Monday,
August 20, 2007
Americans and Italians "Rated" as
Tourists in
The
ANNOTICO Report
In the
poll, nearly two-thirds of American travelers said we're perceived more
negatively in other countries than we were five years ago.
Yet, in a poll, conducted in April by the online travel site Expedia's German branch of 1,500 European hotel managers,
.......Americans
surprisingly were "overall" ranked second, behind the Japanese,
as the World's Best Tourists, this in spite of Americans
were considered to be the Worst Complainers, and Slobbiest Dressers. Could the Americans
HIGH ranking been influenced by the fact that Americans were
considered far and away the highest Tippers and biggest Spenders ?
:)
The stingiest
tippers: the Germans, followed by the French and Israelis.
The
least polite travelers, Russians, followed by the Israelis and French.
The best
dressers, Italians,
by far, followed by the French and Spanish.
In terms of slobby dre ssing, the Americans, with the British a distant
second, followed by the Germans.
They like us -
they really like us
Maybe we're not
as ugly as we think. In a new poll, nearly two-thirds of American travelers
said we're perceived more negatively in other countries than we were five years
ago. But another poll commissioned by the same organization found a big
surprise: In a survey of 1,500 European hotel managers, Americans were ranked
second, behind the Japanese, as the world's best tourists.
In the poll,
conducted in April by the online travel site Expedia's
German branch, Americans were seen as the most likely to try to speak a foreign
language and the most interested in sampling local food.
We came in third,
behind the Japanese and British, as the "most polite" tourists, and
third, behind the Japanese and Germans, as "best behaved." And -
we're sure this has nothing
to do with how the hotel managers view us - Americans
were ranked far and away as the world's most generous tippers and biggest
spenders.
On the other
hand, Americans were seen, by an overwhelming margin, as the shabbiest
dressers, the most likely to complain and the second noisiest. Who's louder? Only the Italians.
Some of the other
findings: Russians were seen as the least polite travelers, followed by the
Israelis and French. The stingiest tippers: the Germans, followed by the French
and Israelis.
Italians, by far,
were ranked as the best dressers, followed by the French and Spanish. In terms
of slobby dressing, the British were a distant second
to us, followed by the Germans.
Who's the most
unwilling to try speaking in a foreign language? The French,
the British and the Italians, in that order.
The Chinese are
the most reluctant to sample foreign food, followed closely by - this is odd -
the British, whose home cuisine is probably the world's most grievously mocked
(a little unfairly, perhaps.)
And, finally, the
overall award for "worst tourists in the world" goes to the French,
with the Indians and Chinese taking home the silver and bronze, respectively.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/
article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/08/19/TR8TRGM5T.DTL
The
ANNOTICO Reports Can be Viewed (and are Archived) on:
Italia
Italia
Mia: http://www.ItaliaMia.com (3 years)
Annotico
Email: annotico@earthlink.net