The Lady Guide to Modern Manners: 16 August
Dear Thomas,
I’m always hearing about surveys claiming that the British are the worst-behaved tourists. Is this true? I’m just about to go on holiday, so I’m worried.
Brenda Southgate, Welwyn Garden City
Dear Brenda,
You’re quite right that many surveys appear to back up the stereotype of the British tourist as a drunken yob, usually male, of about 22, for whom a holiday is an extended orgy culminating in hospitalisation for sunstroke or alcoholic poisoning, or both. These types despise foreign food, drink only Newcastle Brown Ale and are barely fluent in their own language, let alone any other.
There might be some truth in this picture. Foreign Office statistics released in July 2012 confirm that 6,000 British nationals were flung (even if temporarily) into foreign jails and 3,739 were admitted to casualty departments in the previous 12 months. When I holidayed in Turkey a few years ago, I was told that there was a special clinic in a nearby resort for Brits who had fallen asleep in the sun while drunk and burned themselves to a crisp. Another statistic (if you like statistics) is that only 11% of British tourists speak a foreign language.
But these surveys are misleading. Countries with large populations, such as Russia and the USA, often come out badly, whereas you never hear much about the pro le of Falkland Islanders who travel. The poor showing of Britain is attributable to the vast numbers of us who holiday in the great ‘sun, sex and sand’ destinations of Ibiza, Greece, Cyprus, Turkey, the Canary Islands or Spain. In the Dordogne or Tuscany it’s quite a different story.
I blame the developers. If you build a low-cost ‘destination’ such as Torremolinos, and stuff it with nightclubs for young people, then you can’t complain if you have to arrest half the visitors.
Where we could improve in general as tourists is on the linguistic front. Is it too much to learn how to say ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ in the relevant language – as well as, of course, other vital phrases like ‘has your moat been drained recently’?
If you have not visited Italy for a few years, you will find greater strictness in regard to entering churches with bare arms and legs: absolutely not allowed. Have a pashmina at the ready.
My personal bête noire is large groups at famous sites, with a guide spouting rubbish. Why are they bothering? All in the party are about to crack open with boredom. Solution: dive down a side street. After 100 metres, you’ll be free of the hordes, and the lesser-known but still great sites will be deserted.
I hope you have a lovely holiday, free of hospitalisation or arrest.
Please send your questions to Thomas.blaikie@lady.co.uk or write to him at The Lady, 39-40 Bedford Street, London WC2E 9ER
What a gift to be so easy-going, although I fear the anarchy that might result from the tit-for-tat approach. Intriguingly, she worries that she won’t be thought a lady because she addresses strangers as ‘love’ and ‘dear’ – but I think she might be having me on.
I am rather disappointed because I’ve tried hard to convey that good manners have nothing to do with being posh and stuck up. As for trivial: well, we’re not considering the future of Lloyds Bank, but a lot of people don’t want to upset others. No harm in that. Underlying the froth are grander philosophical issues that run through life: where is the line between tolerance and intolerance? How do we best communicate with others? How do we make a more harmonious society?
I’m always hearing about surveys claiming that the British are the worst-behaved tourists. Is this true? I’m just about to go on holiday, so I’m worried.
Brenda Southgate, Welwyn Garden City
Dear Brenda,
You’re quite right that many surveys appear to back up the stereotype of the British tourist as a drunken yob, usually male, of about 22, for whom a holiday is an extended orgy culminating in hospitalisation for sunstroke or alcoholic poisoning, or both. These types despise foreign food, drink only Newcastle Brown Ale and are barely fluent in their own language, let alone any other.
There might be some truth in this picture. Foreign Office statistics released in July 2012 confirm that 6,000 British nationals were flung (even if temporarily) into foreign jails and 3,739 were admitted to casualty departments in the previous 12 months. When I holidayed in Turkey a few years ago, I was told that there was a special clinic in a nearby resort for Brits who had fallen asleep in the sun while drunk and burned themselves to a crisp. Another statistic (if you like statistics) is that only 11% of British tourists speak a foreign language.
But these surveys are misleading. Countries with large populations, such as Russia and the USA, often come out badly, whereas you never hear much about the pro le of Falkland Islanders who travel. The poor showing of Britain is attributable to the vast numbers of us who holiday in the great ‘sun, sex and sand’ destinations of Ibiza, Greece, Cyprus, Turkey, the Canary Islands or Spain. In the Dordogne or Tuscany it’s quite a different story.
I blame the developers. If you build a low-cost ‘destination’ such as Torremolinos, and stuff it with nightclubs for young people, then you can’t complain if you have to arrest half the visitors.
Where we could improve in general as tourists is on the linguistic front. Is it too much to learn how to say ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ in the relevant language – as well as, of course, other vital phrases like ‘has your moat been drained recently’?
If you have not visited Italy for a few years, you will find greater strictness in regard to entering churches with bare arms and legs: absolutely not allowed. Have a pashmina at the ready.
My personal bête noire is large groups at famous sites, with a guide spouting rubbish. Why are they bothering? All in the party are about to crack open with boredom. Solution: dive down a side street. After 100 metres, you’ll be free of the hordes, and the lesser-known but still great sites will be deserted.
I hope you have a lovely holiday, free of hospitalisation or arrest.
Please send your questions to Thomas.blaikie@lady.co.uk or write to him at The Lady, 39-40 Bedford Street, London WC2E 9ER
WHAT TO DO… IF YOU ARE NOT SO EASY-GOING
I’ve heard from Brenda Robb (who sends love to me and the ladies), saying that the complaints made by my correspondents are trivial and fussy. If a boy racer pulls up beside her at the traffi c lights with music blaring, she isn’t bothered. She just blasts back with The Archers.What a gift to be so easy-going, although I fear the anarchy that might result from the tit-for-tat approach. Intriguingly, she worries that she won’t be thought a lady because she addresses strangers as ‘love’ and ‘dear’ – but I think she might be having me on.
I am rather disappointed because I’ve tried hard to convey that good manners have nothing to do with being posh and stuck up. As for trivial: well, we’re not considering the future of Lloyds Bank, but a lot of people don’t want to upset others. No harm in that. Underlying the froth are grander philosophical issues that run through life: where is the line between tolerance and intolerance? How do we best communicate with others? How do we make a more harmonious society?