Poll finds that no one likes the British abroad – least of all us

BRITISH people are often assumed to be among the most hated tourists in the world, and a new poll has proved that to be true even among their compatriots.

Participants from 26 countries were asked by Yougov how well behaved they considered their fellow natives to be when on holiday, and also which foreign nationality they considered to have the best and worst tourists.

The UK was one of two countries where more people held a negative view of their own tourists than posi- tive, with 57 per cent taking a dim view against 29 per cent (14 per cent did not know).

Germany was the other nation taking a gloomy view of their countrymen, with scores of 43 per cent negative and 40 per cent positive.

Asked what they believe other countries think of their tourists, people in the UK were also most likely to say their holidaymakers were disliked, with 61 per cent saying they don’t think they are welcome.

At the other end of the spectrum, 85 per cent of Filipinos rated themselves positively, followed by Indians (an 83 per cent self-approval rate) and residents of the United Arab Emirates (82 per cent).

British people also fared badly when the poll asked participants to select which countries had the worst tourists.

Spain holds a particularly negative view of Britons, it emerged, with almost half selecting the UK as the worst.

Germans, too, named the British the worst. Other countries rated as having bad tourists were Russia – which topped the list for Denmark, Sweden, Finland and Norway – and China – rated worst by Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

The country with the best tourists was found to be Japan. Finland, France, Germany, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand all put them at the top of their list.

Matt Smith, lead data researcher at Yougov, said: “Of course, the vast majority of British travellers are well behaved while abroad, but Yougov’s new research shows we’ve still got a way to go if we want to improve our image amongst our European friends.

He added: “With so many thousands of Britain’s youngsters temporarily taking our nation’s binge-drinking culture to Spanish resorts every summer, it is not surprising to see that Spaniards especially have the most negative view of British tourists.”