Brits in disgrace – but stylishly
British tourists are the worst behaved in the world, according to European hoteliers, but are snappy dressers and keener than most to sample the local cuisine.
These are the findings of the annual Expedia 2008 Best Tourist League conducted amongst 4000 hotels worldwide.
The survey showed that for the second consecutive year Brits have been singled out for being “rude, messy and loud†while the Japanese, the Germans and the Americans come top for their politeness.
The survey ranked nationalities according to who were the best and worst in terms of behaviour, politeness, respect for local culture, style and tipping waiting staff.
Italians were the best dressers, followed by the Brits who also came second in the big spender stakes behind the Americans. Brits also came second in the eating local food category behind the Americans and confusingly, despite their bad behaviour tag, were also second in the polite stakes behind the Japanese.
The Japanese came out overall as the best tourists in the world for their quiet and tidy natures while the Indians, French, Russians and Mexicans were at the bottom of the popular tourist league table.
By Dinah Hatch
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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