Greetings from Rome Fiumicino FCO, where I was officially informed today by an Alitalia Customer Service Operator that, and I quote... "In this airport the minimum wait for baggage is 45 minutes". It appears the average is even more, like 1 hour and in my case 1 hour, 20 minutes, so beware when checking in luggage for a flight to Rome!
Italian Aviation overall these days has gone beyond decline to Mental Meltdown! To start Volareweb collapsed recently and Alitalia has been on the brink of ceasing operations for years and the current National outfit is merely the bare bones of its former self. What's worse is that Air One the only viable alternative is part of the same operating group called CAI and the service is actually no better. To add insult to injury, the poor travelling Italians have to suffer a vastly reduced time-table created to further cut costs and for many its wholly inadequate.
Ryanair and the "Budget Boys" are filling the void, but only by hand picking routes and not always calling to the principle airports on cost grounds, so one ends up in Bergamo instead of Milan for example.
Italy is full of tatty airports, worse for wear and operated with the inefficiency that gives one an unpleasant arrival (delayed baggage with often contempt for the traveller) in addition to a bitter farewell, a lasting effect that impacts negatively on Tourism.
This is a crying shame for a country that hosts some of the worlds most attractive cities, arguably the planets best cuisine and the globes most creative and fashionable design culture. Its even harder to get my head around this negative concept when I personally know so many intelligent, articulate and visionary people in Italy. After all, Rome once dominated all global power on our planet!
Tracing the root cause of the Italian Aviation fiasco is not actually too difficult when one makes a little investigation, although as everything in Italy its a little complex, emotional and multi-faceted. Firstly, there is a problem with Politics hence direction, which has been the case for decades. It appears there are too many political parties and to gain power the formation of a dodgy coalition is necessary to run the country. Italian Politics has shown that when Media merges with Public life all that remains is a mess.
In conclusion there is no bright horizon for the Italian Aviation Industry in the current form and genuine outside investment is unlikely due to the over-regulation, over-taxing and over-control that any new prospective sane Company does not want to enter into.
I would like to close this article on a positive note however, by stressing the success of one significant player in the field of Tourism. Costa Crociere now successfully operates 14 mega cruise ships and despite the recession they are performing well in a challenging climate. Costa is part of the Carnival Group, however they are very much Italian, with Italian flagged ships, Italian Officers and an Italian Corporate structure for their worldwide operations. The organization, training, quality, reliability, value for money and consistency of the product is simply outstanding and as the only true Italian branded Cruise Line they are a shining example of what is possible in Italy, despite the evident complications of the country. Well done to Costa, if only they operated flights!
Enjoy the cruise of life!
Grant Holmes
Editor
Perpetual Traveller
Showing posts with label Best of PT. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Best of PT. Show all posts
Monday, September 21, 2009
Saturday, September 19, 2009
How to make a professional travel Complaint
For the past 25 years I have been training people working for Companies in the Tourism Industry and Service Sector how to "Handle Complaints" professionally. Now it is high time I shared this knowledge directly with the consumer and proceed further to create a revolutionary code of conduct for "Making a Complaint", which is comprises to form the essence of this article.
KNOW WHO YOUR DEALING WITH
First and foremost its important to recognise that for most instances for the Tourism Industry and Service Sector, when you reach the point of actually making a complaint you are only dealing with a front line representative of the Company. Subsequently you should not at any juncture become angry, hot headed, rude or nasty, as the person on the receiving end is merely a messenger. Moreover, the anger of losing your cool is an expression of helplessness or put simply loss of control, so it most likely will not support your claim. Moreover, you should communicate in a polite, open, assertive, direct and confident manner, which is the right mode to focus on solutions.
With that said, you are now ready to follow your own strategy of making a complaint. This is particularly useful when the Complaint Handler is not professionally handling the complaint. It also balances the control.
1. ATTENTION
Decide to whom you are going to lodge your complaint to and then get their attention. As earlier indicated do not shout or make a scene. If you have a public debate you will put the complaint handler on the defensive and they will be less likely to give you personally any real concessions, because everyone else listening will want the same treatment.
Therefore, quietly approach your target person and ask to speak to them in confidence or alone and do it courteously.
2. DESCRIBE
Once you have gained the individual attention, you need to concisely describe the nature of your complaint. Do this in the following structured way...
A) DETAILS
Give the small details such as dates, your name, room/cabin/flight number, booking reference etc. You can even write these down or print them to save valuable conversational time.
Unprofessional and busy service operators can forget your details, so your problem will not get solved and you will have to make it all over again. When you spell out the details it eliminates this risk and you stay in the conscience of those that may be able to solve your problem.
B) FACTS
Its always best to state the facts first in sequence of your story. At this stage do not get personal. In particular seek any facts that strongly support your complaint and demonstrate that you are right conclusively.
C) EMOTIONS
Once you have conveyed the facts, you need to transmit how your complaint, problem, situation or challenge makes you feel. Do not overdo it and be sincere.
3. SUMMARIZE
Once you have completed points 1 & 2, it will help your case if you are able to concisely summarize all the key issues of the complete in short simple power messages.
4. EXPECTATIONS
To finish your initial speech, you need to close from a proactive perspective by stating what you expect the Complaint Handler to do or what outcome you would like to see. Be realistic and assertive when making your expectation clear. This stage helps the Complaint Handler understand and focus on what you actually want, which orientates the conversations. Sometimes this is an easy fix as much is assumed, often the worst.
4. NEGOTIATION
When you the person making the complaint using the above process have finished, the person Handling your Complaint will have all the information needed to hand and will likely go straight to seeking a compromise or to solve your issue, as you have done all the work for them. This will be done with your expectations in mind too!
When you receive a proposal of what they intend to do, analyse it and if you are happy enough accept and move on. In the event you are not satisfied, then then make a counter proposal and refer back to the expectations you repeated earlier. At this time you may need to use the "Broken Record" technique by repeating your expectations in precisely the same way. Remember that all the time you are not satisfied keep repeating your expectation.
5. ESCALATE
This stage is only relevant to complaints that were not solved in points 1 - 4. Some situations may hit the point whereby the person making the complaint is repeating the expectation (sometimes unrealistic if it gets this far) and the Complant Handler is repeating the same solution claiming this is the only avenue open. When this happens do not waste more time and ask to speak with the Manager. When you speak with the Manager repeat stages 1 - 4.
6. REPORT
In the rare case whereby the Manager / Director or Chief cannot resolve your issue to your satisfaction, then ask to lodge an official complaint. Request a copy of any complaint form (often disguised as a customer service feedback form) that may be used. Then when you return home write to the Corporate Company (stages 1 - 4) and copy the complaint report.
7. THANK YOU
Whether you succeed the solve the complaint or not make it your business to thank the person(s) that handled (or attempted to) your complaint for their time. At all times portray the persona that you are the ideal future customer, which will stimulate a better response in the majority of cases.
So there you go, now you are armed with knowledge that is rarely communicated in the public domain concerning how to make a complaint. In the capacity of Perpetual Traveller Editor I would love to hear your complaints and experiences as we need to collectively share information and expose Tourism related Companies that take advantage of Tourists and Travellers. I look forward to hearing from you.
Grant Holmes
Editor
Perpetual Traveller
KNOW WHO YOUR DEALING WITH
First and foremost its important to recognise that for most instances for the Tourism Industry and Service Sector, when you reach the point of actually making a complaint you are only dealing with a front line representative of the Company. Subsequently you should not at any juncture become angry, hot headed, rude or nasty, as the person on the receiving end is merely a messenger. Moreover, the anger of losing your cool is an expression of helplessness or put simply loss of control, so it most likely will not support your claim. Moreover, you should communicate in a polite, open, assertive, direct and confident manner, which is the right mode to focus on solutions.
Quality Companies provide training on how to handle complaints, so its always useful to understand how this works. In fact you should respect this, as its the hallmark of a quality Company, which serves your interest. In essence all Companies train similar concepts, which boil down to certain stages of handling the complaint. Some are better than others, click How to handle a Complaint?
Assuming you have read and understood how a professional Company should handle your complaint, you are now ready to focus on your performance with a complaint strategy.
With that said, you are now ready to follow your own strategy of making a complaint. This is particularly useful when the Complaint Handler is not professionally handling the complaint. It also balances the control.
1. ATTENTION
Decide to whom you are going to lodge your complaint to and then get their attention. As earlier indicated do not shout or make a scene. If you have a public debate you will put the complaint handler on the defensive and they will be less likely to give you personally any real concessions, because everyone else listening will want the same treatment.
Therefore, quietly approach your target person and ask to speak to them in confidence or alone and do it courteously.
2. DESCRIBE
Once you have gained the individual attention, you need to concisely describe the nature of your complaint. Do this in the following structured way...
A) DETAILS
Give the small details such as dates, your name, room/cabin/flight number, booking reference etc. You can even write these down or print them to save valuable conversational time.
Unprofessional and busy service operators can forget your details, so your problem will not get solved and you will have to make it all over again. When you spell out the details it eliminates this risk and you stay in the conscience of those that may be able to solve your problem.
B) FACTS
Its always best to state the facts first in sequence of your story. At this stage do not get personal. In particular seek any facts that strongly support your complaint and demonstrate that you are right conclusively.
C) EMOTIONS
Once you have conveyed the facts, you need to transmit how your complaint, problem, situation or challenge makes you feel. Do not overdo it and be sincere.
3. SUMMARIZE
Once you have completed points 1 & 2, it will help your case if you are able to concisely summarize all the key issues of the complete in short simple power messages.
4. EXPECTATIONS
To finish your initial speech, you need to close from a proactive perspective by stating what you expect the Complaint Handler to do or what outcome you would like to see. Be realistic and assertive when making your expectation clear. This stage helps the Complaint Handler understand and focus on what you actually want, which orientates the conversations. Sometimes this is an easy fix as much is assumed, often the worst.
4. NEGOTIATION
When you the person making the complaint using the above process have finished, the person Handling your Complaint will have all the information needed to hand and will likely go straight to seeking a compromise or to solve your issue, as you have done all the work for them. This will be done with your expectations in mind too!
When you receive a proposal of what they intend to do, analyse it and if you are happy enough accept and move on. In the event you are not satisfied, then then make a counter proposal and refer back to the expectations you repeated earlier. At this time you may need to use the "Broken Record" technique by repeating your expectations in precisely the same way. Remember that all the time you are not satisfied keep repeating your expectation.
5. ESCALATE
This stage is only relevant to complaints that were not solved in points 1 - 4. Some situations may hit the point whereby the person making the complaint is repeating the expectation (sometimes unrealistic if it gets this far) and the Complant Handler is repeating the same solution claiming this is the only avenue open. When this happens do not waste more time and ask to speak with the Manager. When you speak with the Manager repeat stages 1 - 4.
6. REPORT
In the rare case whereby the Manager / Director or Chief cannot resolve your issue to your satisfaction, then ask to lodge an official complaint. Request a copy of any complaint form (often disguised as a customer service feedback form) that may be used. Then when you return home write to the Corporate Company (stages 1 - 4) and copy the complaint report.
7. THANK YOU
Whether you succeed the solve the complaint or not make it your business to thank the person(s) that handled (or attempted to) your complaint for their time. At all times portray the persona that you are the ideal future customer, which will stimulate a better response in the majority of cases.
So there you go, now you are armed with knowledge that is rarely communicated in the public domain concerning how to make a complaint. In the capacity of Perpetual Traveller Editor I would love to hear your complaints and experiences as we need to collectively share information and expose Tourism related Companies that take advantage of Tourists and Travellers. I look forward to hearing from you.
Grant Holmes
Editor
Perpetual Traveller
How to handle a Complaint
Below is a fascinating summary of the standard process that is rarely mentioned in the public domain of how to handle a complaint...
1. LISTEN
If they do not listen to you, it demonstrates a lack of training, so you should immediately and kindly request that they take more care to listen to you as a common courtesy. Some staff just need a reminder.
2. EMPATHIZE
Here the person receiving the complaint is supposed to show empathy, which means to demonstrate an understanding of your complaint, circumstance or situation. All too often service people get this part wrong and proceed to explain coldly, quote policy or attempt an early conclusion thus skipping empathy. This usually puts the conversation on a track to failure.
At this stage, make sure that you are listened to properly and if this is not the case be sure to highlight it.
3. CONFIRM
At this juncture that Complaint Handler should confirm to you what they have understood about your complaint, circumstance or situation. This may be followed by a series of open questions to find out more information followed by some potential closed questions to confirm key points.
Once again all too often people in service positions bypass this stage. If it happens to you, simply request that they confirm their understanding of your complaint before proceeding.
4. ACTION
Despite what some feel and portray as a confusing situation, in the grand scheme of things there are only 3 action options on the table as follows...
A) SOLVE
Here an attempt is made to actually solve the problem. For example if you did not receive a Non smoking room them give you one or if you do not like your steak it is changed for you etc. Often a mere explanation is suffice, especially if new or unknown information is brought to light. If your problem cannot be solved practically without lasting harm then the action will turn to one of the below (A or B).
B) COMPENSATE
In the event your issue cannot be solved or harm caused cannot be easily rectified, then you may well be entitled to compensation. This could come in the form of a refund (part or full), settlement amount or a 'Sweetner' (wine, flowers, voucher etc). The 'Sweetner' is sometimes given even if they do not agree with you, as its determined that you are a desirable customer and may return, so this serves as a form of motivation. This is yet another reason to stay composed and be nice!
C) REPORT
If the person dealing with your claim or the Company rules disagree with your viewpoint, then they may "agree to disagree" in which case a complaint form or report needs to be filled in. This can also occur if the person dealing with you has insufficient power to authorise or arrange points A or B, so you will need to claim later.
5. FOLLOW UP
Professional Companies always follow up, however from my experience there are not so many around these days. This is partly due to the automation of service in the 21st Century and/or the mass market arrangements of Tourism today, which is certainly cheaper, however not so satisfying or personalised.
Follow up really makes the difference and can stimulate a customer to return. Follow up can occur in a simple phone call, letter, email, message or better still by utilising the personal touch.
CONCLUSIONS
There are of course variations to the above, however they all follow a common thread and the differences are generally just wording, expressions or to a lesser extent extra invented stages.
Friday, August 28, 2009
London Taxis Voted World’s Best
Every Perpetual Traveller quintessentially knows that Taxis represent a vital means of flexible add-hoc transportation, especially so in Mega cities, for getting from A to B in addition to being an option for that all important transfer from the arrival airport to the Hotel (return trip of course).
The statistics speak for themselves, as approximately on average 65% of all travellers actually take a Taxi ride. Moreover, Taxi drivers play a key role in within the wider context of the overall Tourism service of a destination too, that should not be overlooked or underestimated. They can often prove to be ones first and last point of contact, when in a strange or new country and they have the capacity to leave an everlasting effect either (good or bad).
I have personally experienced both sides of the coin here and feel that Tourism Authorities should generally regulate the Taxi service, as some regions of the world offer a pretty poor unmonitored service. The challenge is that Taxi Unions can often be powerful (especially in the Caribbean for example) and regulation may be politically challenging, which is why there is a mess in some places of the world. Taxis may be well versed in road maps, but what about Etiquette, manners, dress code and Language skills for that matter?
Following a recent survey conducted by Hotel.com results suggest that good old London Cabbies made it to the Top Spot! European travel Voters considered London Taxis as the friendliest, safest, cleanest and most available. They also had the best knowledge of their city! It is said to take the average London Taxi applicant 4 years to learn the knowledge of the area and the testing is incredibly difficult. Having said this, on the dark side, London Taxis were also considered the most expensive, so in the end you pay for what you get!
Paris Taxis were considered the rudest, while Athens had the dirtiest Taxis and New York had the worst Cab drivers, who also had poor knowledge of their area.
Other destinations that scored well concerning individual criteria as follows:
- Bangkok and Hong Kong scoring highly on value
- Berlin and Edinburgh based on quality of driving
- Dublin raced up the ranking for friendliness
- Berlin entered the top five for safety
- Las Vegas scored highly for availability of Taxis
THE TOP TEN
1 London
2 New York
3 Madrid
4 Paris
5 Barcelona
6 Berlin
7 Dubai
8 Edinburgh
9 Las Vegas
10 Sydney
At the other end of the scale, in the individual categories it was Santiago de Chile that claimed the bottom spot for value, knowledge of the area, safety and availability, whilst Mexico City came bottom for cleanliness, Marrakech for quality of driving and Moscow for friendliness. Other countries that didn’t fair so well were Rio de Janeiro (0.57%), Moscow (0.49%), Cape Town (0.49%), Shanghai (0.47%) and Santiago de Chile (0.24%).
Voters were also given the opportunity to submit any stories about Taxi Journeys they had taken some of the stories highlights include:
- A Taxi driver in Granada, Spain, who could not find the passengers destination charged them no fare and entertained them with local songs en route!
Enjoy the ride!
The statistics speak for themselves, as approximately on average 65% of all travellers actually take a Taxi ride. Moreover, Taxi drivers play a key role in within the wider context of the overall Tourism service of a destination too, that should not be overlooked or underestimated. They can often prove to be ones first and last point of contact, when in a strange or new country and they have the capacity to leave an everlasting effect either (good or bad).
I have personally experienced both sides of the coin here and feel that Tourism Authorities should generally regulate the Taxi service, as some regions of the world offer a pretty poor unmonitored service. The challenge is that Taxi Unions can often be powerful (especially in the Caribbean for example) and regulation may be politically challenging, which is why there is a mess in some places of the world. Taxis may be well versed in road maps, but what about Etiquette, manners, dress code and Language skills for that matter?
Following a recent survey conducted by Hotel.com results suggest that good old London Cabbies made it to the Top Spot! European travel Voters considered London Taxis as the friendliest, safest, cleanest and most available. They also had the best knowledge of their city! It is said to take the average London Taxi applicant 4 years to learn the knowledge of the area and the testing is incredibly difficult. Having said this, on the dark side, London Taxis were also considered the most expensive, so in the end you pay for what you get!
Paris Taxis were considered the rudest, while Athens had the dirtiest Taxis and New York had the worst Cab drivers, who also had poor knowledge of their area.
Other destinations that scored well concerning individual criteria as follows:
- Bangkok and Hong Kong scoring highly on value
- Berlin and Edinburgh based on quality of driving
- Dublin raced up the ranking for friendliness
- Berlin entered the top five for safety
- Las Vegas scored highly for availability of Taxis
THE TOP TEN
1 London
2 New York
3 Madrid
4 Paris
5 Barcelona
6 Berlin
7 Dubai
8 Edinburgh
9 Las Vegas
10 Sydney
At the other end of the scale, in the individual categories it was Santiago de Chile that claimed the bottom spot for value, knowledge of the area, safety and availability, whilst Mexico City came bottom for cleanliness, Marrakech for quality of driving and Moscow for friendliness. Other countries that didn’t fair so well were Rio de Janeiro (0.57%), Moscow (0.49%), Cape Town (0.49%), Shanghai (0.47%) and Santiago de Chile (0.24%).
Voters were also given the opportunity to submit any stories about Taxi Journeys they had taken some of the stories highlights include:
- A Taxi driver in Granada, Spain, who could not find the passengers destination charged them no fare and entertained them with local songs en route!
- Taxi drivers in Tokyo wear white gloves and stop the meter if they take a wrong turn.
- A Taxi driver in Tokyo returned his passengers Guitar to their hotel after it had been left in the back of the Taxi.
- Taxi drivers getting into physical fights with other drivers or pedestrians during a fare.
- A Cypriot taxi driver involved in a high speed police chase.
Enjoy the ride!
Sharon Mckinley
Publisher
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Navigating through Airport Security
The concept of this article was born towards the end of my recent marathon journey vacation, which ended as we arrived to London Heathrow to see a rather disturbing sign posted just prior to the Immigration check with these unwelcoming words...
"Tougher checks take longer"
My instant reaction was to say to myself "Only in a disorganized system with insufficient trained staff and advanced equipment to manage". Besides most travellers never asked for the extra checks and many believe that a more intelligent approach could be adopted, which would avoid every senior citizen and child being over processed. Moreover there are other less intrusive ways to counter the liquid threat.
The above statement sums up the curse of travelling today, which treats civilized decent people like cattle and empowers often low-paid Security staff to control and check us like convicted criminals. Security staff are notoriously rude in many airports across the world and the whole experience is a huge inconvenience apart from being unpleasant.
The sad reality, is that there is no way to completely turn this around as a mere traveller, however there are a number of measures you can take to minimize the inconvenience and emotional damage. This article gives you a few pointers…
DON'T STAND OUT
Immigration, Customs and Security all treat anything out of the ordinary as suspicious, so as an otherwise innocent traveller, make sure you do not wear or do anything that attracts unwarranted attention, or else it could increase your inconvenience risk factor, meaning you could be searched or questioned, often seemingly from the standpoint that you are guilty until you prove innocence.
Here are some classic mistakes that people make...
(1) EYE CONTACT
Never wear sunglasses within the confines of the airport or especially when coming into contact with officials of any creed. Open eye contact on first impact is important to create the right impression of openness, so if you wear sunglasses regardless of what the weather is like outside and even if the airport is primarily a glass structure, it will only serve to indicate that you may potentially want to hide something.
On the topic of eye contact when passing through customs do not make direct eye to eye contact with officials and do not look away either. Instead focus your vision on the exit or way out. For Security officials take the same stance as for customs and focus on the pathway to the exit. For Immigration officials maintain eye contact when they are checking your passport, but of course do not stare. Similarly at the check-in maintain eye contact too and follow the directions indicated in the conversation section below.
In general when walking around zones where officials frequent, maintain your vision upwards above head height, but not to the sky. Avoid looking down and looking around too much unless it’s at indication signs or flight listing screens.
(2) WALKING
When walking in the monitored zones of potential Immigration, Customs or Security checks, it is strongly advisable to never walk too quickly or for that matter too slowly either. Reason being that irregular walking activity will be considered as unusual, meaning that you will be targeted for further questioning. It happened to me once! I arrived to Miami from Venezuela and urgently had to collect my luggage, pick up a car and drive to Orlando (4 hours away) for a meeting. Mindful of the fact there are generally long queues to pass through US Immigration, I naturally rushed from the plane to the Immigration area. A plain clothed officer stopped me in my tracks and took me aside for questioning. Of course I was innocent, but it took 20 minutes of interrogation style questioning to demonstrate the obvious, which lost my place in the queue and subsequently caused an hour wait at the Immigration, as many flights arrived simultaneously just after mine. I was forced to learn the hard way!
With respect to posture, its best not to bury your head in the ground and look down too much, as it’s like showing you are avoiding something. Try to show reasonably good posture confidence by walking upright without slouching, which shows you are open and not nervous about anything.
(3) CLOTHING
Needless to say, you should not wear anything weird, wacky, offensive or overly colorful that attracts unwarranted attention to yourself. Your clothing should be conservative and leaning towards smart casual, always blending in with the flight you are taking. For example if you are on a business flight to New York and you are dressed like a Japanese Tourist with cameras hanging form your neck or a new age traveller, your percentage risk of being stopped will be far greater than otherwise. In contrast if you purchased a Charter flight from London Gatwick to Orlando with Thomson Fly for example and you are dressed in a suit and tie, again you are likely to be stopped. Many customs officials are already scanning you at the baggage reclaim via cameras or even directly, depending upon the airport.
I once flew to Orlando for a business meeting from London Gatwick dressed in a suit as I had to meet the contact at the airport. Sure enough I was stopped and questioned!
MANAGING CONVERSATIONS
Here its important to know when to speak and when shut up! Generally when dealing with officials its best not to stimulate any kind of conversation, so that you are not subject to unnecessary automatic cold profiling. If an Immigration officer, Customs official or Security guard, asks you a question then answer it honestly, but in as few words as possible. Do not chat or volunteer additional information, as it may open you up to yet more questions. It seems that many officials possess the skill of making one feel like a criminal in their tone of voice and body language, so don’t prolong the agony. Officials have the power to detain you, embarrassingly uncover all your personal possessions for all to see and generally make life difficult depending where you are on the planet, so the less said the better.
At the check-in, it’s a completely different case scenario. Here you need to be chatty! If you would like to get an upgrade or a good seat, your goal is convince the check-in assistant that you are the ideal person to upgrade. As you approach the desk open conversation with a broad smile and ask how are you today? Then comment on what you see. If it’s busy, show empathy for their work etc. Ask key questions like is the plane full? Is it on time? Are there lines at the security? If you get a negative response (note that you should be seeking negatives to demonstrate your empathy) like yes the plane is totally packed, do not moan, show understanding and be extra nice, as your chances of getting to the business seats just increased. Do not be afraid to politely ask; are there any free seats up front? If the plane is delayed, the check-in assistant cannot do anything about it, so be kind, as it may help you gain some emotional leverage if your baggage is just a little overweight or to obtain a seat in the EXIT row.
GETTING THROUGH THE SECURITY DEHUMANISATION PROCESS
Apart form the US Immigration experience whereby all visitors have to leave fingerprints and have their pictures recorded, by far the worst part of traveling through an airport is via the dreaded Security check. Here are some tips to minimize the damage…
1. Wear slip on shoes with no metal buckles or tips.
In the US, UK, Middle East and parts of Asia where you are required to take off your shoes, it will make life easier to slip them on and off. No metal parts on your shoes will avoid the alarm going off, to prevent taking your shoes off in many parts of Europe, where it is not automatically compulsory.
2. Wear a Jacket and keep your personal items there.
Your Jacket can securely store your Mobile, Passport, Wallet, Coins, Watch and other metal items. You can put your Jacket through the X-Ray scanner in a tray with all your items safe in one place. Theft at airports in the Security area is commonplace in some countries, so this is an important counter measure. The deeper your pockets the better, especially those with zips or buttons. My travel Jacket is custom-made for extra Security.
3. Wear comfortable partly elasticized or stretch trousers.
By doing this you avoid wearing a belt, which you would otherwise have to take off and put on again.
4. Prepare in advance your liquids in a see through bag.
You could lose valuable places at the entrance of the Security queue if this bag is not prepared in advance. Write in a marker pen 100ml on all your liquid bottles, to show you know the rule.
5. Use a Laptop cover.
Do not let people see your Laptop! By using a skin cover you protect your Laptop from scratches and it prevents thieves easily seeing what make it is. Apple Mac and Sony Vaio are in greatest demand from opportunist thieves.
In essence your core objective should be to avoid dressing and undressing, the hassle of belts and tying shoelaces, as all your attention should be focused on being vigilant about your personal valuables and avoiding extra inconvenient Security checks.
I do not expect the airport experience to get better any time soon, so I hope the above tops come in useful. When one takes 100 flights a year, such measures take the negative edge of the process.
Travel safe and be prepared.
Grant Holmes
Editor, Perpetual Traveller
"Tougher checks take longer"
My instant reaction was to say to myself "Only in a disorganized system with insufficient trained staff and advanced equipment to manage". Besides most travellers never asked for the extra checks and many believe that a more intelligent approach could be adopted, which would avoid every senior citizen and child being over processed. Moreover there are other less intrusive ways to counter the liquid threat.
The above statement sums up the curse of travelling today, which treats civilized decent people like cattle and empowers often low-paid Security staff to control and check us like convicted criminals. Security staff are notoriously rude in many airports across the world and the whole experience is a huge inconvenience apart from being unpleasant.
The sad reality, is that there is no way to completely turn this around as a mere traveller, however there are a number of measures you can take to minimize the inconvenience and emotional damage. This article gives you a few pointers…
DON'T STAND OUT
Immigration, Customs and Security all treat anything out of the ordinary as suspicious, so as an otherwise innocent traveller, make sure you do not wear or do anything that attracts unwarranted attention, or else it could increase your inconvenience risk factor, meaning you could be searched or questioned, often seemingly from the standpoint that you are guilty until you prove innocence.
Here are some classic mistakes that people make...
(1) EYE CONTACT
Never wear sunglasses within the confines of the airport or especially when coming into contact with officials of any creed. Open eye contact on first impact is important to create the right impression of openness, so if you wear sunglasses regardless of what the weather is like outside and even if the airport is primarily a glass structure, it will only serve to indicate that you may potentially want to hide something.
On the topic of eye contact when passing through customs do not make direct eye to eye contact with officials and do not look away either. Instead focus your vision on the exit or way out. For Security officials take the same stance as for customs and focus on the pathway to the exit. For Immigration officials maintain eye contact when they are checking your passport, but of course do not stare. Similarly at the check-in maintain eye contact too and follow the directions indicated in the conversation section below.
In general when walking around zones where officials frequent, maintain your vision upwards above head height, but not to the sky. Avoid looking down and looking around too much unless it’s at indication signs or flight listing screens.
(2) WALKING
When walking in the monitored zones of potential Immigration, Customs or Security checks, it is strongly advisable to never walk too quickly or for that matter too slowly either. Reason being that irregular walking activity will be considered as unusual, meaning that you will be targeted for further questioning. It happened to me once! I arrived to Miami from Venezuela and urgently had to collect my luggage, pick up a car and drive to Orlando (4 hours away) for a meeting. Mindful of the fact there are generally long queues to pass through US Immigration, I naturally rushed from the plane to the Immigration area. A plain clothed officer stopped me in my tracks and took me aside for questioning. Of course I was innocent, but it took 20 minutes of interrogation style questioning to demonstrate the obvious, which lost my place in the queue and subsequently caused an hour wait at the Immigration, as many flights arrived simultaneously just after mine. I was forced to learn the hard way!
With respect to posture, its best not to bury your head in the ground and look down too much, as it’s like showing you are avoiding something. Try to show reasonably good posture confidence by walking upright without slouching, which shows you are open and not nervous about anything.
(3) CLOTHING
Needless to say, you should not wear anything weird, wacky, offensive or overly colorful that attracts unwarranted attention to yourself. Your clothing should be conservative and leaning towards smart casual, always blending in with the flight you are taking. For example if you are on a business flight to New York and you are dressed like a Japanese Tourist with cameras hanging form your neck or a new age traveller, your percentage risk of being stopped will be far greater than otherwise. In contrast if you purchased a Charter flight from London Gatwick to Orlando with Thomson Fly for example and you are dressed in a suit and tie, again you are likely to be stopped. Many customs officials are already scanning you at the baggage reclaim via cameras or even directly, depending upon the airport.
I once flew to Orlando for a business meeting from London Gatwick dressed in a suit as I had to meet the contact at the airport. Sure enough I was stopped and questioned!
MANAGING CONVERSATIONS
Here its important to know when to speak and when shut up! Generally when dealing with officials its best not to stimulate any kind of conversation, so that you are not subject to unnecessary automatic cold profiling. If an Immigration officer, Customs official or Security guard, asks you a question then answer it honestly, but in as few words as possible. Do not chat or volunteer additional information, as it may open you up to yet more questions. It seems that many officials possess the skill of making one feel like a criminal in their tone of voice and body language, so don’t prolong the agony. Officials have the power to detain you, embarrassingly uncover all your personal possessions for all to see and generally make life difficult depending where you are on the planet, so the less said the better.
At the check-in, it’s a completely different case scenario. Here you need to be chatty! If you would like to get an upgrade or a good seat, your goal is convince the check-in assistant that you are the ideal person to upgrade. As you approach the desk open conversation with a broad smile and ask how are you today? Then comment on what you see. If it’s busy, show empathy for their work etc. Ask key questions like is the plane full? Is it on time? Are there lines at the security? If you get a negative response (note that you should be seeking negatives to demonstrate your empathy) like yes the plane is totally packed, do not moan, show understanding and be extra nice, as your chances of getting to the business seats just increased. Do not be afraid to politely ask; are there any free seats up front? If the plane is delayed, the check-in assistant cannot do anything about it, so be kind, as it may help you gain some emotional leverage if your baggage is just a little overweight or to obtain a seat in the EXIT row.
GETTING THROUGH THE SECURITY DEHUMANISATION PROCESS
Apart form the US Immigration experience whereby all visitors have to leave fingerprints and have their pictures recorded, by far the worst part of traveling through an airport is via the dreaded Security check. Here are some tips to minimize the damage…
1. Wear slip on shoes with no metal buckles or tips.
In the US, UK, Middle East and parts of Asia where you are required to take off your shoes, it will make life easier to slip them on and off. No metal parts on your shoes will avoid the alarm going off, to prevent taking your shoes off in many parts of Europe, where it is not automatically compulsory.
2. Wear a Jacket and keep your personal items there.
Your Jacket can securely store your Mobile, Passport, Wallet, Coins, Watch and other metal items. You can put your Jacket through the X-Ray scanner in a tray with all your items safe in one place. Theft at airports in the Security area is commonplace in some countries, so this is an important counter measure. The deeper your pockets the better, especially those with zips or buttons. My travel Jacket is custom-made for extra Security.
3. Wear comfortable partly elasticized or stretch trousers.
By doing this you avoid wearing a belt, which you would otherwise have to take off and put on again.
4. Prepare in advance your liquids in a see through bag.
You could lose valuable places at the entrance of the Security queue if this bag is not prepared in advance. Write in a marker pen 100ml on all your liquid bottles, to show you know the rule.
5. Use a Laptop cover.
Do not let people see your Laptop! By using a skin cover you protect your Laptop from scratches and it prevents thieves easily seeing what make it is. Apple Mac and Sony Vaio are in greatest demand from opportunist thieves.
In essence your core objective should be to avoid dressing and undressing, the hassle of belts and tying shoelaces, as all your attention should be focused on being vigilant about your personal valuables and avoiding extra inconvenient Security checks.
I do not expect the airport experience to get better any time soon, so I hope the above tops come in useful. When one takes 100 flights a year, such measures take the negative edge of the process.
Travel safe and be prepared.
Grant Holmes
Editor, Perpetual Traveller
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
The shame of mass Tourism
Tourism is the greatest industry on the planet and until the 2008 recession kicked in, world Tourism growth was rising at an approximate rate of 8% year on year. In order to achieve such massive Tourism growth across our planet, the mass market had to be penetrated by essentially Tour Operators, Airlines, Cruise Lines and more to the point Budget mass market operators. Expansion plans in the last two decades have reached historic proportions in most parts of the world, competition became ever greater in the global village and it seemed that every country had a brand, a power message and wanted a piece of the action. Tourism no doubt has fueled economic growth, but there is a dark side too, which is the essence of this article.
Mass Tourism means in reality that not all the people travelling are sufficiently educated on the previously respected customs, etiquette, traditions and expected social behavior of the destinations they are visiting. Some of the behavior and ignorance we see in resorts around the world is staggeringly bad. We have all been there at the Buffet in an All Inclusive termed as "all abusive" or a mega Cruise ship, with all-you-can-eat buffet lunches and dinners with Hamburger and Hot Dog grills, piles of Pizza slices and stainless steel dishes to scoop the food up from. We are living in a world of the 24 hour stuff yourself food culture with an attitude of "I've paid for it so I will eat it!" No wonder obesity is so high in the western world!
What is it with our fellow travellers today? You can always tell the level by the questions asked or the statements made. Here are some classic examples...
- In a Hotel Lobby at check-in "Do these stairs go up or down?"
- At the alternative Hotel grill "I want a veggie burger cooked medium-rare?"
- A common one on cruise ships posed to Crew "Do you live on board?"
- A Cruise Guest complaining in Antarctica "Why is it necessary to stay on the ship?"
- A DJ in an Ibiza night Club announces "The first one to be sick gets a free beer!"
From the couple caught having sex on the beach in Dubai to the Hooligans that travel abroad for European Cup football matches, the situation is only getting worse.
What's more interesting is that people in the business are starting to categorize tourists. Here are the 5 core types on mass tourists...
1. THE ABSOLUTELY STUPID TOURIST
From the all-inclusive resort culture around the world to the rising mass popularity of cruising, it is unlikely that you will find a more impressive collection of brain donors and dorks anywhere else. Apart from the nauseating buffet line, once these so called Guests set sail, they get rat faced (especially if on an all inclusive plan) and act like drunken yobs. Some of those on Cruise ships even jump overboard and since 1995, there have been more than 100 documented cases.
Then there is the Groups of lads and ladettes in Magaluff Mallorca, San Antoniop Ibiza, Agia Napa Cyprus, Kuta Beach Bali, Faliraki Rhodes and the list goes on. Displays of pointless Party games with alcohol are common, outrageous binge drinking, group singing, vulgar group sex games and generally over the top stupid behavior.
2. THE OUTRAGEOUSLY RUDE VISITOR
Typical examples of these are the vacationers that cut in line, drive like Formula One drivers on a track and whereby the words "please" and "thank you" are simply not in their vocabulary. One city at least has figured out a better way of dealing the unmannered masses. Bars and restaurants in Venice for example have an unwritten law of 3 price lists...
1. One for locals
2. One for polite visitors
3. A third for rude tourists.
So if you're Italian, a croissant and a cappuccino might cost in the realm of 3.50 euros, but if you order in English and impolitely, you can pay up to 7 euros. Of course its more in St Marks!
3. THE OVERLY OBNOXIOUS FRENCH & AMERICANS
Let us be clear and sincere where this is concerned. Having lived personally in America and frequently visited France, I know that there are many decent intelligent people there and most really love their country; these are not the ones that stand out when abroad though! Its the Americans and French that capture attention with their boorish antics that make us cringe. By habit, obnoxious people are loud, demanding, arrogant and insensitive to local culture, customs, traditions and possess no empathy for other people. Interestingly, according to a recent Expedia survey that was published in Newsweek, it discovered that the French, Indian and Chinese tourists were ranked even more obnoxious than Americans, whereas the Japanese were considered the best tourists.
4. THE ABSENT-MINDED VISITOR
These are the ones who get left behind at the gate because they didn't know that they needed a passport for an international trip. They habitually never call to confirm a flight and miss it because it was rescheduled or fail to confirm a Hotel reservation. Such absent mindedness causes them not pay attention to where they parked at Disney World or Epcot for example. I have seen them wandering around the car park after dark, hoping to stumble upon the car they rented, when they cannot even remember the color, let alone the model. We all make mistakes though and certainly there is something about being on the road, away from all things familiar and out of ones element, that turns one into being a little bit dozy or lets be nice and say "not on form". The challenge comes when people try to blame everyone but themselves. We have likely all witnessed tourists accuse their travel agents or cruise line of destroying their vacation, because they were not properly informed about a visa requirement or a key aspect of the holiday. The harsh reality is however, that securing the proper paperwork is solely the buyers responsibility and we should all do some research before travelling.
5. THE YESTERDAY TRAVELLER
This category of people need to get out more frequently and they relate the current reality to yesterdays world. Here we can expect them to call the flight attendant and ask "what is on the in-flight menu?" The answer, unless they are sitting in business or first class, is a staunch glare, followed by orange Juice and peanuts or a pay to eat and drink trolley. The yesterdays world time travellers are either unaware that the airline industry was carelessly deregulated in 1978 or they are in flat denial. Such travellers do not necessarily make themselves look so bad, as much as they illustrate how low Tourism has fallen since a former era. Only the most die hard airline apologist would argue that flying is a better experience today than it was three decades ago. Our yesterday travellers are a constant reminder of the sad airline decline of America and Europe. If you reading this as an optimist, they also help us see what air travel could one day become again with a return to former glory.
Counting the cumulative damage
So how are these tourists damaging Tourism? When an inebriated tourist or wanna rock star trashes a Hotel room, you can cost it into the service. However, when that same person travels ashore in a foreign port and makes all of their countrymen look like xenophobic elitists, it costs us all with a poor perception and in ways that are difficult to quantify, though no less real.
People who make unreasonable demands on the system raise the cost of travel for everyone, because we will all end up paying for the army of lawyers the travel providers must hire to defend themselves from frivolous claims. Also if everyone wants travel to be cheaper and cheaper, it will degrade the travel products available and damage the reputations of the destinations involved. many of you reading will have all heard of the term "poor mans Caribbean" or seen the series Benidorm on TV.
What can we do about it? Not a lot really, apart from avoiding all inclusive resorts and low grade cruise ships whereby the product has been cut to bones. Or perhaps by writing articles like this one and by demanding quality from the travel providers and to encourage countries to demand respect for themselves by better managing unwanted visitors. Lets hope that the current recession gives the travel trade a window of opportunity to reform.
We encourage your views on this article?
Grant Holmes
Editor
Perpetual Traveller
Mass Tourism means in reality that not all the people travelling are sufficiently educated on the previously respected customs, etiquette, traditions and expected social behavior of the destinations they are visiting. Some of the behavior and ignorance we see in resorts around the world is staggeringly bad. We have all been there at the Buffet in an All Inclusive termed as "all abusive" or a mega Cruise ship, with all-you-can-eat buffet lunches and dinners with Hamburger and Hot Dog grills, piles of Pizza slices and stainless steel dishes to scoop the food up from. We are living in a world of the 24 hour stuff yourself food culture with an attitude of "I've paid for it so I will eat it!" No wonder obesity is so high in the western world!
What is it with our fellow travellers today? You can always tell the level by the questions asked or the statements made. Here are some classic examples...
- In a Hotel Lobby at check-in "Do these stairs go up or down?"
- At the alternative Hotel grill "I want a veggie burger cooked medium-rare?"
- A common one on cruise ships posed to Crew "Do you live on board?"
- A Cruise Guest complaining in Antarctica "Why is it necessary to stay on the ship?"
- A DJ in an Ibiza night Club announces "The first one to be sick gets a free beer!"
From the couple caught having sex on the beach in Dubai to the Hooligans that travel abroad for European Cup football matches, the situation is only getting worse.
What's more interesting is that people in the business are starting to categorize tourists. Here are the 5 core types on mass tourists...
1. THE ABSOLUTELY STUPID TOURIST
From the all-inclusive resort culture around the world to the rising mass popularity of cruising, it is unlikely that you will find a more impressive collection of brain donors and dorks anywhere else. Apart from the nauseating buffet line, once these so called Guests set sail, they get rat faced (especially if on an all inclusive plan) and act like drunken yobs. Some of those on Cruise ships even jump overboard and since 1995, there have been more than 100 documented cases.
Then there is the Groups of lads and ladettes in Magaluff Mallorca, San Antoniop Ibiza, Agia Napa Cyprus, Kuta Beach Bali, Faliraki Rhodes and the list goes on. Displays of pointless Party games with alcohol are common, outrageous binge drinking, group singing, vulgar group sex games and generally over the top stupid behavior.
2. THE OUTRAGEOUSLY RUDE VISITOR
Typical examples of these are the vacationers that cut in line, drive like Formula One drivers on a track and whereby the words "please" and "thank you" are simply not in their vocabulary. One city at least has figured out a better way of dealing the unmannered masses. Bars and restaurants in Venice for example have an unwritten law of 3 price lists...
1. One for locals
2. One for polite visitors
3. A third for rude tourists.
So if you're Italian, a croissant and a cappuccino might cost in the realm of 3.50 euros, but if you order in English and impolitely, you can pay up to 7 euros. Of course its more in St Marks!
3. THE OVERLY OBNOXIOUS FRENCH & AMERICANS
Let us be clear and sincere where this is concerned. Having lived personally in America and frequently visited France, I know that there are many decent intelligent people there and most really love their country; these are not the ones that stand out when abroad though! Its the Americans and French that capture attention with their boorish antics that make us cringe. By habit, obnoxious people are loud, demanding, arrogant and insensitive to local culture, customs, traditions and possess no empathy for other people. Interestingly, according to a recent Expedia survey that was published in Newsweek, it discovered that the French, Indian and Chinese tourists were ranked even more obnoxious than Americans, whereas the Japanese were considered the best tourists.
4. THE ABSENT-MINDED VISITOR
These are the ones who get left behind at the gate because they didn't know that they needed a passport for an international trip. They habitually never call to confirm a flight and miss it because it was rescheduled or fail to confirm a Hotel reservation. Such absent mindedness causes them not pay attention to where they parked at Disney World or Epcot for example. I have seen them wandering around the car park after dark, hoping to stumble upon the car they rented, when they cannot even remember the color, let alone the model. We all make mistakes though and certainly there is something about being on the road, away from all things familiar and out of ones element, that turns one into being a little bit dozy or lets be nice and say "not on form". The challenge comes when people try to blame everyone but themselves. We have likely all witnessed tourists accuse their travel agents or cruise line of destroying their vacation, because they were not properly informed about a visa requirement or a key aspect of the holiday. The harsh reality is however, that securing the proper paperwork is solely the buyers responsibility and we should all do some research before travelling.
5. THE YESTERDAY TRAVELLER
This category of people need to get out more frequently and they relate the current reality to yesterdays world. Here we can expect them to call the flight attendant and ask "what is on the in-flight menu?" The answer, unless they are sitting in business or first class, is a staunch glare, followed by orange Juice and peanuts or a pay to eat and drink trolley. The yesterdays world time travellers are either unaware that the airline industry was carelessly deregulated in 1978 or they are in flat denial. Such travellers do not necessarily make themselves look so bad, as much as they illustrate how low Tourism has fallen since a former era. Only the most die hard airline apologist would argue that flying is a better experience today than it was three decades ago. Our yesterday travellers are a constant reminder of the sad airline decline of America and Europe. If you reading this as an optimist, they also help us see what air travel could one day become again with a return to former glory.
Counting the cumulative damage
So how are these tourists damaging Tourism? When an inebriated tourist or wanna rock star trashes a Hotel room, you can cost it into the service. However, when that same person travels ashore in a foreign port and makes all of their countrymen look like xenophobic elitists, it costs us all with a poor perception and in ways that are difficult to quantify, though no less real.
People who make unreasonable demands on the system raise the cost of travel for everyone, because we will all end up paying for the army of lawyers the travel providers must hire to defend themselves from frivolous claims. Also if everyone wants travel to be cheaper and cheaper, it will degrade the travel products available and damage the reputations of the destinations involved. many of you reading will have all heard of the term "poor mans Caribbean" or seen the series Benidorm on TV.
What can we do about it? Not a lot really, apart from avoiding all inclusive resorts and low grade cruise ships whereby the product has been cut to bones. Or perhaps by writing articles like this one and by demanding quality from the travel providers and to encourage countries to demand respect for themselves by better managing unwanted visitors. Lets hope that the current recession gives the travel trade a window of opportunity to reform.
We encourage your views on this article?
Grant Holmes
Editor
Perpetual Traveller
Sunday, April 12, 2009
The World's Best and worst Tourists
As Travellers we are all too quick to judge the transportation means and accommodation units that we frequent, whilst demanding ever increasing services at lower cost in line with our needs, but who is judging us the us the Tourists?
Having worked in the Tourism Industry for over 25 years within the fields of Hotels, Tour Operators, Airlines and Cruise, I learned from many of my former colleagues typically over a coffee breaks or in more informal settings, that we in the industry often categorize Tourists and their behaviors by their nationality, which includes a measure of stereotyping.
For example many of us know the classic statement which is supposed to explain the essence of our strengths and weaknesses as an expression of how we view ourselves in Europe. If you are not familiar it goes like this…
The perfect Europe would be when all the…
- Cooks were French
- Police are British
- Mechanics are German
- Lovers are Italian
- And everything was organized by the Swiss
In stark contrast Europe would be HELL if all the…
- Cooks were British (Fish & Chips for all)
- Police were German (tough)
- Mechanics were French (on strike)
- Lovers were Swiss (boring)
- And everything was organized by the Italians (like Italian Politics)
As former a former Director of Festival Cruises, I remember all too well profiling tourists of each country by their habits, culture, customs and traditions and looking at ways in which we could tap into such trends from a revenue generation perspective. For example with the Casino we discovered how typically people played according to their Nationality profile as follows…
- The French in general show a strong preference towards SLOT machines
- Italians play card Games with EMOTION, whereby the environment, people and Croupier is critical to their playing patterns. In other words they need to feel comfortable and be seduced by the environment and/or people. We learned too The Spanish and Portuguese are similar in this respect
- The Russians tend to play for POWER. Its not only a matter of winning, but showing your strength and power at the card table.
- The Americans play for FUN. They consider that Casino type Games are fun and that they buy fun, so that even if one loses, they can buy fun or entertainment. Las Vegas was in fact built on the concept of fun.
- The Greeks and Turks play COMPULSIVELY. Once they get started, the compulsive nature takes over. They drive almost in the same way in Athens and Istanbul. The strange thing about Greeks and Turks, who often do not see eye to eye on some matters, when it comes to habits and even eating preferences they are quite similar.
- The Chinese play almost ADDICTIVELY. The quality of the environment or even the service is not the critical thing. Playing is what matters and the habit is fast, furious and addictive. This is why recently Casino receipts in Macao overtook Las Vegas.
- On the other hand Israeli's play to WIN, more than anyone else we encountered or experienced. Losing is not on the agenda.
On a micro scale, this is what we learned from an operation of 8 Cruise ships over the period of 3 years and it was related to a specific topic.
On a more general feedback note on Tourists, I was interested to see that recently 4,000 Hoteliers were asked by Expedia to vote on the “Best & worst tourists”. They were requested to vote on the following...
- Attitude
- Manners
- Complaints
- Language cleanliness
- Money spent
- Generosity
To say the least the results are interesting and they provide a fascinating insight to what the Hoteliers think about their own Guests. Here below are the results all things considered of the best and worst Tourists in the world in order of the best first...
1. Japanese
Generally regarded as the best, as they are in particular respectful, polite, quiet and tidy.
2. German/British (tie for second place)
The Germans were considered the tidiest of all nationalities but certainly not good tippers.
3. Canadian
4. Swiss
5. Dutch
6. Australian/Swedish (tie)
7. Belgian
8. Norwegian
9. Austrian/Danish/Finnish (tie)
10. New Zealanders (Kiwi)
11. U.S. American/Thai (tie)
Although American Guests are still regarded as the biggest-spending and best-tipping tourists, though somewhat over-demanding.
12. Irish/Czech/South African/Portuguese (tie)
13. Brazilian
Lots of fun, love parties, they like to stay up to the early hours, but many are extremely messy and often leave a trail of disaster behind them
14. Italian/Greek/Polish (tie)
Italian were voted as best dressed, which is not surprising, but according to the survey lacking in language skills.
15. Turkish
16. Spanish
17. Mexican
18. Russian
19. French
Like the Italians lacking in language skills and clearly they do not like tipping.
20. Indian
21. Chinese
* Survey compiled by: Expedia.fr
So there you have it, the best and worst Tourists worldwide according to Expedia. Of course this cannot be considered as definitive, however it does provide us with a good indication of how Hoteliers perceive their Guests from different languages.
One thing is for certain, there should be some kind of international code of conduct for how Tourists conduct themselves and how they should respect local culture. The days of trashing Hotel rooms, drunken Tourists, no respect for local customs and treating locals in an arrogant or patronizing way must stop.
I wholly encourage reader comments on this one.
Happy Easter
Grant Holmes
Editor, Perpetual Traveller
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