Schroeder sparks tourist trade row
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Hanover's City Hall, one of the sights to lure Schroeder.
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German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's decision to cancel his Italian vacation has prompted a multi-million euro tourism battle . CNN's Alessio Vinci reports (July 10)
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(CNN) -- Gerhard Schroeder's decision to cancel his Italian vacation has prompted a multi-million euro tourism battle between Germany and Italy.
The German chancellor switched destinations to Hanover instead of the Adriatic resort of Pesaro after Italian tourist minister Stefano Stefani refused to apologize for calling German tourists "stereotyped blondes with a hyper-nationalist pride" who were invading Italian beaches.
It came a week after Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi ripped apart Italian-German relations by comparing a German legislator with a Nazi concentration camp commander.
Colleagues are rallying round Schroeder, suggesting other Germans might boycott Italy. "The Italians must know there is competition for German tourists," Interior Minister Otto Schily was quoted as saying in the press Thursday.
Italy's opposition center-left Ulivo coalition said it would be asking in the Italian parliament Thursday for Stefani to be sacked, The Associated Press reported.
Ulivo leader Luciano Violante said the economic damage from the row was "enormous."
More than 9.2 million Germans visited Italy last year -- about 25 percent of all foreign visitors -- according to Italian tourism officials. It is estimated that they spent 9.5 billion euros ($10.7 billion).
Italian newspaper Corriere Della Serra warned Thursday that Germans were already boycotting Italian restaurants while German tabloid Bild said: "Basta! (Enough)Chancellor whistles on pasta."
Next to a picture of Schroeder it wrote: "Ciao bella Italia" and it gave readers a protest letter that they could cut out and send to Berlusconi.
