The Singapore Forum

Aussie tourists nice but badly dressed
By Jessica Marszalek
June 24, 2008 12:13pm
Article from: AAP

AUSTRALIAN tourists may be generous and polite but their dress and reluctance to eat local food lets them down, according to international hoteliers.

That's why Australians are ranked only No.6 by hoteliers asked who they think are the world's best tourists, and who put the Japanese at No.1.

More than 4000 hoteliers were questioned in the inaugural Best Tourist Survey by online travel company Expedia.

Among the topics probed were tourists' behaviour, manners, generosity, willingness to learn the language and try local cuisine and their propensity to complain.

Japanese tourists took out the top overall place, followed by the British and Germans in joint second place, and the Canadians in third position.

Australians were ranked in joint sixth place with Swedes, and were singled out for their generosity and politeness, coming in at fourth place in both categories.

But they were in the lower ranks for dress standards and effort to eat local cuisine.

The French, Indians and Chinese were considered the worst tourists among the 31 nationalities, while Americans were considered the least polite.

Expedia.com.au managing director Arthur Hoffman said Australians had to dress better and make an effort to try more local cuisine in order to rank better in next year's survey.

The world's best tourists

1. Japanese
2. British/Germans
3. Canadians
4. Swiss
5. Dutch
6. Australians/Swedes
7. Belgians
8. Norwegians
9. Austrians/Danes/ Finnish
10. New Zealanders

I'm surprised to see the Kiwis at 10 with the Aussies at 6. Most people can't tell the difference between them when overseas.
I bet it's the thongs and singlet tops that explain the Aussies bad dress comments.

The world's worst tourists

1. Israelis
2. Saudis
3. Kuwaitis
4. Indians
5. Chinese (mainland)
6. Russians
7. Swiss

How come the Swiss are on both lists? Couldn't pick a side?

and where are the French in FM's list?

That's just hatred of the French, Morro, nothing to do with them being bad tourists.

So wearing soccer shirts doen't count as badly dressed? The Brits don't wear anything else.

Not even long socks and sandals?

Is there a list for the best dressed? I wonder who would win that one.

Why are the Israelis bad tourists?

slinky wrote:
Why are the Israelis bad tourists?

Arabs keep trying to blow them up. Not good for the old hotel business.

slinky wrote:Is there a list for the best dressed? I wonder who would win that one.

Why are the Israelis bad tourists?

Arrogant, rude .. and the women get all clingy once you've given them a holiday bonk.

Fresh Mint wrote:

slinky wrote:Is there a list for the best dressed? I wonder who would win that one.

Why are the Israelis bad tourists?

Arrogant, rude .. and the women get all clingy once you've given them a holiday bonk.

Sounds like someone has learned his lesson then......

You should have seen the Oz/UK/US tourists in Egypt. Horrible. Horribly dressed, horribly fed and horribly behaved. I was embarrased for them

Here's another take on the toxic tourist issue.

I just took a look at the Pravda forum. Hmmm. Makes the AB look like a oasis of sanity.

And another take on the issue. Some funny comments regarding American and Aussie tourists, too.

I would have to agree that a large number of Americans are obnoxious and loud when they travel. I also remember an incident with some French tourists in NZ. They were pretty arrogant b--tard who didn't mix around with the rest of the tourbus passengers - they came in late and had to sit at the back. As soon as we did the first stop, they quickly got out had a look around and quickly got into the bus again and sat in the front seat looking as if they didn't do anything wrong and ignored the death stares from the rest of the passengers.

Aussie tourists can be loud too - I cringed at Schiphol during my last trip when a mother and daughter team decided that they had to let everybody know what they thought about Paris and the Eiffel tower.

Of the British travellers who I have encountered so far - they are pretty good. Yeah, some of them can fit the drunken image, but they're more of the drunk-and-amusingly-silly rather than the drunk-and-obnoxious types. I got my fascination with Geordie accent after sharing a backpackers' dorm in Auckland with a tourist from Newcastle nearly ten years ago. Haha.

I find Canadians to be "darker" and quieter type of the Americans ... some dark undercurrents!

Fuzz wrote:And another take on the issue. Some funny comments regarding American and Aussie tourists, too.

I would have to agree that a large number of Americans are obnoxious and loud when they travel. I also remember an incident with some French tourists in NZ. They were pretty arrogant b--tard who didn't mix around with the rest of the tourbus passengers - they came in late and had to sit at the back. As soon as we did the first stop, they quickly got out had a look around and quickly got into the bus again and sat in the front seat looking as if they didn't do anything wrong and ignored the death stares from the rest of the passengers.

Aussie tourists can be loud too - I cringed at Schiphol during my last trip when a mother and daughter team decided that they had to let everybody know what they thought about Paris and the Eiffel tower.

Of the British travellers who I have encountered so far - they are pretty good. Yeah, some of them can fit the drunken image, but they're more of the drunk-and-amusingly-silly rather than the drunk-and-obnoxious types. I got my fascination with Geordie accent after sharing a backpackers' dorm in Auckland with a tourist from Newcastle nearly ten years ago. Haha.

I find Canadians to be "darker" and quieter type of the Americans ... some dark undercurrents!

darker? [smilie=ph34r.gif]

Darker as in more blue, as you don't get much sun up there, do you?

Fat Bob wrote:Darker as in more blue, as you don't get much sun up there, do you?

grew up in calgary with over 2400 hours on average of sunshine per year

see my sig