Most Obnoxious Tourists? The French

[CactusCarlos]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20080707/wl_time/mostobnoxioustouriststhefrench

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, and behind only Indians and the last-place Chinese as the worst among all countries worldwide. And it's not only the rest of the world that have 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.


But it's the unflattering image being reflected from abroad that may give pause to the millions of French travelers now heading off to summer vacation destinations across the globe. Will that move them to improve behavior the poll characterized as impolite, prone to loud carping and inattentive to local customs? If so, that's just the start: the study also describes the voyageur franÇais as often unwilling or unable to communicate in foreign languages, and particularly disinclined to spending money when they don't have to - including on those non compris tips. Over all, French travelers landed 19th out of 21 nations worldwide, far behind the first-place Japanese, considered most polite, quiet and tidy. Following the Japanese as most-liked tourists were the Germans, British and Canadians. Americans finished in 11th place alongside the Thais.


The survey was carried out among employees in 4,000 hotels in Germany, the U.K., Italy, France, Canada and the U.S. for the French travel website Expedia.fr. The study asked respondents to rank clients by nationality on criteria of general attitude, politeness, tendency to complain, willingness to speak local languages, interest in sampling local cuisine, readiness to spend money, generosity, cleanliness, discretion and elegance. Many replies simply conformed to long-established reputations: Italians, for example, were described as the best-dressed tourists, with the French not far behind.


American tourists fared well in some surprising ways: despite being notoriously language-limited, for example, they top the list of tourists credited with trying to speak local languages the most, with the French, Chinese, Japanese, Italians and Russians coming in last in the local language rankings. Does that mean Americans are the most polyglot tourists on the planet? Maybe not, says Expedia's marketing director for Europe, TimothÉe de Roux, who notes the poll's focus on hotel operators may explain the counterintuitive outcome.


"Most hotel staffs around the world speak English, meaning they'll communicate far more easily with native English-speaking American or British clients than with French or Italians who - it's true - are pretty bad with foreign languages," de Roux says.


De Roux explains how external factors similarly account for why Americans wind up as the biggest-spending and best-tipping tourists, while Germans and the French are among the worst penny-pinchers. "Our findings show the average French employee will get 37 vacation days spread over seven trips in 2008, versus 14 for an American - who won't even take them all," de Roux believes. "That means the French tourist will more tightly budget his or her spending over more trips, while the American spends freely on the one or two vacations taken all year."


By contrast, poll finds the French and Americans similar in being perceived as critical and rude when they travel - though for different reasons. The same local attractions that make France the world's top destination for 92 million foreign visitors each year, says de Roux, also explains why over 85% of French vacation in-country - and wind up spoiled by it when they leave. "When they go abroad, French travellers demand the same quality they'd get at home," de Roux says. "Americans, by contrast, demand the same exceptional service they are used to at home, which is why they rank as the loudest, most inclined to complain, and among the least polite." View this article on Time.com

[Chris_]

I disagree with the take on the Japanese tourists.  Having just returned from a vacation "out west" where I'd guess half of all the tourists were Japanese.  They move in herds of 20 or more and their favorite place to stop for a photo-op is the top of every escalator they can find.     As a group, they were hardly quiet or tidy.  Maybe age had something to do with it...I dunno...99% were under 25.

[djones520]

Japanese as being the last for trying to speak a foreign language?

I can't vouch for other countries, but for America and Britain that doesn't make much sense.  All Japanese are taugh English like we're taught Spanish.  In my experience they love to practice their English whenever they get the chance.  Hell, the Japanese military holds english speaking contests (the JASDF Weather Squadron here usually wins cause we help them out quite a bit).

[Uhhuh35]

I disagree with the take on the Japanese tourists.  Having just returned from a vacation "out west" where I'd guess half of all the tourists were Japanese.  They move in herds of 20 or more and their favorite place to stop for a photo-op is the top of every escalator they can find.     As a group, they were hardly quiet or tidy.  Maybe age had something to do with it...I dunno...99% were under 25.

Are you sure they were Japanese Lug Nut? It's my experience that while the Japanese do move in herds, they are generally pretty quiet. It's the ChiComs that are noisy. I sat next to two old ChiComs during a recent trip to Japan and they wouldn't shut up until I gave them the universal "shush!" symbol.

[djones520]

I disagree with the take on the Japanese tourists.  Having just returned from a vacation "out west" where I'd guess half of all the tourists were Japanese.  They move in herds of 20 or more and their favorite place to stop for a photo-op is the top of every escalator they can find.     As a group, they were hardly quiet or tidy.  Maybe age had something to do with it...I dunno...99% were under 25.

Are you sure they were Japanese Lug Nut? It's my experience that while the Japanese do move in herds, they are generally pretty quiet. It's the ChiComs that are noisy. I sat next to two old ChiComs during a recent trip to Japan and they wouldn't shut up until I gave them the universal "shush!" symbol.

Philipino women are like that to.  You get a group of them together and you might as well find another room.

[Chris_]

Caribbean Islanders are loud, obnoxious and egotistical -- at home and abroad.

[Chris_]

Caribbean Islanders are loud, obnoxious and egotistical -- at home and abroad.

Yeah, but the cloud of Ganga smoke following them is so thick, that all you feel is the munchies...

[DumbAss Tanker]

But it's the unflattering image being reflected from abroad that may give pause to the millions of French travelers now heading off to summer vacation destinations across the globe. Will that move them to improve behavior the poll characterized as impolite, prone to loud carping and inattentive to local customs?

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA, like THAT"S gonna happen!  This is the FRENCH we're talking about, for God's sake.

[JohnnyReb]

Well, we know now why Hollyweird movie stars like France, they feel right at home there.

[LC EFA]

I dunno.

I live in a "tourist town" , ie we derive much of our income from tourism. The worst tourists , by several orders of magnitude are the 19-30 year age bracket English. Never have I encountered a demographic that is so full of arrogant , whining , loud , odorous pricks. The remainder of the EUrinal dwellers are clumped together in second place.

The Americans and Asian tourists are great. Polite , tidy , and their odor generally can't knock a blowfly off a garbage truck at 1000 paces.

[Rebel]

I'm going with C). Yankees. 

[Rebel]

I dunno.

I live in a "tourist town" , ie we derive much of our income from tourism. The worst tourists , by several orders of magnitude are the 19-30 year age bracket English. Never have I encountered a demographic that is so full of arrogant , whining , loud , odorous pricks. The remainder of the EUrinal dwellers are clumped together in second place.

Lemme guess, and still act as if Australia is a buncha criminals being fed by England, right? We have the same thing down south. These Yankee sumbitches think we all drive on gravel and dirt roads, hang black people, and marry our f'n cousins. 

[LC EFA]

Lemme guess, and still act as if Australia is a buncha criminals being fed by England, right? We have the same thing down south. These Yankee sumbitches think we all drive on gravel and dirt roads, hang black people, and marry our f'n cousins.

Yes , They act like they own the place, and when reminded that we don't have the same bright lights and on demand services that they get in London or any other huge city (which ironically is one reason they come up here) they whine about it constantly, hurl abuse, and carry on like spoiled little assholes.

[Chris_]

I dunno.

I live in a "tourist town" , ie we derive much of our income from tourism. The worst tourists , by several orders of magnitude are the 19-30 year age bracket English. Never have I encountered a demographic that is so full of arrogant , whining , loud , odorous pricks. The remainder of the EUrinal dwellers are clumped together in second place.

The Americans and Asian tourists are great. Polite , tidy , and their odor generally can't knock a blowfly off a garbage truck at 1000 paces.

I think I speak for most Americans when I say we think of Aussies as our close spiritual cousins -- separated from the Crown and damn stubborn individualists.

[DixieBelle]

I'm going with C). Yankees. 

Yep!

[DumbAss Tanker]

I dunno.

I live in a "tourist town" , ie we derive much of our income from tourism. The worst tourists , by several orders of magnitude are the 19-30 year age bracket English. Never have I encountered a demographic that is so full of arrogant , whining , loud , odorous pricks. The remainder of the EUrinal dwellers are clumped together in second place.

Lemme guess, and still act as if Australia is a buncha criminals being fed by England, right? We have the same thing down south. These Yankee sumbitches think we all drive on gravel and dirt roads, hang black people, and marry our f'n cousins.  

Not true at all, we know full well the New York liberals came down there and made you stop hanging the Black people years ago.  Driving LIKE you're on a dirt road and driving ON a dirt road aren't exactly the same thing, and everyone except New Englanders is too polite to ask if you were related to your spouse before the nuptials.

[Chris_]

I'm going with C). Yankees. 

Amen.  Preach it!

[Crazy Horse]

I'm going with C). Yankees. 

Yep!

Damn Yankees................talk funny............complain about the sun coming up....................DAMN YANKEES!!!!!!!!!!

[West Coaster]

I disagree with the take on the Japanese tourists.  Having just returned from a vacation "out west" where I'd guess half of all the tourists were Japanese.  They move in herds of 20 or more and their favorite place to stop for a photo-op is the top of every escalator they can find.     As a group, they were hardly quiet or tidy.  Maybe age had something to do with it...I dunno...99% were under 25.

I would disagree with you.  Most of the Japanese we see out here (and they, along with the Chinese now) are by far and away our most common tourists, pretty much do go about in groups quietly.  While we don't get many French here (at least in large groups), from what I know about them I would have to agree that they would probably make poor tourists.  While I'd really like to visit the UK, I've never had any desire to see France, with their xenophobic attitudes.

[Rebel]

I would disagree with you.  Most of the Japanese we see out here (and they, along with the Chinese now) are by far and away our most common tourists, pretty much do go about in groups quietly.  While we don't get many French here (at least in large groups), from what I know about them I would have to agree that they would probably make poor tourists.  While I'd really like to visit the UK, I've never had any desire to see France, with their xenophobic attitudes.

They need to keep their little asses off the Damn Arizona Memorial. It's a memorial, not a victory statue. They go out there and take pictures of each other with big ass grins on their faces. Fine, wanna play that game? I'll do the same when I visit Hiroshima and Nagasaki and DARE one of those ****ers say something to me. 

[Chris_]

They need to keep their little asses off the Damn Arizona Memorial. It's a memorial, not a victory statue.

I completely agree......many years ago, my mother, brother, and I visited the memorial, and since my father was a WW II Navy veteran, the Fleet Vet Officer took us out on a gig for a private visit during hours that the memorial was not open to the public.......I'm not sure that I could have contained myself if I had to deal with a bunch of Japanese tourists taking pictures.......I would have lost it, and thrown the bastards overboard.......

doc

[Chris_]

I disagree with the take on the Japanese tourists.  Having just returned from a vacation "out west" where I'd guess half of all the tourists were Japanese.  They move in herds of 20 or more and their favorite place to stop for a photo-op is the top of every escalator they can find.     As a group, they were hardly quiet or tidy.  Maybe age had something to do with it...I dunno...99% were under 25.

I would disagree with you.  Most of the Japanese we see out here (and they, along with the Chinese now) are by far and away our most common tourists, pretty much do go about in groups quietly.  While we don't get many French here (at least in large groups), from what I know about them I would have to agree that they would probably make poor tourists.  While I'd really like to visit the UK, I've never had any desire to see France, with their xenophobic attitudes.

I can only tell you what I observed.  Must be a Vegas thing.