Remember the tightwad tourist whose baggy shorts, frequent complaining
and shouted questions about why none of the locals spoke any English
made the ugly American the world's Visitor From Hell? Well, it's time
for Archie Bunker
to move over and make way for Petulant Pierre. According to a recent
international survey, the French are now considered the most obnoxious
tourists from European nations, and behind only Indians and the
last-place Chinese as the worst among all countries worldwide. And it's
not only the rest of the world that have a gripe with the Gallic
attitude: the French also finished second to last among nations ranking
the popularity of its own tourists who vacation at home.
But it's the unflattering image being reflected from abroad that may
give pause to the millions of French travelers now heading off to summer
vacation destinations across the globe. Will that move them to improve
behavior the poll characterized as impolite, prone to loud carping and
inattentive to local customs? If so, that's just the start: the study
also describes the voyageur français as often unwilling or
unable to communicate in foreign languages, and particularly
disinclined to spending money when they don't have to — including on
those non compris tips. Over all, French travelers landed
19th out of 21 nations worldwide, far behind the first-place Japanese,
considered most polite, quiet and tidy. Following the Japanese as
most-liked tourists were the Germans, British and Canadians. Americans
finished in 11th place alongside the Thais.
The survey was carried out among employees in 4,000 hotels in
Germany, the U.K., Italy, France, Canada and the U.S. for the French
travel website Expedia.fr. The study asked respondents to rank clients
by nationality on criteria of general attitude, politeness, tendency to
complain, willingness to speak local languages, interest in sampling
local cuisine, readiness to spend money, generosity, cleanliness,
discretion and elegance. Many replies simply conformed to
long-established reputations: Italians, for example, were deemed most
style-conscious, and the French the best-dressed tourists.
American tourists fared well in some surprising ways: despite being
notoriously language-limited, for example, they top the list of
tourists credited with trying to speak local languages the most, with
the French, Chinese, Japanese, Italians and Russians coming in last in
the local language rankings. Does that mean Americans are the most
polyglot tourists on the planet? Maybe not, says Expedia's marketing
director for Europe, Timothée de Roux, who notes the poll's focus on
hotel operators may explain the counter-intuitive outcome.
"Most hotel staffs around the world speak English, meaning they'll
communicate far more easily with native English-speaking American or
British clients than with French or Italians who — it's true — are
pretty bad with foreign languages," de Roux says.
De Roux explains how external factors similarly account for why
Americans wind up as the biggest-spending and best-tipping tourists,
while Germans and the French are among the worst penny-pinchers. "Our
findings show the average French employee will get 37 vacation days
spread over seven trips in 2008, versus 14 for an American — who won't
even take them all," de Roux believes. "That means the French tourist
will more tightly budget his or her spending over more trips, while the
American spends freely on the one or two vacations taken all year."
By contrast, poll finds the French and Americans similar in being
perceived as critical and rude when they travel — though for different
reasons. The same local attractions that make France the world's top
destination for 92 million foreign visitors each year, says de Roux,
also explains why over 85% of French vacation in-country — and wind up
spoiled by it when they leave. "When they go abroad, French travellers
demand the same quality they'd get at home,� de Roux says. "Americans,
by contrast, demand the same exceptional service they are used to at
home, which is why they rank as the loudest, most inclined to complain,
and among the least polite." 
