Germany's red carpet welcome faces first World Cup test
 

Germany's red carpet welcome faces first World Cup test
Thu Dec 8, 2005 10:43 AM GMT

By Philip Blenkinsop

BERLIN, Dec 8 (Reuters) - Germany opens its doors to World Cup visitors this
week with a charm offensive designed to break down stereotypes and show
Germans can be fun-loving as well as efficient.

The hosts of next year's soccer extravanganza hope many of the expected one
million foreign fans will enjoy their experience so much that they return as
tourists.

To win them over, authorities believe they must not only lay on a
well-organised tournament but also convince visitors that united Germany is
a modern, vibrant and friendly place.

The marketing job begins this week.

Friday's draw for the month-long World Cup starting on June 9 will attract
1,650 journalists, 500 FIFA officials, the coaches of all but one of the 32
qualified teams and an estimated television audience of 320 million.

Host city Leipzig, aware the world is watching, set the tone on Thursday by
unrolling what it claimed was the world's longest red carpet while the
federal government and tourism groups have kicked off a campaign to promote
service and friendliness.

"I think that people from Asian nations are quicker to smile. Our characters
are different," Franz Beckenbauer, head of the cup's organising committee,
told journalists at the launch.

"We have a one-off chance to organise this World Cup. We won't get the
opportunity again for another 50 years so it's worth at least smiling for a
few weeks."

"The fact that such a campaign is necessary shows there are deficits," said
Markus Kurscheidt, sports economy expert from the Ruhr University in Bochum.
"Germany is not as customer-focused as, say, the United States, Britain and
other countries. But it makes sense to try. The indirect economic impact of
the World Cup has the potential to be much larger than the direct impact."

Although Germans can be quite friendly and helpful to tourists, some
observers have called the country a service desert. Berlin, where the World
Cup final will be played, is notorious for its surly, inattentive waiters
and shopkeepers.

Germany is mindful of the public relations successes pulled off by Olympic
Games hosts Barcelona and Sydney, and the feel-good atmospheres that
developed during past World Cups.

Armin Brysch, board member of the German National Tourist Board (GNTB),
rejects the notion that German service is poor.

"We are better than our reputation, although of course there is always room
for improvement," Brysch said.

The national campaign will seek to encourage fine service, running
competitions to find such Germans as the friendliest taxi driver.

Foreign tourism has grown consistently, with overnight stays rising 9
percent last year and probably by 7 to 8 percent in 2005. The GNTB expects
an extra 1.7 million stays next year because of the World Cup alone.

Price is a key factor in the battle for visitors, with hotel rates in Berlin
and Germany's other major cities far lower than those in tourist magnets
like London or Paris.

Kurscheidt argues that Germany has less to lose than countries like
Portugal, hosts of soccer's Euro 2004, or Italy, which staged the 1990 World
Cup. There, the flood of football fans is believed to have deterred many
regular tourists.

"They are well-established tourist destinations. They don't need a big
football tournament. They have the sun," Kurscheidt said.

Germany cannot compete over sunshine but it will surely be hoping to avoid
the incessant rain suffered in 1974, the last time a World Cup was played on
German soil.

Germany's red carpet welcome faces first World Cup test
 

Earl Evleth writes:

Germany's red carpet welcome faces first World Cup test
Thu Dec 8, 2005 10:43 AM GMT

By Philip Blenkinsop

[...]

Although Germans can be quite friendly and helpful to tourists, some
observers have called the country a service desert. Berlin, where the World
Cup final will be played, is notorious for its surly, inattentive waiters
and shopkeepers.

It is? My German is modest, to say the least, and they were perfectly
pleasant to me.

Des

Germany's red carpet welcome faces first World Cup test
 

Des Small wrote:

Earl Evleth writes:

Germany's red carpet welcome faces first World Cup test
Thu Dec 8, 2005 10:43 AM GMT

By Philip Blenkinsop

[...]

Although Germans can be quite friendly and helpful to tourists, some
observers have called the country a service desert. Berlin, where the World
Cup final will be played, is notorious for its surly, inattentive waiters
and shopkeepers.

It is? My German is modest, to say the least, and they were perfectly
pleasant to me.

The writer was confusing Paris with Berlin. I found Berliners very nice.
It's not an effusive friendliness- and I found them quite laid back-
which is not to say reserved.

--
David Horne- http://www.davidhorne.net
usenet (at) davidhorne (dot) co (dot) uk
http://homepage.mac.com/davidhornecomposer http://soundjunction.org

Germany's red carpet welcome faces first World Cup test
 

Once again, evleth posts things he doesn't know about.
Countless trips to Germany and not one single surly waiter in view.

"Earl Evleth" a écrit dans le message de news:
...




Germany's red carpet welcome faces first World Cup test
Thu Dec 8, 2005 10:43 AM GMT

By Philip Blenkinsop

BERLIN, Dec 8 (Reuters) - Germany opens its doors to World Cup visitors
this
week with a charm offensive designed to break down stereotypes and show
Germans can be fun-loving as well as efficient.

The hosts of next year's soccer extravanganza hope many of the expected
one
million foreign fans will enjoy their experience so much that they return
as
tourists.

To win them over, authorities believe they must not only lay on a
well-organised tournament but also convince visitors that united Germany
is
a modern, vibrant and friendly place.

The marketing job begins this week.

Friday's draw for the month-long World Cup starting on June 9 will attract
1,650 journalists, 500 FIFA officials, the coaches of all but one of the
32
qualified teams and an estimated television audience of 320 million.

Host city Leipzig, aware the world is watching, set the tone on Thursday
by
unrolling what it claimed was the world's longest red carpet while the
federal government and tourism groups have kicked off a campaign to
promote
service and friendliness.

"I think that people from Asian nations are quicker to smile. Our
characters
are different," Franz Beckenbauer, head of the cup's organising committee,
told journalists at the launch.

"We have a one-off chance to organise this World Cup. We won't get the
opportunity again for another 50 years so it's worth at least smiling for
a
few weeks."

"The fact that such a campaign is necessary shows there are deficits,"
said
Markus Kurscheidt, sports economy expert from the Ruhr University in
Bochum.
"Germany is not as customer-focused as, say, the United States, Britain
and
other countries. But it makes sense to try. The indirect economic impact
of
the World Cup has the potential to be much larger than the direct impact."

Although Germans can be quite friendly and helpful to tourists, some
observers have called the country a service desert. Berlin, where the
World
Cup final will be played, is notorious for its surly, inattentive waiters
and shopkeepers.

Germany is mindful of the public relations successes pulled off by Olympic
Games hosts Barcelona and Sydney, and the feel-good atmospheres that
developed during past World Cups.

Armin Brysch, board member of the German National Tourist Board (GNTB),
rejects the notion that German service is poor.

"We are better than our reputation, although of course there is always
room
for improvement," Brysch said.

The national campaign will seek to encourage fine service, running
competitions to find such Germans as the friendliest taxi driver.

Foreign tourism has grown consistently, with overnight stays rising 9
percent last year and probably by 7 to 8 percent in 2005. The GNTB expects
an extra 1.7 million stays next year because of the World Cup alone.

Price is a key factor in the battle for visitors, with hotel rates in
Berlin
and Germany's other major cities far lower than those in tourist magnets
like London or Paris.

Kurscheidt argues that Germany has less to lose than countries like
Portugal, hosts of soccer's Euro 2004, or Italy, which staged the 1990
World
Cup. There, the flood of football fans is believed to have deterred many
regular tourists.

"They are well-established tourist destinations. They don't need a big
football tournament. They have the sun," Kurscheidt said.

Germany cannot compete over sunshine but it will surely be hoping to avoid
the incessant rain suffered in 1974, the last time a World Cup was played
on
German soil.

Germany's red carpet welcome faces first World Cup test
 

On 8/12/05 12:49, in article
1h7920s.v2zq151i6drs9N%this_address_is_for_spam@ya hoo.com, "David Horne,
_the_ chancellor of the duchy of besses o' th' barn and prestwich tesco 24h
offy" wrote:

The writer was confusing Paris with Berlin. I found Berliners very nice.
It's not an effusive friendliness- and I found them quite laid back-
which is not to say reserved.

Could be. I never had a problem there either. Nor in Paris! That did get me
curious, however, so I googled

Berlin "poor service" and got 23,100 hits
Paris "poor service = 137,000 hits
London "poor service = 235,000 hits
Rome "poor service = 87,000 hits
New York"poor service = 268,000 hits

So Berlin is low on this poor service test. Of course these
google test are unreliable, but I don't know another course.

Otherwise we are left with people's "ain't if awful" stories.

Germany's red carpet welcome faces first World Cup test
 

Your own stories are completely unreliable

"Earl Evleth" a écrit dans le message de news:
...
On 8/12/05 12:49, in article
1h7920s.v2zq151i6drs9N%this_address_is_for_spam@ya hoo.com, "David Horne,
_the_ chancellor of the duchy of besses o' th' barn and prestwich tesco
24h
offy" wrote:

The writer was confusing Paris with Berlin. I found Berliners very nice.
It's not an effusive friendliness- and I found them quite laid back-
which is not to say reserved.

Could be. I never had a problem there either. Nor in Paris! That did get
me
curious, however, so I googled

Berlin "poor service" and got 23,100 hits
Paris "poor service = 137,000 hits
London "poor service = 235,000 hits
Rome "poor service = 87,000 hits
New York"poor service = 268,000 hits

So Berlin is low on this poor service test. Of course these
google test are unreliable, but I don't know another course.

Otherwise we are left with people's "ain't if awful" stories.

Germany's red carpet welcome faces first World Cup test
 

David Horne, _the_ chancellor of the duchy of besses o' th' barn and prestwich tesco 24h offy wrote:
Des Small wrote:


Although Germans can be quite friendly and helpful to tourists, some
observers have called the country a service desert. Berlin, where the World
Cup final will be played, is notorious for its surly, inattentive waiters
and shopkeepers.

It is? My German is modest, to say the least, and they were perfectly
pleasant to me.

The writer was confusing Paris with Berlin. I found Berliners very nice.
It's not an effusive friendliness- and I found them quite laid back-
which is not to say reserved.

Genau.

--
Julie
**********
Check out the blog of my 9 week Germany adventure at www.blurty.com/users/jholm
Check out my Travel Pages (non-commercial) at
http://www.dragonsholm.org/travel.htm

Germany's red carpet welcome faces first World Cup test
 

Earl Evleth wrote:

On 8/12/05 12:49, in article
1h7920s.v2zq151i6drs9N%this_address_is_for_spam@ya hoo.com, "David Horne,
_the_ chancellor of the duchy of besses o' th' barn and prestwich tesco 24h
offy" wrote:

The writer was confusing Paris with Berlin. I found Berliners very nice.
It's not an effusive friendliness- and I found them quite laid back-
which is not to say reserved.

Could be. I never had a problem there either. Nor in Paris! That did get me
curious, however, so I googled

Berlin "poor service" and got 23,100 hits
Paris "poor service = 137,000 hits
London "poor service = 235,000 hits
Rome "poor service = 87,000 hits
New York"poor service = 268,000 hits

So Berlin is low on this poor service test. Of course these
google test are unreliable, but I don't know another course.

It's not just unreliable- it's dumb.

Paris "awful city" get's half the hits roughly that London "awful city"
gets. So Paris must be half as awful, right?

However, Paris "excellent city" also gets half the number, so it must be
half as excellent, no?

Or perhaps, just maybe, one city generates more hits _in general_. But,
do go ahead, and use google hits as a test...

(London "excellent food" gets more hits that Paris "excellent food" too,
for the same reason.)

--
David Horne- http://www.davidhorne.net
usenet (at) davidhorne (dot) co (dot) uk
http://homepage.mac.com/davidhornecomposer http://soundjunction.org

Germany's red carpet welcome faces first World Cup test
 

Des Small wrote:
Earl Evleth writes:

Germany's red carpet welcome faces first World Cup test
Thu Dec 8, 2005 10:43 AM GMT

By Philip Blenkinsop

[...]

Although Germans can be quite friendly and helpful to tourists, some
observers have called the country a service desert.

Well, not just observers. It's somthing very popular to complain about
"Servicewüste Deutschland" among Germans themselves.

Berlin, where the World Cup final will be played, is notorious for
its surly, inattentive waiters and shopkeepers.

Not just Berlin.

It is? My German is modest, to say the least, and they were perfectly
pleasant to me.

It must have been a lucky day. Over 50% of my frequent visits to German
restaurants and shops are leaving me a negative impression.

Jens

Germany's red carpet welcome faces first World Cup test
 

Jens Arne Maennig wrote: It must have been a lucky day. Over 50% of
my frequent visits to German restaurants and shops are leaving me a
negative impression.

I agree that Germany is not very service oriented, but on my frequent
visits to German restaurants and shops very few leave me with a
negative impression. I just don't go back to places with poor service
if possible, and many places actually have excellent service.

George