As travel, both domestic and international, increases, appalling behaviour by tourists is unfortunately also on the rise. In recent years such behaviour has included inappropriate or insufficient clothing at sacred sites, driving a car across a fragile medieval bridge, and defacing cultural and historic sites and artifacts. Tourists have damaged heritage sites, eaten endangered species, and – in the case of one couple – stolen nearly $2 million worth of wine from a Michelin-starred restaurant. Tourists have (allegedly) insulted border guards, and flashed in front of kids. And when they’ve been caught out, they’ve often pleaded ignorance.
And this behaviour is not restricted to tourists from any one country. 2023 saw two drunk Americans sneak into a closed section of the Eiffel Tower to sleep off their drunken bender high above Paris. A French woman was arrested for carving a heart and her initials into Italy’s iconic Leaning Tower of Pisa. A Canadian teen defaced a 1,200-year-old Japanese temple, a German tourist presumably under the impression she was in a strip bar, displayed all she had inside a sacred Bali temple– after having previously run up several unpaid hotel bills – and an English tourist etched two names into Rome’s Colosseum then whined to authorities he was unaware of the arena’s age. Brilliant!
Loud, rude conduct, and disrespectful or entitled behaviour by tourists while visiting another country are the leading characteristics that infuriate the world’s most experienced travellers, according to the Global Rescue Traveller Sentiment and Safety Survey. And doing so not only reflects on one’s homeland but may also stir reactions from the local population that could be provocative.
According to the survey, the worst tourist conduct observed by other global travellers was being too loud (27%). In second place, 26% of respondents reported that travellers’ unwillingness to try local cuisine or follow local social customs was the most infuriating behaviour. The third most disappointing trait (18%) was the expectation that destination residents speak the same language as the traveller. Fewer than 10% of respondents said tourists who wear revealing, offensive or shabby clothing were the most exasperating.
“When you’re visiting a new country, it’s essential to respect the local culture and customs. Behaving like a tourist can be seen as disrespectful and offensive to locals. Travellers should do the research to know and understand the little things about the customs and culture of your destination,” says Harding Bush, a senior manager for security operations at Global Rescue.
Looking and acting like a tourist can produce assumptions that you are inexperienced, naive, lacking cultural awareness, and wealthy, adds Bush.
Worst still, he says, “Standing out as a tourist can make you appear vulnerable and an easy target for scams, pickpockets, and other types of crime. By blending in you reduce the risk of local criminals or scam artists spotting you as a foreign traveller and targeting you for fraudulent schemes or petty crimes.”
One last word of advice before snapping pictures or taking that selfie, please…please … first take a minute or two – at least a full minute or two – to just take in the beauty, the brilliance, the wonder of your surroundings. This is what you have come hundreds, even thousands of miles to see. So, really first see it with your own eyes, not through a lens and not with your head in front of it.