Shock! British tourists worst behaved in Europe

July 18 2009 , Written by thediversetraveller Published on #BritishHolidaymakers, #Britsabroad, #complaining, #Europe, #Expedia, #Expedia Best Tourist Global Index, #tourists, #Travel News, #travelresearch, #travelstereotype, #worstbehaved

Now, it doesn't surprise me that British tourists have been named as the worst behaved in Europe; and I'm not the only one who thinks that.

According to new research from Expedia.co.uk, for the third year running, Europeans have voted the Brits worst behaved when on holiday. Brits are seen as messy, bad tippers and very likely to complain.

The Expedia Best Tourist Index, which has run annually since 2002, gauges the opinions of over 4,500 hoteliers worldwide, asking them to rank different nationalities on their behaviour abroad - everything from spending habits to their willingness to try and speak the local language.

International relations

Although we are seen as the 'worst behaved in Europe', thankfully, we are not the worst tourists in the world. That dubious honour belongs to the French.

Thankfully, for the second consecutive year, British holidaymakers came second overall in the 'worldwide Best Tourist' rankings. A fifth (18%) of those surveyed commended the Brits for our 'politeness', while we were ranked second in the 'best behaved' category and 'most generous' nationality, (the Americans were ranked the 'most generous').

The traditional socks, sandals and football t-shirts stereotype of holidaying Brits also seems to be waning. For the second year in a row, we ranked highly in the wardrobe department, rated second most stylish overall; not surprisngly we were beaten by the couture-clad Italians, and knocked the French into third place.

Brits on Brits

Despite being voted the second best tourists in the world, we have a disparaging view of ourselves - I plead guilty to this.

A fifth voted fellow countrymen the 'worst globally', closely only behind the Americans. A further 20 per cent claimed home-grown holidaymakers were both the 'most miserly and the noisiest'.

The good, the bad & the French

I don't think any of us will be surprised to learn that the Japanese are perceied, to be the world's 'best tourists', scoring highly not only as the 'quietest and most polite', but also the 'cleanest and least likely to complain'.

As the 'worst tourists' the French, as well as being pereceived as the 'most frugal and meanest tippers', were considered to be among the rudest tourists in Europe, with a tenth of hoteliers citing them as most impolite.

A job to do in Europe

"Being voted the worst tourists in the world by our closest neighbours highlights the fact that the 'Brits Abroad' moniker is a label we still haven't managed to shrug off. While we are in second place in the global 'Best Tourist' rankings, we clearly have a job to do to convince our European counterparts and those at home that we can be better behaved on holiday," says Jonathan Cudworth, head of product marketing, Expedia.co.uk.

Additional findings

Speaking louder and slower is a thing of the past as Brits move up the rankings from last year to number three, being the most likely to try to speak the local language
Worldwide, the Japanese, British, Canadians, Germans and Australians are considered the most polite nations.
The Top 3 loudest nations are the Americans, Italians and Spanish
After the Americans and the British, the next biggest tippers are the Germans and the Japanese.
Canadians, Australians and Swiss were the other top five nationalities named as least likely to complain.

2009 Expedia Best Tourist Global Index

Note: Global research carried out on behalf of Expedia by TNS, June 10 - June 23 2009 on 4,557 hoteliers worldwide focusing on Europe, the Americas (North and South America), Africa and Asia Pacific. Published on 10th July 2009.

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