Friday, July 10, 2009
French tourists are the worst in the world, coming across as bad at foreign languages, tight-fisted and arrogant, according to a survey of 4,500 hotel owners across the world.
They finish in last place in the survey carried out for internet travel agency Expedia by polling company TNS Infratest, which said French holidaymakers don't speak local languages and are seen as impolite.
"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.
De Roux said the French, not accustomed to leaving large tips at home where a service charge is automatically levied on restaurant bills, can seem "tight-fisted" compared with other nationalities.
The Japanese ranked top of the Best Tourist survey, with the British and the Germans judged the best of the Europeans.
But French tourists received some consolation for their poor performance, finishing third after the Italians and British for dress sense while on holiday.

I will comment on this and my experiences there whenever I have time I am getting ready to leave again so I will have to do it sometime this weekend!!! hope everyone is doing fine 'n dandy!!! miss u alll hope to talk with u soon!!!!!!xoxoxxo last day of the work week everyone!!!! ***** hey there I"m back finally, I just saw this whenever I got up this morning, and the answer honestly didn't surprise me at all....Let's see I was there whenever I turned 16, I begged and begged to go for my birthday, but this trip wasn't until summer, but I wouldn't stop going on about it to my parents and shoving brochures about it at them until they absolutely agreed to let me go....I knew nothing of the time changes between there and the US, nothing about the money, or the difference in the food, with me still being overly particular about everything to this day.....I went on this extremely blind not knowing any of this and wow it sure was a wake up, but looking back on it, I absolutely and totally loved it.....I went with my school French class the summer of about '91 I think it was....it was so long ago, it is all a blur now.....We were in Paris for about 3 days, I seemed to have an easier time there than any of the other places I got dragged to....I didn't have any trouble with locals who lived there being rude to me.....they were mostly saying things to me in French, and I could pick up words, and short phrases, but anything more than that, I got lost very very quickly, and had no idea....I had so many just come up to me and just start talking with me....some spoke some English, it was a little off, but I'm around more internationals than Americans anyways, so it's not a big deal to me anymore, so I have no problem figuring it out and understanding what they meant.....I think I got asked for some kind of a date about 2 or 3 times, before this group of guys got embarrassed and took off, others came up just talking to me, asking how my trip was, and of course I would tell them my long drawn-out story how it was my trip of a lifetime, and I'd been wanting to go there since I learned what other countries even were.....yes, I would talk so much even then that I would nearly loose my voice and become hoarse same as I do now still sometimes....I don't remember having any problems with anyone really in Paris at all...it was just trying to figure out the crazy door locks and how to turn it since it was opposite from American ones, and making sure I didn't get separated cause I definately didn't know my way around, with it being the first time for me out of the United States in a completely different foreign country......the only rude ones that I ran into was when we went to the much smaller towns, I can't even remember what they were now, outside of Paris, and people were much more ruder, and impatient, and definately didn't welcome anyone different from them at all if they didn't understand their way of living at all, which of course I didn't.....I knew absolutely nothing about foreign money, nothing. I can't remember what it was I was buying at the time, but had no idea about the money, and this local just grabbed my wrist, and grabbed the coins out themselves and counted out the right amount....I'm sure there were plenty more episodes that happened that I either don't remember or just didn't hear about, but honestly, I didn't have any trouble besides that myself....Anyways, I guess that it is different for everyone....I"m so happy this week is about over with....I hope everyone has a great weekend, and stays cool in this awful weather we're having!!!!! take care everyone!!!!