The countries with the worst tourists (and what Europeans really think of us)

Telegraph

09-04-2025

The behaviour of tourists has rarely been more scrutinised, with the negative impact of our holidays triggering protests across Europe, as well as a flurry of legislation to clamp down on poor conduct and keep locals happy. In places such as Majorca and Corfu, there's often talk of attracting a 'better' sort of visitor – a goal which, by implication, suggests that the British, who currently visit in large numbers, are no longer desired.
What is the truth? Are British tourists really so disliked? Which nations supply the 'best' and 'worst' holidaymakers, according to Europeans? We asked experts in four of the countries hit hardest by over-tourism – Anthony Peregrine (based in France), Heidi Fuller-Love (based in Greece), Eddi Fiegel (based in Spain) and Nicky Swallow (based in Italy) – to canvass the opinions of tourism workers and ordinary locals.
Here's what they had to say.
British tourists
'They love the gardens, but they don't like Mr Macron'
According to the French?
The British score surprisingly highly with French tourism professionals (hoteliers, restaurateurs, tourist office folk, that sort of person), notably for 'elegance and politeness'. Also discretion. 'They ask shyly, because they don't want to disturb you,' says Danaé Pestel, a tourism official in the Var county. They agree up in Burgundy, according to a recent survey of tourism pros. 'Politeness is very important, and remember to keep your distance. Britons don't like being touched or embraced.' Not just by anybody, anyway.
We do, though, like traditional values, local customs and cultural visits, as long as there's also 'a kettle, tea, sugar and capsules of milk in the bedroom'. That, says the survey, is how you keep your Briton satisfied. A proper château also helps. 'They love the gardens,' says Bernard Legal of the Château de Chantore, near the Mont Saint Michel in Normandy. 'But they don't like Mr Macron.'
Few seem to hold that against us, notably when we're spending freely at the bar and table, while also – this is vital – remaining courteous. As another Normandy hotelier said: 'In high season, I tell French customers that we're full, so keeping rooms free for Britons. British people let themselves go a little on holiday. The French spend a lot of time looking anxious.' And, as Jérôme Pont at the Calais Vins wine supermarket says – he knows Britons well – 'even people from Yorkshire and Scotland spend freely in France'.
One weakness has been recognised by many, however: our struggles with anything resembling a foreign language. As a tourism agent in the Nord department said: 'The English person who can say ' bonjour ' and ' au revoir ' thinks he's gone as far as he needs to. He considers himself bi-lingual.'
According to the Greeks?
'I like the British – they're polite,' a shopkeeper in Chania told me. Others, however, think 'politeness' has its downsides. A hotel owner in the seaside resort of Hersonissos complained: 'This British couple stayed for a week. They were smiling all the time. Afterwards on Tripadvisor, they complained about all sorts of things – why didn't they just tell me when they were here so I could do something about it?'
At Heraklion Airport, I asked a customs official what he thought of the British. He jerked a thumb at a group of lads flocking through the gate. 'They are like animals – they piss on our culture,' he retorted.
According to the Spanish?
Not much contest here, unfortunately. British tourists win the booby prize for Spain's most badly behaved visitors, thanks to tales of lairy stag and hen parties and hotel guests drinking their body weight in booze. 'I think many of the British who come here forget that this is a place where people live too,' one bar owner in Barcelona told me.
Others were fed up with British tourists assuming that everyone speaks English, before becoming loud and abusive when they find out they don't. That said, people do also acknowledge, especially in the quieter resorts, that some of us are perfectly well behaved and are keen to stress how welcome we are.
According to the Italians?
British tourists divide opinion among Italians. On the one hand, they have a reputation for being drunk, badly dressed and tight-fisted. On the other, they are often cited as being among the most appreciative of Italian culture, food, wine and customs, making them favoured by tour guides. 'British clients are in love with Italian culture and they are among the few who really listen to what you are saying,' said one Florence-based guide. They are also known for their valiant attempts at speaking Italian, and politeness to hotel and restaurant staff.
The behaviour of a small minority, however, still casts a cloud. 'They are hooligans,' commented the owner of a news stand in Naples, recalling post-match rampages. And it was a visitor from Britain who, in June 2023, carved his and his girlfriends' names into the wall of the 2,000-year-old Colosseum, claiming he didn't know how old the building was. Italians throughout the country were outraged.
German tourists
'They drink almost as much as the British'
According to the French?
Memories fade, as have those German ex-soldiers who used to travel to France to show their families where they'd been stationed during the war. This didn't prove wildly popular with their hosts. And it may be that, though waning, this has influenced those who still shudder slightly on hearing the German language. 'Some do treat us as if we were the Third World,' said a Riviera restaurateur. Lapses in behaviour persist. 'They think nothing of pinching all the cheese from breakfast for their picnic lunch,' said an Auvergne B&B owner.
Other elements of the German caricature, though, rather recommend themselves to the more Cartesian French. 'They like rigour and punctuality and don't tolerate approximation,' concluded those surveyed in Burgundy. They're also 'very analytical and seek the best possible value for money,' according to Jérôme Bont of Calais Vins. If they get all these, then their behaviour may be much appreciated. 'They are discreet and kind, with great respect for the place and work involved,' said Bernard Legal of the Château de Chantore. 'Generally, they're my favourite guests.'
According to the Greeks?
In a country that is still claiming reparation for the destruction of countless villages (and their inhabitants) during the Second World War, it's hardly surprising that Greeks have mixed feelings when it comes to Germans. 'When I bought my house in Crete in the 1990s, many older people would turn away when they knew where I was from,' Klaus Werner from Munich told me.
'During the economic recession, I had a German tourist who told me that he didn't have to pay his fare because Greeks do not pay their taxes – how can we like these people?' a fuming taxi driver said.
According to the Spanish?
Opinions differ wildly when it comes to the Germans. In Spain's cities, few have complaints, finding them not only unfailingly polite but also interested in Spanish culture. In the Balearics, on the other hand, it was a different story. 'We need the Germans,' one hotelier in Majorca told me, 'but that doesn't mean we like them being here. They rarely make any attempt to speak even a word of Spanish and they drink almost as much as the British.'
According to the Italians?
More Germans visit Italy each year than any other foreign nationality. They have a reputation for being big drinkers and rather pedantic, but they are also known to love Italian culture and for being hearty and adventurous, often seeking out off-the-radar locations. They are 'rule-obsessed', planning their daily itineraries with military precision, and often requesting incredibly intricate information, according to the concierge of a hotel in Florence.
They tend to get into scrapes. A group of young German tourists toppled a valuable statue in the town of Viggiù, near Lake Como, in 2023 – while posing for photos for social media. And at the beach, we all know that it's the Germans who are up at dawn to bag the best sunbeds.
Spanish tourists
'The loudest of all visitors'
According to the French?
Hardly anyone has a bad word to say about the Spanish – who stream over the border apparently, and solely, to liven France up a bit. They leave their tendency to melancholy back at home. There are those who suggest that, once away, they may be rather loud – 'the loudest of all visitors,' said a church official I met in Lourdes. 'It's because, in a group, they all speak at once, so all have to speak loudly to be heard, so no one is heard, so the noise builds up.' That aside, they are terrific customers at Lourdes' religious goods shops, and its bistros. You haven't seen a pilgrimage until you've seen Spanish pilgrims letting loose at around 11pm in Lourdes.
Meanwhile, over in Beaujolais, Vincent Guérin of Beaujolais Tourisme, says 'They are a real pleasure to deal with – though they are foxed by French restaurant eating hours, especially out in the sticks.' The Spanish like to eat around the exact time when French countryside restaurants are closing. It is the only bone of contention.
According to the Greeks?
'Spaniards are like us – Mediterraneans, only much more noisy,' the manager of Nammos hotel in Mykonos, one of the resorts where Spaniards flock in summer, told me. 'They have tapas snacks like we have meze; they have a passion for life and they love to talk – like us.' A shopkeeper in Santorini agreed: 'They're very similar to us – only our beaches are much better. The former king of Spain is even married to Sofia of Greece, so we are almost family.'
According to the Italians?
Spanish tourists in Italy tend to be quite young. The Italians feel an obvious camaraderie with them given the similarity of language, the importance of food and wine in their lives, and their sunny, southern Mediterranean zest for life. Helped by hand gestures, an Italian can make himself understood to a Spaniard and vice-versa, and they certainly share many characteristics.
Italian tourists
'They exhibit a poetic spontaneity'
According to the French?
It seems that the French see the Italians as more excitable, arm-waving versions of themselves. 'They come for art, history and gastronomy,' says the Burgundy survey, approvingly. They make contact easily and, according to Danaé Pestel in the Var, exhibit 'a poetic spontaneity'.
Their extreme appreciation of food and wine may exasperate some French people – when, for instance, it leads them to criticise French pasta, pizzas or coffee, as they do, with some frequency. But generally they'll see themselves as Latin good-food allies of the French against fast-food barbarians elsewhere.
Danaé Pestel has noted but one fault – and that's a tendency to confusion over greetings, so that an Italian might very well say ' au revoir ' when he or she arrives and ' bonjour ' on leaving.
According to the Greeks?
'Italians talk all the time with their hands, and they drink a lot of coffee – they are like Greeks only on amphetamines,' a hairdresser told me. 'They like the Dodecanese because they ruled there, and they were in the Ionian Islands too – like in Captain Corelli's Mandolin. Many older people also speak some Italian.'
According to the Spanish?
Nobody has a bad word to say about the Italians, aside from the odd mention of loudness. On the contrary, the general consensus seems to be that Spain's next-door-but-one neighbours are almost soul mates, with myriad similarities in culture, language, architecture and even culinary traditions. Unlike tourists from other countries (Americans were cited in particular), the Italians won't complain about the late eating hours, don't tend to wander into churches in shorts and singlets, and are considered generally respectful.
Chinese tourists
'They take selfies from the roofs of our houses'
According to the French?
Clearly, the French wish to like Chinese visitors – there's lots of money to be had – but don't always find it easy. The fact that some groups of Chinese people will rush through the great cultural headliners in order to get more quickly to the high-end shops usually disappoints. Well, it disappoints some people. In the great Parisian department stores, they doubtless think this is splendid.
Also something of a trial are apparent Chinese exactions. According to the Burgundy survey, one mustn't – when dealing with Chinese people – gesticulate, talk with the hands, be late or get annoyed. Pointing at a Chinese visitor may also be considered aggressive.
'Not all Chinese have mastered common international courtesies,' said a Med coast hotelier – who preferred anonymity because, despite the comment, he wants Chinese customers. Other Chinese visitors may, though, be very respectful of hierarchies. Bernard Legal of the Château de Chantore in Brittany says: 'Our Chinese guests always ask who owns the château – and never believe that they are welcomed, and served, by the owners.' And, when out and about, Chinese people like to eat Chinese food. 'They invariably ask where the best Chinese restaurants are,' said Caterina Prochilo at the Nice tourism office.
According to the Greeks?
Ever since Chinese company Cosco bought a major chunk of Piraeus port, Greeks will often be heard muttering: 'They're taking over our country…' One Santorini resident moaned that 'they clog up the streets and take selfies from the roofs of our houses'.
On the popular island of Mykonos, however, Maria, who owns a clothes boutique in the whitewashed streets of Chora, said she loved them. 'They're wonderful because they spend so much money,' she enthused.
According to the Spanish?
The Chinese are welcomed for their spending power and discretion, generally keeping themselves to themselves without too much hullabaloo. The concierge in one smart hotel talked about their fondness for designer labels and luxury brands, before also adding the caveat that some colleagues had found them at least as demanding as Americans, becoming impatient if their every demand wasn't instantaneously met.
According to Italians
Italy has become one of the most popular destinations for Chinese tourists. Attracted by its romantic lure and luxury shopping, the country holds huge appeal for the new upper-middle classes, with their recently-gained purchasing power. In Milan's Quadrilatero d'Oro (the designer shopping district), the Chinese are the biggest spenders. But this doesn't endear them to the majority of Italians, and as a whole, they are not popular. They often travel in large groups armed with selfie sticks with which they document each minute of their journey, no matter who gets in the way or how inappropriate the situation – 'even crawling between people's legs' in the Uffizi gallery, according to one guide.
Australian tourists
'They spend all their time on their phones'
According to the French?
Welcomed pretty much everywhere for their boundless, base-level enthusiasm, the Aussies are particularly esteemed in northern France, where they so distinguished themselves in the First World War. That memory scarcely fades at all – and certainly not in the Pas-de-Calais where, for instance, in and around Bullecourt, the Diggers fought ferociously through April and May of 1917. The village has memorials to the 10,000 Aussie casualties, a Rue d'Australie, a Café de Canberra and a cracking little 1917 museum where the owners Harmony and Alexandre reckon their Australian visitors are particularly friendly and outgoing.
'We long ago lost count of the number of photos taken or hugs received.' they say. The Aussies also prove terrifically generous – in both buying items from the museum shop and leaving donations.
According to the Greeks?
Another country with a huge Greek population (according to the 2021 census, 1.7 per cent of its inhabitants hail from Greece), Australians are warmly welcomed, even though most Greeks have difficulty understanding that twanging Aussie accent. 'Australians are a bit like us Greeks – their 'mateship' makes me think of the way we Greeks are so close with our own parea (group of friends),' one Athenian told me.
According to the Spanish?
Only narrowly beaten to the bottom of the list by the Americans and the British, the Australians are similarly singled out when it comes to generally uncouth and disrespectful behaviour. One Barcelona tour guide told me: 'Australians act like our cathedral is a nightclub, not a place of prayer', before going on to include in their list of gripes that 'they spend all their time on their phones and don't seem interested in our culture at all'.
According to the Italians?
Everybody loves the Australians. Well, nearly everybody. They, in turn, love Italy and are generous in their enthusiasm for everything Italian. Well, after 24 hours plus on a plane, you would be too, right? Having made the effort – and spent a considerable amount of money – to get here, they tend to embrace everything they find with gusto and throw themselves into local life.
On the downside, their enthusiasm can go too far: in August 2022, a couple of Aussies were caught surfing along the Grand Canal in Venice and another decided to ride his moped round the ancient site of Pompeii. But that seems to be the exception to the rule, and they are generally seen in a positive light.
American tourists
'They exhibit a great capacity for amazement'
According to the French?
A recent video, produced with the support of the Nouvelle Aquitaine region, tested Americans' knowledge of Bordeaux via a US street vox pop. 'Bordeaux?' answered a young woman, 'You mean, as in Brigitte Bordeaux?' Once in France, though, folk from the US become brighter. They are highly prized for keenness and a thirst for culture. Marie-Cécile Ruault-Marmande of the National Museum of Pre-History in the Dordogne says: 'Even after two hours, they remain enthusiastic, and eager for more. They appreciate very detailed explanations, exhibiting a great capacity for amazement.'
US exuberance is noted throughout France. 'They always smile and seem happy to be alive,' says Elena Murtas of Aups Tourisme in Provence. There are caveats. Americans apparently remain reticent about all that French cheek-kissing. They need air con, and don't need the offal and squidgy items which the French quite often put on dinner plates.
And, says Bernard Legal of the Château de Chantore, their eco-consciousness needs work. 'They never turn out lights, and travel with huge cases.' That said, they're favourites around the château because they are 'kind, respectful and very open in their appreciation'.
According to the Greeks?
Lauded for their largesse when it comes to tips, Americans also have strong historical links with Greece – and not only because there are countless US bases here. Faced with extreme post-war poverty, entire Greek villages upped roots to seek a new life in the US. 'The ones who return here on holiday, we call them 'Amerikanakia'. The younger ones often don't even speak Greek, but we welcome them as our own blood,' Mixalis Resnis, who owns a tour company on the island of Karpathos, told me.
According to the Spanish?
'The Americans are almost as bad as the British,' said a tour guide from Seville, citing Americans' lack of respect for local customs and culture, especially when visiting religious sites. They also took the prize when it came to historical and cultural ignorance. An American tourist who asked if Franco was 'still' the King of Spain, was just one cited example. More affluent Americans are nevertheless welcomed for their spending power.
According to the Italians?
'The sort of high-end Americans who stay at the Four Seasons are among my most difficult clients,' one tour guide told me. 'They are self-entitled, rude, demanding and will keep you waiting for hours.' They also expect things to work the way they do back home, and have little understanding of – or tolerance for – the quirks and intricacies of the Italian system, it was said. But another guide heaped praise on Americans in general for being ' bravissimi clienti ', appreciative of everything that is Italian, from food and wine to culture. 'And they know how to tip,' they added. 'They even tip when it's not appropriate.'
French tourists
'Why do they moan all the time?'
According to the Greeks?
'Ah, the French. So romantic! But why do they moan all the time?' This was one response I received, along with a few variations ('Why are they so stressed all the time?'; 'Why do they pretend they can't speak English?') when I canvassed half a dozen Cretans in my local kafeneion. 'The French just complain about everything – we Cretans are laid-back, so we find it bizarre,' a hotel owner told me. 'Mind you, we prefer them to the Germans, because at least they smile and say ' bonjour ' to everyone.'
According to the Spanish?
When it comes to dividing the crowd, it's the French who take the prize. Most people consider them way more civilised than the British. 'They don't lie on the beach till they go red,' one hotelier told me, 'nor get blind drunk'. But while many see them as well-educated and polite, almost as many found them arrogant and fussy.
According to the Italians?
Generally well-dressed they may be, but other comments made about the French aren't so flattering: inscrutable, intolerant, arrogant, superior, especially when it comes to food, wine and their language. The mere suggestion to a Frenchman that his national cuisine originated in Florence at the court of Caterina de' Medici is likely to be given very short shrift. 'They rarely demonstrate genuine enthusiasm for anything and often seem downright ungrateful,' lamented a tour guide. 'The French are just… French,' said one restaurateur, 'but at least they speak some English now, so communication is easier.'