Survey Reveals The French Seen as Worst Tourists in The World

By Queuebot in Travel on Jul 11, 2009 at 11:09 am

According to a survey of over 4,000 hotel owners throughout the world, the French are considered the worst tourists in the world.  The survey was conducted by polling company TNS Infratest for the  Internet travel guide Expedia.  What makes them the worst? 

“It’s mainly the fact that they speak little or no English when they’re abroad, and they don’t speak much of the local language,” Expedia Marketing Director Timothee de Roux told radio station France Info.

“The French don’t go abroad very much. We’re lucky enough to have a country which is magnificent in terms of its landscape and culture,” he said, adding that 90 per cent of French people did their traveling at home.

“So when they’re on holiday they can be a bit stressed, they’re not used to things, and this can lead them to be demanding in a way which could be seen as a certain arrogance.”

French tourists are also accused of generally spending less than other nationalities when abroad.

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From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by Geekazoid.


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  1. Christophe
    Jul 11th, 2009 at 11:09 am

    So true…

  2. Alen Mak
    Jul 11th, 2009 at 12:51 pm

    I like very much your article, thanks a lot!

  3. JimRL
    Jul 11th, 2009 at 1:13 pm

    I just read a headline the other day (didn’t read the article) saying the British are the worst tourists in Europe…and being British I can unbiasedly agree that the Brits are the worst.

    I know every country has a small population that puts the rest to shame, maybe I just notice the behaviour of my own more but I feel the Brits are good at getting themselves noticed more when they insult, attack and vandalise other countries tourist spots.

  4. felixthecat
    Jul 11th, 2009 at 1:15 pm

    I live where tourists from afar are always here. The British don’t bother me, but the French? Arrogant, rude, obnoxious, demanding, even belligerent.

  5. cuimhne
    Jul 11th, 2009 at 1:36 pm

    @ JimRL and don’t forget that locals usually assume that Irish tourists are also British…and only the polite ones probably bother to correct them! Seems to happen a lot when I’m abroad.

  6. helimx
    Jul 11th, 2009 at 2:14 pm

    I can attest, through my own personal experience, that the FRENCH are also the worst “hosts” for tourists..
    I went on a 13 european country tour when I was in highschool. we had a blast everywhere we went.. except for PARIS.
    I was 15 years old, and we were there with the kansas ambassodors of music. basically playing in a concert band in small town squares. We had parisian spit at us!!! they actually spit at us!!!!
    so almost 20 years later, and several trips to europe, I still REFUSE to go to Paris. much to the dismay of my wife. But now that I’m “grown”. I don’t feel like going to a french jail for kicking the teeth in of some arrogant frenchman, who should feel lucky he isn’t speaking german, thanks to the good ol’ U.S.A.

  7. helimx
    Jul 11th, 2009 at 2:15 pm

    apparently even after 20 years I get a little ticked off about that whole situation.. sorry, had to vent. hahaha

    nam myoho renge kyo.

  8. LisaL
    Jul 11th, 2009 at 2:54 pm

    We went to Paris a few years ago and we thought the french were very nice. At least in the places we went. Some little restraunt that was not a tourist spot… we were treated very well.

    I’ve said it here before, but Italians were the absolute worst hosts ever. Not all of them, but the majority of them we came across were just awful. You wanna talk about arrogant, rude, smug… they were some of the rudest people we’ve ever seen. They seemed to be ALL about looks and fashion. Lord help me in my comic book t-shirts and jeans. I got some of the nastiest looks.

  9. Allison
    Jul 11th, 2009 at 3:56 pm

    I work for a large named theme park and I actually have to disagree with this article. Brazilians are by far the worst, especially in groups. Or as we like to refer to them: Hordes. They are rude, pushy and violent. And as for not speaking the language, at least the french don’t lie about it. If they don’t know English they at least try to communicate. Brazilian understand you 90% of the time but just ignore you and talk about you since they don’t think you understand. It’s so frustrating!

  10. Jack Prague
    Jul 12th, 2009 at 9:47 am

    Does anyone else find it odd that the complaints this study has about French tourists abroad, are the same complaints the French seem to have about tourists in their backyard? (esp. the language thing) – maybe this is just a worldwide conspiracy to show them what’s what?

  11. Vonskippy
    Jul 12th, 2009 at 8:57 pm

    @felixthecat – “but the French? Arrogant, rude, obnoxious, demanding, even belligerent.”

    Yup, that’s pretty much what attracted me to my wife (plus she’s smoking hot, and who care’s what she’s yelling, in the sexy french accent it all sounds good).

  12. Jonzu
    Jul 13th, 2009 at 1:06 am

    It’s funny, it’s always a matter of perception. I went to Thailand and Vietnam and there the worst tourists were considered the American and the Germans. Considered without class, unable to adapt themselves to the local food and customs and being rude with the supposed fact than everybody should be english speaking wherever they go.

    They prolly should interrogate the locals instead of the hotels, but heck, that would prolly bring a sore truth to some tourists and prolly a loss of money in the longer term.

    Im not french, but I know them. Parisians are the worst of the lot, but in the country side, frenchs are very friendly in general. Paris is a tourist trap, avoid it.

  13. Tibo
    Jul 14th, 2009 at 9:42 pm

    Just would like to add a comment here. I’m french, so I feel like a little concerned about that article.

    I totally agree on the fact that french people are (maybe by far) the worst for speaking foreign langages …

    But I think that “arrogant” stuff is more like an urban legend or made up (or maybe i’m a french arrogant douche and don’t even notice it).

    I agree with Jonzu about the fact that many parisian people, or living in some other “tourist traps” in France are just a buch of sufficient assholes, thinking that they are living in the center of the world and that everything else is just crap.

    In France they’re people living IN Paris, and people living OUTSIDE this city, and don’t get me wrong … most of the time they (really) don’t like each other.

    Most of the Frenchs think about the same of american people : arrogant, selfish, noisy, too much patriotic, always hugging each other or even strangers but shocked when you made the kiss on the cheek, … But you got to travel there (that’s what I did) to realize that, if you “come in peace” and with a smile and just ignore the stupid people, you always find out the true nature of the people.I went to Boston last weekend, guess what ? I just loved the people living there.

    Man, that was a long comment … Apologies about that ! And apologies for all of the stupid french tourists !

  14. JustinButNotTHATJustin
    Jul 15th, 2009 at 12:06 am

    Jonzu, who do you think works in hotels? Are they not locals who cook your food, clean your room, and park your car? I think they are the perfect people to know how people act when they are on holiday.


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