World’s Worst Tourists?

Travel Blog  •  Julia Ross  •  07.07.08 | 1:55 PM ET

Once again, it’s the French, Indians and Chinese, according to an annual survey of hoteliers by the French version of Expedia. The latest poll of 4,000 hotel employees in Europe and North America calls the French out for being impolite and unwilling to communicate in foreign languages, deems the Japanese most liked and declares the Italians best dressed.

Although Americans led the rankings among tourists considered generous and most willing to speak the local language (surprise), they garnered low marks for dress sense and being loud.

Stereotypes aside, it’s worth repeating a few words World Hum contributor Rolf Potts wrote a couple years back: “The worst travelers in the world are, after all, the rude, small-minded ones—and rude, small-minded travelers can hail from any nation.”