Update: German Tourists, Italian Insults
Travel Blog • Michael Yessis • 08.06.03 | 12:26 AM ET
The Baltimore Sun’s Todd Richissin recently visited Pesaro, Italy, the place German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder had planned to spend his summer vacation until Italian tourism minister Stefano Stefani referred to Germans as hypernationalistic, beer-swilling, competitive belchers. What did he find there? Not many tourists, of course. Says Hemil Simoncelli, a waiter in Pesaro: “Everything about tourism is about being nice, so you can’t insult people and expect them to come to your home and give you money.”