Today's Tourists;

http://tinyurl.com/yuzdaq

That's interesting. Guess it's time to change the term to "ugly tourist."

Thanks cigale - the last paragraph should be required reading!

I work in the hospitality industry in south Florida and the rudest tourists we encounter (I will probably get in trouble for this) are the French Canadians. They do not tip, are generally rude and arrogant, and deny any knowleadge of the English language...until they get the bill, and then they can speak it perfectly.

Having said that, I apologize to all French Canadians who don't fit that category. You are not the ones I meant to insult.:-"

The crux of the matter is that anubody can be a good or bad tourist regardless of nationality.

On a trip to Tenerife, I was horrified by my fellow "Brits" in their replica soccer shirts seeing how quickly they could get obnoxiously drunk. I'd hate to think that my travel habits are similar in any way. (Although I will confess to specifically wearing my teams shirt at Pompeii - if only for the visual pun).

My impression is that the less experienced and the less willing a tourist is, the more obnoxious he will be. Thus, the totally inexperienced first-time business traveller may be a nightmare to deal with, whereas the experienced casual tourist with tens of thousands of miles of travelling experience in many different countries may be considerably easier to get along with.

Overall, it seems that just about everyone behaves worse abroad than at home. However, in their defense, it should be kept in mind that most human customs and culture are completely arbitrary, and there's no logical way to figure out what the local customs are short of looking them up and memorizing them.

Dottee,

I'm a former French Canadian and have lots or relatives who go to Florida during the winter and......I totally believe you! You probably thought I was going to argue with you, didn't you?

Unfortunately, many, not all, French Canadians, and this includes my relatives, have a love, hate relationship with the U.S. As to Florida, many of them seem to think that the people of Florida owe them something for choosing it as a destination to get away from the winter and also seem to think that somehow the U.S. should compensate them because of the money exchange.

As far as tipping, my parents who are in the late 70's and have been living in the U.S. since '68 seem to be stuck in that tipping mentality. My sisters and I have arguments with them about it all the time...they've gotten better but.

Of course, if some are super rude...you could really get them boiling by saying, "God Save the Queen" or "A united Canada is the best"

A few years ago, I took one of those boat tours around Amsterdam. There were only about 12 people on the boat and 8 of the 12 were Chinese. Instead of listening to the tour (or even looking out the windows), they played cards with great enthusiasm (and noise). The tour operator repeatedly asked them to quiet down, but to no avail, they either didn't understand or care.
On another occasion, I dined in an ICE train in Germany, arriving as about a a dozen Chinese were finishing their meal. I could not believe how they trashed the restaurant car. It looked like a total mess when they left. The restaurant car staff were disgusted and their bad mood lingered long after the Chinese had left. I felt sorry for the other diners who came in after the Chinese had left and who had no idea why the staff were scowling at the travelers and snapping at each other.
Of course, not every Chinese tourist acts like this, but I do have sympathy for what the hospitality workers in Trier had to put with during the visit mentioned in the article.

Thank you lyb for your kind reply. After I wrote it I felt that I was being the rude one. People are people, and some are nice and some are not, so I shouldn't generalize like that. Maybe the cold weather they have to endure most of the year makes them grumpier.

"Maybe the cold weather they have to endure most of the year makes them grumpier."
LOL... Dottee, Dottee, Dottee

Well - there are those who make honest mistakes.

Then there are those who don't know - and maybe should try harder to find out.

And then there are those who ask - and refuse to believe the answers. These are the only ones I have a problem with - since they're essentially saying our way is right and to hell with what the rest of the world thinks. (If I have to read one more person protesting about not being able to wear shorts into the Vatican - I think if they're soin love with the shorts they should have to wear the stupid things on their heads the rest of their lives.)

Dottee,

LOL, you may have hit on something...if my father hadn't had the guts to move the entire family from Quebec to Southern CA (I now live in N. CA) and I'd have to put up with those winters... I'd probably be grumpy too!

But in all seriousness, recently my cousin's 19 year old daughter and a friend came to visit us in Sacramento. And I wanted to smack them... they complained about the food in the U.S., according to them, when they visited New York, they couldn't find one good meal! and so many other complaints... I wanted to ask them..if the U.S. is so awful why do you come and visit?!?!

So you may be on to something...