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Oktoberfest beer cheaper for many tourists despite price hike

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Oktoberfest beer cheaper for many tourists despite price hike
Photo: DPA

The average cost of a litre of beer at this year’s Oktoberfest will be €8.44. And while Germans might moan about the 3.8 percent increase from last year’s price, it’s still cheaper than what many tourists pay for brew back home.

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While a study released last week by consulting firm ECA International showed that Germans would be paying a slightly higher price at the Munich festival, it also showed many tourists won’t suffer much from the increase.

Oktoberfest certainly remains worth a visit for tourists from within Europe, the study said. The cost of a Maß on the Wiesn will be a staggering 50 percent cheaper than at home for the Norwegians, 36 percent cheaper for the French and 25 percent cheaper for the Swiss.

The majority of the Oktoberfest’s visitors come from the United States and Japan, and this year organisers need not worry about inflated prices driving their biggest group of customers away. A litre of beer is still 40 percent cheaper than in Japan, while Americans will pay just 5 percent more than they would back home.

But not all beer lovers will be so lucky.

“Some visitors will be surprised at the cost of beer this year,” Mira Pathak from ECA International said in the study. “Due to fluctuating exchange rates, costs for many foreign visitors will be different – in some cases significantly so – than last year.”

A litre will cost South Africans a whopping three-times as much as their local brews, the study said.

Australians and New Zealanders will also be paying considerably more for their beer than they are accustomed to Down Under, with the average price being 40 percent more expensive.

And while Italians will pay 13 percent less for their beer than they would at home this year, the figure is low compared to last year’s prices, which were 30 percent cheaper.

Oktoberfest runs form September 19 to October 4 this year.

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