'Rude' French are worst tourists

[jarmo]

French tourists are the worst in the world, coming across as penny-pinching, rude and terrible at languages, according to a new survey.

The study by travel company Expedia asked 4,500 hotels worldwide to rank tourists on their behaviour.

Japanese tourists - seen as clean and tidy, polite, quiet and uncomplaining - came top for the third year running.

French travellers made amends on elegance - classed third - as well as for their discretion and cleanliness.

But the French were the least ready to try a new language, unlike US tourists who were most likely to swallow their pride and order a pizza, baguette or a paella in the local lingo.

US tourists also got top marks for generosity, as the biggest spenders and tippers.

But they fell short on other counts as the least tidy, the loudest, the worst complainers and the worst dressed.

Britons came second for their overall behaviour, politeness, quietness and even elegance - second for dress sense only to the Italians.

But in Europe, the British were seen by the hoteliers as the worst behaved.

Jonathan Cudworth, the head of product marketing at Expedia.co.uk, said: "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."

The model Japanese were followed by Canadians as the least likely to whinge when a trip goes wrong.

France's rivals for the world's "worst tourist" tag, Spaniards and Greeks, came near the bottom of the pack in almost every category.

BBC.co.uk






/jarmo

[Izzy]

Blatant rascism

French people are all rude! Black people are all crooks!

Any attempt to categorise 60 million people is disgusting - strange what 'is' and 'isnt' rascism....

[DeN]

we're not so rude, you fuckin' moron.

 

[IzzyDutch]

I've heard more then often what the article says about French tourists, a bit arrogant and terrible at languages. Lots of Dutch people go on vacation to the south of France each year, but they still say this about the French. You never hear anything about Japanese tourists being a pain in the ass. And for example, at hotels in Turkey the English people are often cosidered loud and drunk lots of times, while the Russian tourists there are mostly considered very rude and asocial (like when they're eating they take 3 plates a person, eat of only 1 and dump the other 2 in the garbage can untouched). You hear these stories everywhere. I'm sure the Dutch aren't angles either and what the article says doesn't apply for each individual.

My friend at the airforce who served in Afghanistan a few times at an international base said they found the Americans there mostly arrogant, not talkative to outsiders (as in other countries), while the British and Scottish where open, nice (and loud) and the Canadians very friendly, the most friendly of all.

I'm not trying to offend anyone but this is the stuff that I hear, so don't shoot me

Here's the link btw: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8143780.stm

[AxlReznor]

I thought that the English would gain the title of 'worst tourists' easily.  Whenever I'm in foreign countries, I'm often ashamed at the way fellow English tourists act.

[Annie]

Japanese tourists will crush you trying to stay in their large groups. This happened to me in Australia and the Grand Canyon. Alot of people used to hate Japanese tourists. I found alot of the Germans in Australia to be quite rude. Australians are awesome. Americans are very loud though. I don't think any group is that well dressed except for the Italians.

[Albert S Miller]

I am not a big traveler, my one experience and farthest travel (Jarmo you know this) was to Portugal in 06.  As I have written before this was a huge experience to my family and I.  Seriously speaking the only folks that treated us with any kindness were within the hotel where we stayed.  We were accused of being Britts by some at the Hardrock, which I may add stared and glared from behind us the entire time.  The Taxi drivers... one of them picked us up after RIR and litteraly told us to shut the #$@% up when we spoke to him.  Generally speaking just a simple walk from point a to point b led to stepping basically off of the sidewalk to allow them to pass by or we found they would just crash into us.

I swore when I got back to the states I was going to kick the first non american person I saw.  It pissed me off so bad that we have so many different cultures who have come to US for a better opportunity and they are afforded this, while some of our own Americans are homeless and on the street.  I probably couldn't even count how many are here illegally, yet they are treated with the utmost respect.  In the end I did not kick anyone and was glad to be home.  Portugal regardless was very beautiful, and it was good to see Axl again.

[ppbebe]

english versus french there's a long history. 

[Mal Brossard]

Blatant rascism

French people are all rude! Black people are all crooks!

Any attempt to categorise 60 million people is disgusting - strange what 'is' and 'isnt' rascism....

French is a race now?

Tell me, where does it say the French are all rude?  There is no categorizing or generalizing here.  It's a survey going on experiences and opinions, nothing more.  They may be the most rude, but there is nothing that says they're ALL rude.  Major difference there.

[Drew]

French is a race now?

Tell me, where does it say the French are all rude?  There is no categorizing or generalizing here.  It's a survey going on experiences and opinions, nothing more.  They may be the most rude, but there is nothing that says they're ALL rude.  Major difference there.

Don't you know, calling racism is the new "cool" thing to do. If you feel offended, mistreated, or less fortunate, just call racism. It keeps you from taking any kind of responsibility for yourself and you can blame it all on everyone else.

[mrlee]

i wont defend British tourists.

Most of them are indeed Lagar drinking Ibiza visiting retards.

[BlowUpYourVideo]

the British and Scottish

Hey, we're British too!

[Annie]

i've always liked all the British tourists that I've met.  The only rude French person I met was some old woman who was blocking my train seat while she was flirting with some old guys and wouldn't get out of my way while I was struggling with my luggage.

[Drew]

I am offended that you used the word "fortunate" in your post.  Expect to hear from my team of attorneys on Monday.

Good day.

My point exactly. Thank you for proving my point. 

[ppbebe]

rude americans are often worst GNR fans tho.

[AdZ]

i wont defend British tourists.

Most of them are indeed Lagar drinking Ibiza visiting retards.

Way to generalise and stereotype your own country!

[Layne Staley's Sunglasses]

The only thing I find offensive about Britain is their food.

[mrlee]

i wont defend British tourists.

Most of them are indeed Lagar drinking Ibiza visiting retards.

Way to generalise and stereotype your own country!

Well its my own country, so im allowed to.

I could stereotype your country from my few experiences there, but that wouldnt be fair now would it.

[AdZ]

What country would that be?

[mrlee]

What country would that be?

As far as i know, you are French? If you are not....then i have no idea where i got that from.