Holidays at Home?

The call from Green party parliamentary leader Renate Kunast for spending vacations in Germany to become fashionable once more was predictable, but the support she received from other parts of the political spectrum was less so.

Werner Schnappauf, environment minister for Bavaria's conservative Christian Social party, said Germans should change their lifestyles. "Learn to value the qualities close to where you live," was his contribution to an increasingly lively debate.

The deputy parliamentary leader of the Social Democrats, Ulrich Kelber, called for Germans to avoid flights as far as possible as their own "private contribution" to halting climate change. Holidays in Germany and neighboring countries could be "lovely," Kelber said, extolling the virtues of train travel.

Ever since Germany's postwar boom, the so-called Wirtschaftswunder (economic miracle), Germans have been avid travelers.

German tourists first to travel en masse far and wide

The Mediterranean came first as the trendy holiday destination. East Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean and the Far East soon followed.

Trinket shops in every corner of the world -- at least every sunny corner -- have for decades posted the sign: "Man spricht Deutsch" (German spoken here) in their windows in the hope of earning solid deutsche marks or euros.

But now "Sylt not the Seychelles," is the holidaying slogan, in reference to the island just off the Baltic coast where Germany's beautiful people have long spent weekends.

The tourist industry is ready to take the change in its stride, well aware that margins on the long-haul flights are now minimal compared with what can be earned from up-market destinations closer to home.

"In many circles it will no longer be chic in a couple of years to pollute the environment with tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) while on holiday," said Martin Buck, director of Berlin's International Tourist Bourse, which opens Wednesday.

Cheap flights and package tours in danger

Buck predicted that companies offering the traditional package tour were about to face serious problems.

The figures are convincing. According to Andreas Tröge, head of Germany's Federal Environment Agency, a return flight to Thailand "costs" six tons of CO2, while a return train journey from Berlin to the Baltic weighs in at just 35 kilograms (77 pounds).

Federal Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel has demanded that airlines offer customers the option of paying a supplement to fund projects to compensate for the CO2 consumed on the flight.

National flag carrier Lufthansa has said it is looking for a business partner to launch a scheme of this kind.

As many commentators have pointed out, the cheap flights era has led to market absurdities. Taxi ride to airports in most European cities now cost considerably more than flights to Mallorca, Rimini, Corfu or Adana.

Change in lifestyle

Greenpeace Germany's head, Brigitte Behrens, voiced the opinion of many when she told Berlin's Tagesspiegel newspaper: "Cheap flights should be banned."

That call is likely to fall on deaf ears when the EU leaders gather in Brussels on Thursday.

But as a survey published last week showed, the German public is way ahead of its political leaders when it comes to the lifestyle changes needed to counter environmental damage.