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35 Annoying Things Tourists Keep Doing Abroad That Locals Simply Can’t Stand
In Terry Pratchett’s famous satirical fantasy series about Discworld, one of the main characters is the world’s first and only tourist. Well, despite that guy’s strange and sometimes outright illogical behavior, he’s ultimately charismatic and charming, so he’s tolerated. After all, he’s just one tourist on the entire planet…
But what happens when there are so many tourists who all behave completely inappropriately, according to locals? Breaking all possible rules and standards of conduct - and this is, by and large, a very common problem! Okay, here’s a collection of locals’ opinions on the most annoying tourist habits and behaviors.
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#1
Treating Auschwitz like it's a theme park and disrespecting what it actually is.
Roman Arendt 4 hours ago
And Buchenwald. And Dachau. And Neuengamme. And the H*******t Memorial. And so on. For Germans, there's seldom a week without reading about yet another example for this disgusting behaviour.
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#3
This one is quite specific not just to my state but to one tiny little island off the coast:
Please don’t bother the Quokkas.
In the first half of the 19th century, British Thomas Cook arranged the first organized tourist trip to a neighboring town, eventually becoming the founder of the world’s first travel company. Since then, tourism has become incredibly popular, and for many countries, it’s literally the main source of their budget income.
But in recent years (and global tourism volumes have recently recovered to pre-COVID levels), an opposed trend - restricting tourism - has become increasingly popular. Spain, Italy, and France, for example, are now actively debating legislation restricting mass tourist arrivals. Why is this actually happening?
#4
Tipping!!! Keep that s**t at home!
Michael Largey 3 hours ago (edited)
At the first restaurant we visited in New Zealand, we asked the waitress what the tipping situation was. She stayed quite pleasant while informing us how offended she'd be if we left her a tip.
#5
Of course, this is just one region and not representative of all of Switzerland and all tourists, but it caused quite an outcry. Lauterbrunnen is suffering from severe overtourism, which has led to tourists crossing boundaries in unacceptable ways, including trespassing, walking over private property, playing football in cemeteries, and public urination ‼️
I mean…what the hell is wrong with people to behave like that? It honestly makes me furious.
Rick Murray 1 hour ago
What is wrong with people? I'd be interested to know if somebody just decided to play football in a graveyard, or if they were filming it "for the likes"?
#6
Driving slow on the road to see the scenery. Creating ques and trafic jam while driving into small norwegian towns with tourbuses, RVs etc. that are not designed for that amount of tourists. Lack of public toilets have also made people p**p on peoples private property. While heard stories from Stavanger where tourist went into peoples private homes becuase they tought it looked like a museum..
First, the problem is that the infrastructure of many countries is completely unsuitable for accommodating thousands of people, as they are moved from place to place within a matter of days. After all, many houses in Venice or Barcelona were built thousands of years before the very concept of Airbnb even emerged, and these ancient architectural masterpieces simply can’t withstand the influx of tourists.
Second, the very behavior of people in other countries often doesn’t stand up to scrutiny. Even if they always try to be restrained and polite, the cultural standards and traditions of different countries sometimes clash, and what is perfectly normal in one country can be absolutely irritating in another.
#7
There’s the obvious choice of people messing with wildlife and ignoring important signage at national parks and nature reserves.
The thing that annoys me right now though is how many people (including some friends of mine) I’ve seen come to America, eat exclusively at fast food and chain restaurants, and then complain about how bad our food is. We’ve got phenomenal food, you’re just choosing to eat at the s*******t restaurants available lol.
You do need to go to Waffle House if you’re in the US though. It won’t be good, but it’s an important experience.
LizzieBoredom 4 hours ago
I believe 'Waffle House, 2am' is a new exhibition at the Smithsonian.
#8
In Yellowstone National Park, the tourists walk up to wild bison 🦬 and try to take selfies with them. Then they get surprised when the bison attack them. It’s almost always Chinese tourists.
#9
Buying properties because our government are fed their grey-business money and raise the value beyond what the majority of locals can afford.
Want a personal example? Okay, even if you don’t want to - here it is. So, I’ve lived my whole life in a fairly large seaside city with numerous old architectural monuments in the historic center, and in the summer, I was always irritated by tourists who walked from the city beaches to their hotels, literally in swimsuits and flip-flops, without even bothering to put on some clothes.
No, to them it seemed perfectly reasonable - after all, many hotels are a couple of dozen minutes’ walk from the beaches - but to me, it always seemed incredibly disrespectful. Why? I don’t actually know. However, for me, it never went beyond a couple of angry Facebook posts.
Well, for example, the residents of Venice, irritated by the “inappropriate” behavior of many tourists, have been actively lobbying for increasingly stricter rules of conduct for tourists in their city for decades now. They’re probably right, after all, what do you think?
#10
Those favela tours. So many other things you can do here to “get inspired” and “see how the locals really live” other than riding past us and looking at us like we’re a zoo exhibit.
#11
Stealing tiles. Edit: some people are calling me out saying that locals also steal them to sale on black markets to unsuspected turists, yes I think its true. So if u see them on black markets do not buy them, specially if u see cement remains on the back. You can buy them on Nacional Tile Museum (Museu Nacional do Azulejo), Fábrica Sant'Anna, Cortiço e Netos, etc.
#12
Complaining about how expensive it is here. Duh, we live here so we are aware. If we could fix it we would for our own benefit.
If you want a cheap holiday don't come to a couple of small islands thousands of kms from any other country. .
A separate story concerns the different cultural norms in restaurants. For some, loud conversations at the table are complete nonsense, while others can’t imagine a good meal without boisterous convo. In some cultures, burping after a meal is considered a sign of respect for the host and the chef, while in others, it seems completely gross.
Finally, attitudes vary widely even regarding something as simple as tipping. While in the US or Canada it’s a must and literally expected of every customer, in Japan or Korea, for example, leaving a tip can even provoke an awkward situation for both the customer and the staff.
In any case, the best rule when traveling to another country for the first time is to always learn as much as possible about the local traditions. Or at least, even if you’ve gotten yourself into trouble with some “inappropriate” deed, don’t insist that this is the only way to do it!
#14
Ruin our monuments with their stupidity.
LizzieBoredom 3 hours ago (edited)
It's just like when someone guts the White House, and then paints the Lincoln Memorial blue.
#15
Idiots getting out of their cars to take pictures and pester (especially dangerous) wildlife. The 10 days I spent in Alberta I witnessed this multiple times, one of which was a big ol' brown bear.
Well, we’re not even mentioning here some outright violations of behavior rules - like what happened, for example, a couple of years ago in Yellowstone Park, where some random guy was spotted walking across a protected off-limits zone in his flip-flops, apparently collecting hats that had fallen from visitors’ heads into the off-limits area, and thus causing obvious environmental damage.
However, if you remember a similar example of how tourists’ behavior irritated you in your home country, or if you yourself have somehow gotten into trouble while abroad, why not share your experience in the comments? Perhaps your story will serve as a valuable warning to someone… or just a good laugh - why not after all?
#16
Underestimating our forests, hiking/tramping and Mother Nature in general and then ending up requiring massive resources to rescue them all because they weren't prepared or thought they were a lot more capable than they are.
#17
They exist.
I live in Cornwall in the UK, and for a small county we get ridiculous numbers of tourists each season. Whilst it's great for some of the businesses, the locals get all the detrimental effects that mass tourism brings, such as the housing shortages, high cost of living in an area designed to fleece tourists, rude tourists, slow moving traffic as it seems none of them can drive outside of a city and to top it off, they seem to think that we should be grateful and often belittle the locals.
I don't mind tourism, as we're all tourists now and then. But people need to remember that you're visiting a place where people live.
#18
Poverty p**n.
Going to slums and then filming people there like they're on safari.
#19
Talking about what clan you're 'from'. We do not give a f**k and you are not Scottish.
Michael Largey 3 hours ago
And telling the locals that you're "Scotch" is a good way to get thrown into a loch and eaten by Nessie.
#20
In Lapland: Tourists taking the everyman's rights a bit too literally and coming to people's yards and even peeking in through windows; renting a car without ever driving in winter conditions and then getting in trouble. It really overloads the emergency services in a sparsely populated area.
#21
Desecrating, destroying, or defacing National Parks or Native American sites. Too many a-holes pushing over ancient rock formations. Or carving their names into ancient petroglyphs.
I'm usually pretty chill, but this sort of thing makes me irrationally angry.
#22
They don't pay attention to their surroundings at all, for example if there's no room for someone on a narrow street they don't move. They don't walk on the right side, they take up the entire street, they are very loud and they drive rental electric scooters like crazy, crossing the sidewalk, the main road, the lawn, etc.
#23
Pretend they're Scottish. Just because your 10x great grandad was put on a penal transport to the colonies for being caught f*****g cattle doesn't make you in any way Scottish.
#24
Overtourism in Hawai’i; tourists driving like they’re on the mainland; bothering our wildlife and getting way too close to honu, seals, etc. (it’s illegal); parking wherever they want so they can get to the beach; leaving trash on our beaches; not understanding the culture or even trying to learn a little; driving slow on winding roads to see the scenery instead of pulling over in designated areas to see the same view; ignoring warning signs/trespassing - and then having to be rescued, using our emergency services…just to name a few 😔.
#25
Acting like every local is either a poor laborer who needs a white savior or a criminal.
Overs**ualizing locals, specifically women.
Speaking Spanish.
#26
They don't stand to the right of the escalator. It annoys Parisians quite a bit.
Lady Eowyn 2 hours ago
It annoys people just trying to commute to work on the D.C. metro. I worked downtown for a while and dealing with the tourists was a pain.
#27
Bothering or handling our wildlife because they're cute. It's become quite an issue with the quokkas in particular, but also there was that incident with that moron from the US who grabbed a wombat Joey 😠😠
This doesn't really bother me so much as it's a super easy way to spot a tourist in Australia, but people who underestimate how intense the UV rays are here and just get burnt. As a redhead, I'd actually really love to go somewhere other than Australia and New Zealand so I can see what it's like to feel sun on my skin and have it be somewhat pleasant. Even as a kid I hated the sun because without sunscreen I burn in 8 minutes.
#29
Catcalling. Please, just don't.
Michael Largey 2 hours ago
Advice I gave to all my male students - "It's real simple, guys. Don't say anything to a woman on the street that you wouldn't want a man to say to you in prison."
#30
Lately tourists have been making rock piles in the Highlands and islands. I think its something from outlanders? its k*****g the grass, which local sheep eat.
#31
The ones who film funerals and cremations. They just swarm around as if it is a zoo attraction.
Michael Largey 2 hours ago
I understand completely. But I admit there is a small set of funeral videos I'd like to have on instant replay. And one or two I'm waiting to add to the list.
#32
Just go to Dublin and think they have seen the whole of Ireland.
#33
In Argentina, people are undisciplined, so whatever the tourists do wrong, we probably do worse.
#34
Experience only the roughest parts, like risky street food that might give you food poisoning and the lowest train class, which most people wouldn’t even dare to and then complain about the entire country.
Michael Largey 1 hour ago
Isn't the term "street food" warning enough? Would anyone partake of "toxic waste dump food" or "festering bog food"?
#35
I don’t know if this would be feasible for them, but I remember reading about some lavender fields in UK having similar problems but instead of trying to stop them they decided to charge and make money from it.
Obviously requires creating a little bit of space but if you can create a spot where people can take a great photo they’ll pay quite a bit for it.
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What do you think ?
sofacushionfort 3 hours ago
We’d be in our pj’s eating breakfast and tourist would knock on the door asking for a tour (no plaque outside, just a quaint old house). That said, there’s the other side, where tourists are somehow fair game if their only offense is being vulnerable after dark, a woman, etc.
sofacushionfort 3 hours ago
We’d be in our pj’s eating breakfast and tourist would knock on the door asking for a tour (no plaque outside, just a quaint old house). That said, there’s the other side, where tourists are somehow fair game if their only offense is being vulnerable after dark, a woman, etc.
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