Japanese tops as tourists
06/27/2008 @ 12:00 pm
A recent survey by online travel company Expedia.com reveals that Japanese tourists are ranked best overall by hoteliers. The Japanese were followed by the Germans and Britons who were tied for second place, followed by the Canadians and Swiss.
The survey ranked American tourists as the most generous, followed by Canadians and Russians, while the French, British and Dutch were the most “fiscally conservative.”
Britons, Italians and Americans were considered noisy, while the French and Germans were among the messiest hotel guests.
Americans were at the bottom of the list when it came to fashion sense, with Italians and French voted tops.
And who said stereotypes are are invalid?
Thanks to remora.
I have chime in. I used to work in a San Francisco tourist restaurant. The info is dated, but:
French - Sometimes friendly, usually filled with complaints accompanied by sullen scowls. Not eager to try local wine or food, except to complain about it.
Italians - Usually friendly, usually filled with complaints followed by laughter
Germans- Not much fun, but always eager to try local wine and food, and very open minded about it.
Brits - Generally friendlier, and prefer to order things that they could commonly drink or eat in the UK. (I know the food culture has improved, so maybe so have the tourists)
Canadians- What’s the difference between a canoe and a canadian? Canoes tip!
Japanese - Incredibly easy groups, since everybody would order the same thing. They rarely complain, because they rarely speak English.
Americans - Would make it a point not to order a dish that anyone else has. Also, tend to order personal modifications, such as an alternate sauce, or dressing on the side (try that with a cesar salad).
Dutch - Not just cheap, but proud of it.
So far as Americans being noisy, I’d like to see a comparison with Brazilians and Chinese. Americans often don’t know how to modulate their speech, but the Chinese will tend towards broadcast mode all the time.
June 27th, 2008 at 12:48 pmI’m just about to go into a meeting - but I’ll say this quickly - my favourite is a hybrid.
Japanese Americans..they are confident and personable and attentive to local customs.
*back later*
remora
June 27th, 2008 at 12:59 pmIn defense of Canadians, most of us DO tip. For the ones who don’t, well, have you seen the average Canadian paystub? A lot of folks are lucky to eat at all. It’s also not the public’s fault that the service industry in many countries pay their staff next to nothing. Why do I have to pay extra for eating bad food on dirty dishes? I know servers have it rough, but it’s not my fault they are underpaid and over-worked. And yes, I’ve worked in service before.
June 27th, 2008 at 1:46 pmIn Holland there was a poll like this a while ago where it said that Americans and Chinese are the most annoying and rude tourists. And I’ve seen my share…
June 27th, 2008 at 2:13 pmYes, what is this tips business? Do even most countries in the world tip? I would say very few consider tips compulsory, and certainly even a tip for very good service would only be considered normal in a restaurant. Japan doesn’t tip, Australia doesn’t tip, so why expect it?
I used to watch Seinfeld in puzzlement when they discussed tipping the cleaning staff, valets, doormen, like about ten different people when you stay at a hotel. That is crazy, really objectively crazy. You need your wallet out all day. If it’s so compulsory they should just add ten percent to the hotel bill and call it a day. Oh, and maybe pay people a living wage.
June 27th, 2008 at 3:41 pmwell..where it crossed my radar Papigiulio was on Xinhua today.. so maybe the times they are a-changin and as the volume of Chinese Tourists heading overseas rises maybe the fat-controllers in Beijing are sending a subtle “message to the masses”…such as pick up your litter,don’t spit,a queue is line of people one-in-front-of-the-other,buy a phrasebook and use it,stop yelling,masticating food in public (whilst yelling)is a bit déclassé and stop dropping your cigarette butts and gum everywhere and finally flush the toilet thats what the button is for..in other words join the jet-set.
rem.
June 27th, 2008 at 6:42 pmbut that won’t stop New York from getting excited about the imminent tsunami of Chinese tourists.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/24/nyregion/24chinese.html?pagewanted=print
and my pick of worst of the rest? - well naturally the French and sadly to say my own countrymen the Brits.
remora
June 27th, 2008 at 7:22 pmLet’s not forget the Korean tourists. Even the Chinese complain about them…
June 27th, 2008 at 7:56 pmMy friends who’ve worked the Japanese customer service desk at the Honolulu Hilton and other hotels and resorts in the Hawaiian Isles claim that Japanese tourists complain constantly. Most of those were the ones who paid at the lowest rate, wanting the perks of those who paid for the most expensive rooms. The comment earlier that Japanese tend not to complain because they tend not to speak English certainly rings true. The staff at these hotel service desks were second and third generation Japanese Americans, all speaking the language of their ancestors fluently. These poor staff usually burned out quickly and moved on to other jobs.
June 27th, 2008 at 8:46 pm1. ghoti - you are correct and they are very quick to differentiate themselves from Japanese and Honkereze.
2. Hawaii-ken?..Mike?..my other half did it pretty much as you so accurately described it - imperious and fault finding at all times - day and nite.
(She will have her Way)
remora
June 27th, 2008 at 11:57 pmphauna, when in Rome, do as the Romans do. When you go to a foreign country it’s your responsibility to at least try to adhere to the local customs, even if they’re stupid. I’m sure everyone here would be aghast if some silly American went to Japan or someplace and blatantly disregarded the native practices there.
On a different note, I’m surprised at Germans being considered the messiest guests. I’ve had the complete opposite experience.
June 28th, 2008 at 1:26 amof course japanese are seen as the best tourists in europe. have you ever seen a japanese tour group in europe? no one ever travels alone or strays from the bus, tour guide, or pre-arranged travel plans. they pay to have entire buildings cordoned off for a full day so that they can visit them without knowing that there might be foreigners in the foreign county they are visiting. they then proceed to leave after completing a 45 minute tour after having reserved the entire building to themselves for the entire day.
they don’t ever seem to take pictures of any kind other than themselves on the tour bus, or non-descript buildings, or the ground. (this as opposed to italians who take pictures of everything, even the copyrighted rooms and priceless paintings, at least until the german guid start screaming and forces one of them to delete all the pictures on their camera under threat of a lawsuit.) as if they want to remember their trip by what the inside of their hotel room looked like.
they never seem to go out at night or do anything interesting. as i was visiting my elder sister we visited a number of bars; some with mainly locals, some with americans, others with most nationalities, but one thing we never found was the elusive watering hole of the japanese. you never saw them at any local markets or festivals, chatting with locals, trying out the legal weed or local alcohol, or going to rock concerts. apparently the only reason they came was to visit museums and view the old stuff in person rather than online.
in addition the japanese tourist i observed always stayed at the most outrageously priced international hotel chains, dined at japanese restaurants, and only talked with their japanese or japanese speaking tour guide.
in short the japanese were the perfect model of what countries/cities/etc. want when they decide to cater to tourists. people who come in tour groups, only go to approved tourist sites, only stay at the most expensive hotels, only eat at the most overpriced restaurants catered to tourists who don’t want to eat what locals eat, only interact with approved locals at the tourist sites, restaurants, or hotels; hold themselves to a higher moral standard than the people of the country/city, and leave after 10 days/6,000 euro/$10,000, and go home convincing themselves they had a good time.
the japanese (as i saw it) traveling philosophy: when in rome act as the japanese do.
June 28th, 2008 at 2:02 amI could be completely off but I get the sense that most Japanese tourists (especially those in organized groups) are old. They don’t want unexpected adventures so much as to obtain the right to state that they have visited Country A and Country B to their neighbors and relatives and distribute a boatload of souvenirs (the acquisition of which consumes a significant amount of otherwise free time on their travels).
June 28th, 2008 at 2:15 amsome were old yes, but I recognized more than a few younger couples in the group as well as a small number of children. of course i couldn’t be sure of their true age, might just be a group of people that age like dorian gray.
maybe i just come from a different school of traveling/vacationing. sure i want to see the cool sights, but i also want to see the “behind the scenes” stuff as well. that way i have interesting stories about my trip rather that just the standard, generic pictures of things everything has already seen and done and experiences that i could have had walking around my hometown.
June 28th, 2008 at 5:45 ameso, that all may have been true years ago, but that’s simply wrong now - except for older tourists mainly.
Have you considered that a busload of tourists is very noticable, while one or two tourists are not?
…and not trying out the local weed is a bad thing? I have spent a fair bit of time in Amsterdam, almost none of it in smoke bars. It still has plenty to offer - just depends on where someone’s interests are.
June 28th, 2008 at 8:38 amI wonder how you could fail to recognise honeymooners esotericlarity..its known as moon-in-Jun Love.
probably the first and last chance they will ever have to explore the merits of civilized sex without doing it in the back seat of a car or without disturbing granny in the next rooms sleep.
*cut some slack eso*
remora
June 28th, 2008 at 11:06 am