The Star Malaysia - Star2

Annoying travellers

- By CHESTER CHIN star2trave­l@thestar.com.my

MALAYsIANs absolutely hate travellers who show no respect for local culture, according to a recent survey on irritating travel-related habits.

In the Annoying Travel Habits study conducted by travel platform Agoda, insensitiv­ity to cultural nuances rank high among Malaysians (60%). Noisy travellers come in at a close second with 56%.

Meanwhile, millennial­s better watch out – travellers who are glued to their devices are the third most annoying habit for Malaysian travellers (51%).

of all age groups, Malaysian travellers aged 55 and older are the least tolerant of noisy travellers (74%). And perhaps not surprising, 18 to 24-year-old folks spend the most time on their devices each day (243 minutes versus 218 minutes for all respondent­s).

The study polled 10,384 people online, with Malaysians making up 1,002 of those respondent­s.

on a global scale, the pet peeve rank changes, though not by much. Noisy travellers come in first (57%), followed by travellers glued to their devices (47%) and those insensitiv­e to cultural beliefs (46%).

Mass tour groups and selfie-takers, cited by 36% and 21% respective­ly, completed the top five irritants.

Chinese travellers seemingly have the highest tolerance for selfie-takers, with only 12% of Chinese respondent­s irritated by selfie-takers compared to Australian­s who are on the other end of the tolerance spectrum with nearly a third (31%) citing holiday selfie-takers as annoying.

Like Malaysians, cultural sensitivit­y is also important among singaporea­ns (63%), Filipinos (61%), Chinese (21%) and Thai (27%) travellers.

But when it comes to dependence on smartphone­s, almost half of the global respondent­s (47%) cited grievances.

Compared to travellers from other countries, the Vietnamese find those glued to their devices the most annoying (59%). Thai travellers, on the other hand, have the most relaxed attitude (31%) towards constant device usage on holiday.

The survey was conducted by independen­t market research firm YouGov among travellers from Britain, United states, Australia, singapore, Malaysia, the Philippine­s, Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand and China. Respondent­s are those who have been on holiday at least once in the past year.

 ?? — Agoda ?? Taking selfies is one of the annoying habits among travellers.
— Agoda Taking selfies is one of the annoying habits among travellers.

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