HERINGSDORF, Germany: Germans spend most of the year complaining about their damp, cold and foggy weather and when the short summer turns warm, they switch to moaning about the heat.

But the temperatures can hardly rise far enough for the tourism industry on the Baltic shore, which is reporting surging revenues this summer and record numbers of visitors seeking respite from the heatwave that has caused havoc across Europe.

"That's just the way Germans are - you can't make us happy with the weather no matter what," said Sieghard Lorenz, a 43-year-old electrician visiting the Baltic seaside resort of Heringsdorf north of Berlin. "But the Baltic is wonderful when it's this hot."

In six weeks of uninterrupted sunshine, the normally chilly Baltic Sea has warmed up to around 23 C at Heringsdorf, about 5 degrees above normal. The balmy climate has helped the long-neglected and economically depressed region become one of the most popular tourism spots in Germany.

Hotels, pension houses and even campsites are completely booked and traffic on roads into Baltic resort towns is regularly brought to a halt by kilometre-long queues of Germans fleeing temperatures that have hit 40 C with day trips to the Baltic shore.

Beaches that in some summers can be seen only from under an umbrella are full of sunburned bathers.

"It's been the best summer ever for tourism on the Baltic," said Karin Zabel, a spokeswoman in the economy ministry in the northeastern state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, which is one of Germany's poorest and smallest states.

One in six jobs in the state depends on tourism, which since the collapse of the former German Democratic Republic in 1989 has become the state's biggest industry alongside agriculture - making up 10 per cent of the economy.

"The tourism growth rates have been insane because of the fantastic weather and the improved infrastructure," she added. "It's only a shame we don't have twice as many hotels because demand is so great they could easily be filled."

Some local tourism officials have said the demand for accommodation on weekends outstrips supply tenfold.

"We're fully booked for the whole summer," said Uwe Hanusch, manager at the 133-room five-star Maritim Hotel just off the beach in Heringsdorf. "Hotels everywhere are full. We're all profiting from the sun. It's the best summer I've ever seen."

Tourism a beacon of light

With unemployment rates near 20 per cent prompting many young people to move west in search of work, the high-growth tourism sector has been a source of hope for the state.

In the last 10 years, some 5 billion euros (US$5.6 billion) have been invested in tourism infrastructure, with state, federal and European Union aid contributing 1.6 billion euros (US$1.8 billion) to building hotels, piers and beach boardwalks.

There are now 2,650 hotels and pension houses with a total of 164,650 beds. Before the Berlin Wall fell, there were only five hotels on the East German Baltic.

With its unpredictable and often cool weather, the summer season was once limited to about two months, but many Baltic hotels have managed to extend their seasons to six months by adding health and beauty treatment facilities.

Heringsdorf, with a population of 3,600, has 5,700 beds for tourists - its main industry since the late 19th century when Kaiser Wilhelm II, who believed dips in the Baltic were good for his health, spent summers there.

The resort was already enjoying a revival in the wake of the 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States, which prompted erstwhile globe-trotting Germans to stay at home.

But the stifling heat inland has packed Heringsdorf - a town with lovingly refurbished turn-of-the-century architecture - with tourists who have more than tripled its population.

"Why spend money on a summer holiday abroad when it's so warm and sunny here?" said 21-year-old Michael Keanist.

Roland Fuchs, 53, said the air temperatures at the shoreline have been just below 30 C - about 10 degrees above normal but still nearly 10 degrees below much of the rest of Germany.

"It was just unbearably hot in Leipzig," said the photo-shop owner, referring to temperatures to the south. "The sea makes it a little cooler and a lot more bearable here."

While ice-cream sales are booming, some businesses said the heat on the Baltic has presented new, uniquely German problems.

"It's been so hot that the people are staying on the beach longer and coming to eat later," said Henri Winkler, who runs a Spanish restaurant and cocktail bar.

"They're switching to Mediterranean-like hours later in the evening. But, instead of staying late like the Spanish, they're German. They're just too exhausted from the heat to eat or drink much and so they go to bed early."

Agencies via Xinhua

(China Daily 08/15/2003 page1)