British still wish to view Germany as the enemy.



Mummy_of_Peanut
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26 Feb 2013, 7:08 am

My Mum and Dad used to holiday in Germany, before I was born. My Mum had worked there for a while and my Dad did his national service there too. They both loved the German hospitality and returned many times. The only reason I've not been there for a holiday is that the package holidays are so expensive, compared to Austria, for example. I've been to Munich, but it was on a day trip from the resort I was staying at, in Austria.


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ruveyn
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26 Feb 2013, 7:28 am

Kraichgauer wrote:

Dare I ask - - is this Anti-German prejudice directed at just citizens of Germany? Or does it include Americans of German extraction as myself?

-Bill, otherwise known as Kraichgauer


You must not feel ashamed or guilty just because the Devil was one of your ancestors. Nobody chooses their parents.

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26 Feb 2013, 1:53 pm

Kraichgauer wrote:
Tequila wrote:
ICY wrote:
I think the article is correct.

There’s a noticeable amount of Brits that hold on to WW2 and anti German sentiment, despite the wars outcome. This is most noticeable whenever England and German play football against each other, or when German influence in the EU is discussed on comment boards of UK newspapers or the BBC.


I don't like the EU, but I think Germany is a wonderful country and can't wait to go back there later this year.

Anti-German sentiment today is completely pointless and needless. We aren't fighting World War II and haven't for nearly 70 years.


Dare I ask - - is this Anti-German prejudice directed at just citizens of Germany? Or does it include Americans of German extraction as myself?

-Bill, otherwise known as Kraichgauer


Just citizens of Germany.

Most Brits don't seem to acknowledge the German ancestry of Americans in the same way as they do the Irish and Italians.



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26 Feb 2013, 2:50 pm

i have a friend in birmingham england who is on holiday in allemagne as we speak


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Fogman
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26 Feb 2013, 3:29 pm

I think that when you overlook any historically rooted cultural bias you will find that both Germans and Brits tend to holiday in warm places like Spain, Southern France, Italy and Greece, not in places that are climatically similar.


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26 Feb 2013, 5:26 pm

I was researching Berlin hotels and I found they were more expensive than I was expecting to be honest...



VIDEODROME
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26 Feb 2013, 6:40 pm

Actually thinking of old grudges, do Irish citizens ever vacation in England? When returning to they have to explain why they would vacation in such a place?

If you want to be really ridiculous there is a long list of former colonies who could drag this out.