Projo Offbeat Blog

As the summer travel season begins, a new survey ranking the worst tourists gives renewed meaning to the warning, "The British are coming."

"Britons are among the rudest and meanest tourists in the world, according to the latest study," Sky News reports on its Web site.

In the survey of 15,000 European hoteliers, the Brits' poor showing surprised me since I thought the English were a well-mannered bunch, except when they play in rock bands or lose soccer games. After all, Queen Elizabeth II seemed like the perfect guest during her visit to the United States a few weeks ago.

But the survey concluded that "Britons have poor dress sense, are noisy and untidy, as well as miserly tippers and impolite," according to the Sky News story.

Apparently British tourists still act as if the sun hasn't set on the British Empire.

Still, the ranking was an improvement for English travelers, who were regarded as the worst tourists in the first Expedia survey five years ago.

This time, the French took first place, or worst place, due in part to their unwillingness to speak the local language. That means the French have managed to develop a reputation as bad guests as well as bad hosts.

We "ugly Americans" did surprisingly well, ranking as the second-best tourists overall. The survey concluded that we are good spenders, but our fashion sense, or lack of it, is our biggest shortcoming. We're considered the worst-dressed tourists.

It's encouraging to think that the phrase "ugly American" might only refer to our sense of style and not some physical shortcoming or personality defect.

The Japanese ranked as the best tourists, which isn't surprising considering their reputation for politeness.

We Red Sox fans can only hope that New England's most famous Japanese tourist, Daisuke Matsuzaka, isn't too polite to his hosts when he visits places like Yankee Stadium.

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