Germany’s expected 2 billion euro boost from hosting the World Cup will likely lift the country’s GDP by 0.3-0.4 percent, executives from the Centre for Economics and Business Research in London said yesterday. But perhaps that’s just the beginning: “We think there has been quite a positive rebranding effect, which goes a lot further than just simply the impact on GDP, and suspect that that will probably be quite good for international investment in Germany,” Douglas McWilliams, CEO of the research group, said. German Economy Minister Michael Glos echoed those bullish sentiments, saying he expected the World Cup to boost Germany’s economy for years to come. “What Germans have shown is that they know how to party,” said ABN Amro economist Charles Kalshoven. In a recent report entitled “Soccernomics 2006,” Kalshoven said the World Cup would create a tourism dividend for the future. Another study shows that 90 percent of the foreign guests said they would recommend Germany to others as a holiday destination. In recent years, Germany has depended heavily on exports to drive economic growth, but a shift in global consumption patterns could mean that European countries will be forced to rely more on domestic growth. In that case, tourism could offer key support.