Most Obnoxious Tourists? The French
 

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1820358,00.html


Remember the tightwad tourist whose baggy shorts, frequent complaining and shouted questions about why none of the locals spoke any English made the ugly American the world's Visitor from Hell? Well, it's time for Archie Bunker to move over and make way for Petulant Pierre. According to a recent international survey, the French are now considered the most obnoxious tourists from European nations, behind only Indians and the last-place Chinese as the worst among countries worldwide. And it's not just the rest of the world that has a gripe with the Gallic attitude: the French also finished second to last among nations ranking the popularity of their own tourists who vacation at home.

Not surprised about Indians and Chinese, after all they are neighbors, gotta share something. I am surprised Indians didn't come the worst.

Around here the French and American tourists split the prize.
Americans are extremely demanding, every order is made special order and nothing is ever to their satisfaction. A very complaining bunch. The French are just plain rude and have a snooty attitude.
Those are the extremes though, most tourists behave very well. I especially like younger backpackers who tend to have humble attitudes and open minds. Not judging everything by the way it is 'back home'.

I remember back in '73 when I was a youngster one step above backpacking in Europe. I was in Rome standing in a long line waiting to place a long distance call to the US. Nearby was a middle aged man from Texas who was talking very very loudly to a very polite Italian man from the phone company about how things were done back home....."Why if I wanted to call Italy at my home I would just pick up my phone and call"...

I turned to my wife after listening to him for a while and said ...."That guy is talking to an Italian who probably is fluent in about six languages".

I vowed to never be like him when I traveled.

Whenever I hear someone talking about how its done back home my knee jerk reaction is to hear whomever he's talking to to say ...."well you probably need to go back home".

Having rude American tourists in Europe is undoubtably much less a problem now with the flat economy and dismal Dollar value!:)

Tom W

OF the tourists we get here in Chicago, I find the Germans the rudest. The Germans say things and have the idea that no one understands them, they go around shirtless like they do in Rome and can be quite loud.

Then we get a lot of Australians who try to put it on and sound English, but you can always tell they're Australian, plus their clothes give them away. The Russians throw too much money around. Many people from the Near East seem to have a constant frown on their faces.

The worst tourists in India are from Israel, young kids freshly out of IDF and high on drugs and they always get into fights with locals.

It's just a personal theory but I think some of the rudeness amoung tourists is due to the fact that they're insecure about not being on their "home turf". Language barriers are especially stressfull because it's so critical to accurate communication and subtle nuances, unique to each culture can be misrepresented and misunderstood by everyone involved.

We don't get tourists here.

We met a French couple while at an island resort. They were tanned and beautiful. Every time we looked out our window, they were happily involved in dance lessons or some other social activity. They wore the correct clothing for each part of the day, and of course they did everything perfectly. They weren't rude - just annoying!

I've found the same thing myself whenever I go to Europe. It always seems to be the German tourists who are pushy and rude. I remember one time in London when my wife and I were on a guided tour of Westminster Abbey. The nun leading the tour repeatedly told a group of German tourists to stop going behind cordoned-off areas but they wouldn't listen to her. With typical British wit she modified her tour to begin showcasing all of the elements of the Abbey that had been repaired "after the Germans bombed it back in the war". They got the message and fell into line for the rest of the tour.

I heard about the drugged Israeli tourists in India, also heard the Scandinavians created problems along the coast(former Hippie places).

I met a manager for a hotel in Turkey and he told me the Israeli tourists quite often asked for the minibar to be removed from their rooms because they didn't want to be accidentally charged for anything.

When it comes to penny pinching, obnoxious and downright nasty and disrespectful to women in general, Indians top the list.

meant to say southwest coast

Odd the Chineese got thrown into that bowl. I have always found Chineese or Asian tourist in general to be very polite and reserved.

I have heard that some Indian women treat flight attendants worse than Naomi Campbell does, who knows. People i've met who work in the service industry say Indians don't tip, I'm not sure if they're being racist or not though.

Gurkha, what do you think of the Indian couple that's been charged with keeping servants in a basement closet somewhere out on the Island? Do you think it's true or just made up?

The equation is very simple. You add up what they are worth and the price of the aggravation. That should tell you which way to go. You have an immigration department, right? The IDF are not sneaking across the border, right? If your country needs them there, STFU. If not, kick them out and/or deny their visa. What so difficult? Either you need their money and or what they bring badly or you don't. Beggars cannot be choosers. If you are not a beggar and can choose, choose to eject them. What part of the equation escapes your countrymen?