French the world's worst tourists, says TNS

French the world’s worst tourists, says TNS

The French are the fussiest, rudest, cheapest tourists in the world...

July 11, 2009 9:54 by Dana El Baltaji

The French are the fussiest, rudest, cheapest tourists in the world, according to a study by TNS Infratest for Expedia, an online travel agency. The study showed that the French are unwilling to tip, are uncooperative and will not attempt to speak the local language when travelling abroad.

Meanwhile, the British were voted the worst tourists in Europe. The study cites British tourists’ drunken, loud and obnoxious behavior in beach destinations throughout Europe as examples of why they topped Europe’s list.

“Europeans, of course, do not have English as their first language and the one thing the Britons are pretty bad at is speaking the language of the country they’re in,” a spokesman for the Association of British Travel Agents told Sky News who believes British tourists’ language barrier is a core problem. “Imagine if there’s a group of Spaniards, say, in Manchester (Northern England). And they go into a bar, order a drink in Spanish and will not make any effort to communicate in our language,” he said, adding “we’d consider it rude and arrogant, and I think the rest of Europe does too.”

The best tourists in the world are the Japanese, because they’re polite and they’re good tippers, followed closely by the Canadians.

The study surveyed 40,000 hotels globally and ranked tourists from 27 countries based on nine criteria, including their general demeanor and cleanliness.

Tags: british, Expedia, French, survey, TNS, world worst tourists

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2 Comments

BillChapman on July 11, 2009 10:02 pm

If, as this study suggests, we British find it difficult to speak other languages, maybe we should look again at Esperanto.

Esperanto works! I learned it in my late teens, and I’ve used it in speech and writing in a dozen countries over recent years. As a planned auxiliary language, it is easier to learn and use than national tongues.
Remush on July 12, 2009 3:58 pm

> “the French are unwilling to tip”

Tipping is a practice of the past. It was eradicated 30 years ago in Belgium, France and I think in most of Europe (probably not yet in all new Member-States.)
In europe, every worker can rely on social security and on a reasonable pension at 65. All workers must be registered with a personal security number and get a decent, consistent and declared salary.
The State deducts a portion of the salary directly at the source to be able to provide the additional services. The solidarity between workers is much better organized than in the United-States.

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ЄЭ Remuŝ (Belgio)- perSkajpe: RemushBE