Monday, March 5, 2012

WHAT TYPE OF TOURISTS ARE WE ?

Tired of the “ugly American” stereotype of U.S. travelers abroad? A new LivingSocial survey conducted among more than 5,600 respondents in five countries by Mandala Research discovered that Americans ourselves believe we are the world’s worst tourists. The survey found that Americans, Canadians and Australians all gave U.S. tourists that dubious distinction, while the Irish identified their British neighbors as the worst, and the British called out the Germans for bad travel behavior.

“Americans turn out to be pretty active globetrotters, with the average person having visited at least four countries. Unfortunately, Americans have pretty low opinions of themselves as travelers, so it’s time to turn on that Yankee charm and improve our global image.”

Despite these self-doubts, respondents dismissed another common misperception: that most Americans have never traveled abroad. The survey found that 78 percent of Americans have visited at least one foreign country, 61 percent have visited multiple countries, and 36 percent have traveled to four or more foreign destinations. The average number of countries visited was more than four.

“Our survey puts the old wives’ tale to bed that only 15 percent of Americans own passports,” said Dave Madden, GM of LivingSocial Escapes, North America. “Americans turn out to be pretty active globetrotters, with the average person having visited at least four countries. Unfortunately, Americans have pretty low opinions of themselves as travelers, so it’s time to turn on that Yankee charm and improve our global image.”

This watchdog feels that it is about time we Malaysian do our own survey to determine what sort of travellers are we.

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