THE next time a German holidaymaker beats you to the deckchair on the beach at dawn, have a little sympathy: he may simply have forgotten how to have fun.

So many German women have complained that their men cannot relax that special courses have been set up in five cities to remind them how to enjoy a family holiday.

The sessions cost £200 and provide expert instruction on “holiday skills” from dressing casually to dancing, applying a partner’s sun lotion to building sandcastles with the children.

The instructors of the German Holiday Academy have been inundated with applications. Wives are sending along husbands who have grown accustomed to trudging round resorts with personal organisers and mobile phones, making regular calls to the office.

The courses have been established in Hamburg, Munich, Cologne, Düsseldorf and Dresden in response to a survey of 40,000 holidaymakers by L’Tur, one of Germany’s biggest travel agents.

“We found people complaining that their partners had forgotten how to do anything other than work,” said Christina Helmle, a spokeswoman.

“The most common complaint was that people were arriving home from holiday just as stressed as when they left.”

The instructors are skilled in persuading tired adults to scrabble in sand with a bucket and spade, and they jazz it all up with a little meaningless jargon. Sandcastle building comes under the description “social integration”.

In Düsseldorf, where the academy has set up a huge sandpit next to the Holiday Inn business centre, Axel Zundler, one of the instructors, explained his philosophy.

“Releasing the inner child is heartily encouraged,” he said. “It is amazing how quickly grown men and women revert back to childlike behaviour once their shoes and socks have come off and they feel the sand between their toes.”

Brigitte Hessel-Hollendong, 40, who took her 37-year-old husband Frank, an engineer, on a course in Cologne, said: “We can’t wait to get on holiday and put it all into practice.

“We learnt how to give each other relaxing massages, how to look good on the dance floor with some of the latest moves, and how to ensure you have the right mental attitude to enjoy yourself.”

There is even a little German humour to wrap up each course. All those who pass are awarded a graduation certificate — and a large beach towel emblazoned with the word “Reserved”.

Explore World News

• World Agenda

• Iraq News

• US & Americas News

• Europe News

• Middle East News

• Asia News

• Africa News

• Ireland News

Times Recommends

• 'Devastating' abuse found amongst Aborigines
• LA profits from Michael Jackson stimulus
• Was Jörg Haider murdered?