German economy harmed by ... pensioners?

So the story is:  the Greek tourism industry is suggesting German pensioners winter in Greece, to save on fuel bills (and indeed bills for food and almost everything else).  Fair enough – it has more logic than the blarney the Irish tourist board feeds to Americans (“we know you all like to think you have Irish roots, so you all need to come ‘home’ at least twice a year wearing a clip-on ginger beard and a silly green hat” etc etc, cue twiddledy-dee music).  And of course the association of German travel agents agrees, and suggests a government subsidy for the travel. 

But … 

Opposition politicians have said the idea has to be treated with caution, not least because it could have a negative effect on Germany’s economy.

Wow.  If that’s what they think is going to harm the German economy, they have a very big surprise coming.  

Is any politician, anywhere in the West, levelling with voters on how bad it’s going to be?  Don’t they need to, in order to get the public best-positioned for whatever can be done by individuals, or inevitably will have to be done by government?  Or is everyone relying on the local equivalent of Martin Lewis, in the hope he’s best placed to break the bad news?

ND