World's worst tourists? Americans say ... Americans

[xchrom]

http://travelkit.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/03/02/10562189-worlds-worst-tourists-americans-say-americans

A new LivingSocial survey conducted among more than 5,600 respondents in five countries by Mandala Research finds that Americans self-rate themselves as the world’s worst tourists.

That assessment was shared by Canadians and Australians, while the Irish rated their British neighbors as the worst, and the British identified Germans as being the most boorish.

Following Americans (20 percent), 15 percent of U.S. respondents said the Chinese were the worst tourists, followed by the French (14 percent), Japanese (12 percent) and Russians (11 percent).

In addition to bestowing that dubious distinction upon their fellow Americans, four out of 10 U.S. respondents admit to having stolen or accidentally packed items other than the sample toiletries from hotels, with towels (28 percent) listed as one of the most frequently pilfered items.

[cbayer]

1. It's painful to see how some people behave when travelling to foreign countries.

Americans can definitely be obnoxious, and I think because we are often louder it's more obvious.

The Japanese tourists in Australia behaved in ways I have never seen the Japanese behave in any other country. It was weird.

One of the funniest stories about American tourists is David Sedaris's in Me Talk Pretty One Day. Here is a link to him reading it on This American Life:


http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/173/three-kinds-of-deception?act=3

[xchrom]

4. Yeah. I love that. Nt

[GeorgeGist]

2. On first glance my mental 'dyslexia' saw this ...

World's worst terrorists? Americans say ... Americans

[FarCenter]

3. I wonder who people who live at tourist destinations, e.g. Greece, would say are the worst?

[izquierdista]

5. I believe tourguides will tell you the Japanese are the worst.

And if you don't believe me, those same tourists have 600 video recordings of the guide saying it.

[jberryhill]

9. I'm not convinced they are tourists

First off, the Japanese are at something of a disadvantage traveling in much of the world, since even when you are in a place where the signage is in multiple languages, there are a lot of bases covered before they get to "hmm... think we should add Japanese?" So they do travel in obvious groups, but the agencies that shepherd them around typically know what it is they need to tell them in order to avoid the most egregious faux pas'.

Now, that said, through observation of these gaggles at various places, I have come to the conclusion that they are not tourists. They are advance planning teams which are making a comprehensive photographic catalog of every blessed thing on the planet from every possible angle, which is being used for their campaign of complete global domination and control.

[Proud Public Servant]

6. Nonsense

I've seen tons of travel-industry surveys of this type; Americans never rate that badly. We're well below the Israelis and Germans (both renowned for their rudeness) and the Brits and Aussies (a/k/a the nations-o-drunks -- that the Aussies would have the audacity to criticize our tourists is just laughable). Americans, while frequently clueless, get huge props for actually being incredibly polite when overseas. Seriously; Europeans mock us for how often we say "please" and "thank you" and gush whenever someone offers us assistance.

[CTyankee]

7. evidently, the french don't like it when Americans don't use their polite use of Madame or

Monsieur when addressing the person, as in "Bonjour,, Madame!" "Merci, M'sieu!"

It's not rude to us per se, but it is their custom.

[jberryhill]

10. It can depend on context

For example comparing behavior when visiting some cultural monument or site, versus behavior with the staff at the hotels.

I go to a fair number of conferences attended by international participants, and IMHO Americans, at their worst, can be obnoxious and disrespectful when they are out and about, but are more willing than some others to put up with minor inconveniences in hotels. My guess is that while you find a wide variation of standards of service in hotels in the US, it is less so in some other countries, so they tend to freak out at things they find unusual when it comes to their accommodations.

Complaining about things among themselves is some sort of British national competitive sport. They will silently suffer all sorts of things, and then later go on about how ghastly it all was. So, while they complain a lot and at length, it is typically not directed at the source of whatever was irritating them.

[Delarage]

8. I kind of agree

I think a lot has to do with language issues; a lot of other countries teach their young children multiple languages. Whenever I'm overseas, I feel like a jackass because I fumble around and kind of depend on people in those countries to understand me. I've found most people to be fairly accomodating. A lot of tourists (to America) from other countries have a lot better working knowledge of English than most Americans going to other countries.

I think it's nice that people go to other countries to learn about them and their customs, etc. We should all be a little more patient with each other, though.

[jberryhill]

11. This was weird...

One time in Las Vegas, my wife and I were watching the light show on Fremont Street and there were two tourists from Brazil speaking to each other in Portuguese. Some American woman turned to them and said, "This is America, speak English!"

We both cringed, as it was not long before that we had visited Brazil, don't speak a word of Portuguese, and were quite taken with how far out of their way the folks we met there were willing to go in order to help us out when we were in a jam.

After the show, we tracked them down and assured them that the woman's behavior was not typical of Americans generally, and that we were glad that folks from such a wonderful country decided to visit. They thought it was kind of funny, really.