Ugly American: false stereotype?
Americans rate themselves the world’s worst tourists, according to a new study.
Perhaps even more surprising, Canadians and Australians agreed.
The Irish, on the other hand, think the British are the worst. The British cite the Germans.
All this comes from a LivingSocial survey among more than 5,600 respondents.
Another surprising result was that a long-traditional belief that Americans don’t travel abroad because few have passports is not the case. The survey found that 78% of Americans have visited at least one foreign country.
“Our survey puts the old wives’ tale to bed that only 15% of Americans own passports,” said Dave Madden, GM of LivingSocial Escapes, North America. “Americans turn out to be pretty active globetrotters.”
One in five or 20% of Americans said they were the worst tourists. That was followed by China, with 15%, France with 14 and Japan with 12%.
When it came to dream destinations, Americans picked the Great Barrier Reef in Australia as No. 1, followed by the Eiffel Tower in France and Egypt’s pyramids.
By David Wilkening
David
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