Prices to keep Germans away from Ukraine
Reuters - Thursday 26 April 2012, 15:30
Only around 20,000 German football fans plan to attend the European Championship games in Ukraine in
June after others were scared off by expensive hotels and long
travel distances, a German diplomat was quoted as saying on
Thursday.
"We are in touch with tourism agencies and according to the
latest data we expect about 20,000 of our fans to visit
Ukraine," private news agency UNIAN quoted Klaus Zillikens, the
German consul in the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk, as
saying.
"Ukraine is not that close. It is not that easy to jump into
a car and get here. Those who saw hotel prices as too high are
not planning to come."
Germany will play three group games in Ukraine, two in Lviv,
920 kilometres away from Berlin and the other in Kharkiv, 1,800
kilometres away. Ukraine is co-hosting the championships with
Poland, which borders Germany.
The Kiev government expects at least one million foreign
fans to visit Ukraine for the Euros but UEFA President Michel
Platini warned this month that hotel prices, which have jumped
10-fold in some cases, could scare off tourists.