Munich festival hit by cancellations

Only a few days before Munich's annual beer festival the city's hotels have seen a massive wave of cancellations, especially by American tourists.

Munich's hotel association says the number of bookings fell by 20% in the wake of the attack on Washington and New York.

It is not only American tourists who have called off their visits to the world's biggest drinking festival. Many Germans have decided to stay away this year because of security fears.

A spokesman for the Munich Holiday Inn group said on Tuesday: "Every hour we receive phone calls from people putting off their stay in Munich. Most of the Americans have cancelled their stay."

Organisers said they were confident the beer festival would still draw large crowds to Munich and insisted it was entirely safe.

Festival spokesman Willy Heide said: "Cancellations are within normal boundaries. A few American tourists have cancelled their trips and of course they will be refunded all their money."

Heide added that despite the cancellations at local hotels, he still expected crowded beer tents for the festival, which runs until 7 October.

But whatever organisers say, this year's festival seems set to be a more sombre affair. It is still unclear, for example, whether brass bands will be hired for the event because it is thought live music would be disrespectful to the US victims.

The beer festival was the target of a bomb attack in 1980 and police are planning heightened security at this year's event.

by Toby Molzahn