Tourists Behaving Badly
A self-explanatory sign in Spain.
Drunken and Disrespectful
The people who live in tourist destinations—Athens, Barcelona, the Canary Islands have seen anti-tourist protests—are fed up with travellers who behave badly.
Too many people—young men in particular—go to beach communities, drink their faces off on cheap booze, vomit, and disrespect local customs.
Local residents complain they can't get a seat in their favourite restaurants nor can they afford the jacked-up prices visitors seem willing to pay.
Unwanted tourists.
A Catalogue of Crassness
Recent years have delivered the following crop of loutish behaviour:
- Russian Yuri Chilikin stood naked from the waist down for a photo in front of Bali's Mount Agung, which is sacred to the Hindu god Shiva.
- Mexican Priscilla Guevara and her Romanian boyfriend Constantín Dumitru drew four-year jail sentences for stealing $1.7 million worth of wine from a high-end Michelin-starred restaurant in Spain.
- In March 2023, the Dutch capital started running ads targeted at young British men saying “Coming to Amsterdam for a messy night + getting trashed = €140 fine + criminal record = fewer prospects. So coming to Amsterdam for a messy night? Stay away.”
- Citing pollution and environmental damage, Venice has banned large cruise ships from entering its historic centre.
Venice has put a stop to huge cruise ships that disgorge thousands of tourists for a day and do little to benefit the local economy.
Who Are the Bad Guys?
The British market research company YouGov went looking for the country sending out the world's most obnoxious tourists. It turns out there was no clear global winner (loser?) with the unpopularity of travellers being somewhat location specific.
Reporting on the study, Michael Gebicki of the Sydney Morning Herald notes that “Russian tourists are not popular in Germany, but they're welcome in Jordan, Kuwait, and the U.S. ... Brits are not loved in Spain, nor are Chinese tourists in Thailand and Vietnam. Saudi Arabian tourists are not fondly regarded throughout the Middle East, including in their own country.”
Americans used to be unpopular almost everywhere they went—loud, large, and culturally insensitive were the frequent complaints.
Here's Michael Gebicki again, “These days American tourists have faded into the background—and they're mostly polite, they tip like pros and only rarely do they drink to excess, disrobe and smash everything in sight.”
Americans tend to have a poor view of themselves as tourists. According to a LivingSocial survey, “Those in the U.S. ranked themselves as the worst travellers by a shocking 20 percent, followed by 15 percent saying the Chinese were the most substandard tourists” (Daily Mail).
World traveller and journalist Cedric Lizotte flips those countries around and places Americans second on his list of disliked tourist nationalities. It's the bellowing voice thing. He writes:
“There are a couple of things that Americans are known for. Speaking loudly is one. Expecting everyone to understand English is another one. Speaking loudly to someone who doesn’t understand English and expecting that person to understand better because they’re yelling is one of the worst.”
Lizotte quotes Thailand's The National in picking the Chinese as the world's worst tourists:
“Accused of urinating in public, spitting on the street, or kicking a sacred temple bell—free-spending Chinese tourists are receiving a mixed welcome.”
The newspaper quotes a tour guide as saying Chinese visitors “Do not always pay attention, they spit, talk loudly, sometimes they leave the toilet in a catastrophic state.”
Cultural Insensitivity
Ignorant tourists sometimes damage cultural items of sacred meaning to others. Sometimes, the actions are deliberate vandalism, sometimes it's the result of ill-informed stupidity.
- In December 2022, people scratched their names onto petroglyphs that are between 4,000 and 8,500 year old in the Big Bend National Park, Texas. The ancient rock art, which is sacred to Indigenous people, has been permanently damaged.
- Similarly, vandals have destroyed 30,000-year-old cave art in Australia.
- A thoughtless idiot sat on a plaster model of an Antonio Canova carving in an Italian museum. In the process, the man broke the artwork.
- As far back as 1977, authorities roped off Britain's Stonehenge because visitors were chipping pieces of rock off the monument as souveniers.
- Bulgarian tourist Ivan Dimitrov scratched “Ivan + Hayley 23” into the wall of Rome's 2,000-year-old Colosseum. He claimed he didn't realise the structure was that old.
- German Darja Tuschinski stripped naked and gatecrashed a sacred religious ceremony in Indonesia after skipping out of several hotels without paying her bills.
Let's turn to Brent Leggs, Executive Director of the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund, for reaction:
“When heritage sites associated with a marginalised group are desecrated and vandalised, it says that their bodies, their lives, and their history doesn't matter. It often triggers memories of historic injustices and systemic racism, reactivating generational trauma.”
Isn't this fun? Tourists crammed onto a viewing platform on the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
- According to the Daily Telegraph, “Barcelona authorities have removed a bus route through a hilly region of the city from Google Maps to stop tourists elbowing out elderly locals.”
- Venice, a city with 50,000 residents, sees 30 million visitors a year most of whom go there for a single day. It has become so overcrowded that authorities have started charging day trippers a €5 entrance fee ($5.42).
- The Pacific island nation of Palau requires visitors to sign a pledge in a bid to protect the country's fragile ecology. “The Palau Pledge is a passport-like declaration that every visitor to our beloved island must sign upon arrival. It's more than just a document; it's a commitment. By signing the pledge, tourists promise to respect our ecological and cultural heritage during their stay. They commit to preserving the land, not taking what isn't freely given, and refraining from causing harm.”
Sources
- “The Worst-Behaved Tourists of 2023.” Julia Buckley, CNN, December 19, 2023
- “Most Disliked Tourists by Country Revealed in New Research.” Michael Gebicki, Sydney Morning Herald, September 19, 2019.
- “The World’s Worst Tourists Are American ... According to Americans (And They Admit to Stealing Hotel Towels Too).” Daily Mail, March 2, 2012.
- “Why Do Tourists Behave Badly on Holiday?” Lynn Brown, BBC, July 19, 2024.
- “The World's Revolt Against 'Bad Tourists.' ” Laura Hall, BBC, May 22, 2024.
This content is accurate and true to the best of the author’s knowledge and is not meant to substitute for formal and individualized advice from a qualified professional.
© 2024 Rupert Taylor
