Transfer provider Taxi2Airport.com surveyed 1,822 Americans for their thoughts on what makes a good tourist in a new report. The majority of Americans (79%) believe that travellers should make the effort to learn a few basic words and/or phrases such as hello, thank you, please and more, before going abroad. About 72% think it is best for travellers to avoid talking about sensitive topics, such as economic, political and social issues, in public in order to avoid causing any offense.
Additionally, 69% of those surveyed feel controlled alcohol consumption is very important when visiting a foreign country. As for what scored low on the list, only 23% of respondents said that being open to using public transportation, such as local buses, trains or trams, makes for a good tourist.
Over 36% associated attending or participating in local festivals with being a good tourist, while 40% 44% identified not complaining about the price or quality of tourist attractions in public and not haggling unnecessarily, respectively, as good tourist qualities.
At the same time, 59% of Americans admit to a lack of time or being too busy as preventing them from making the effort to learn about their destination’s culture and customs. Other factors include that they do not bother, as they are likely to forget (46%); not knowing where to begin their research (41%); not thinking that their destination’s customs will be very different from their home country (32%); and feeling that the effort taken to understand their destination’s culture will not be appreciated enough by the destination’s citizens (20%).
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