Jaunted

Tags: World's Worst Tourists / Travel Surveys / Tourists / Expedia / → All Tags

Survey Says: French Tourists Still the Worst

It's time again for the now-annual Expedia survey results on the world's best and worst tourists: and the French have done it again. Done it again on the wrong end of the scale, that is, because the survey says:

French travelers are the biggest skinflints, the worst tippers and the least able or inclined to speak foreign languages. They also finished next to last in terms of their politeness and behavior.

Ouch. At the top of the list were the oh-so-polite Japanese, again, followed by English, Canadian, German and Swiss tourists. In some interesting individual categories, the Japanese were named as the least likely to complain and the Italians won the best fashion sense gong, while Americans, Italians and Spanish scored the top three spots in the "loudest tourists" section.

Keep this info in mind when choosing your travel companions in the future and you might end up having a better trip.

Related Stories:
· French Tourists Still the World's Worst [Time]
· World's Worst Tourists: The French Who Only Speak French [Jaunted]
· Japanese Tourists Are the Best [Jaunted]

[Photo: lecercle]

Tags: Tourists / Dubai Travel / Crime / Fashion Travel / → All Tags

Dubai Tourist Arrested For Wearing Nude Posh Spice Tee

He's literally a fashion victim! Haha but really, it's official: we can't ever go to Dubai because we fear that the second we touch down, we'll be arrested. That was pretty much the case this last week for a Lebanese tourist in the Emirate, who made the mistake of wearing one of Marc Jacobs' celebrity nude T-shirts, and was promptly hauled in and sentenced to one month in jail for sporting the offending garment.

His T-shirt, part of a series ironically benefitting NYU's melanoma research—the perfect thing to wear to a beach resort, natch—featured Victoria Beckham almost nude, with text covering her rude bits. The man was originally confronted by a local at a bakery, and when he returned after changing clothes, the police were waiting.

Considering that we totally own one of the shirts from the same series, although ours sports a naked man (Marc humself), we should probably steer clear of using it as a beach cover-up outside of the Burj Al-Arab. But considering how money and label-focused Dubai, you think maybe we could get out of any trouble by explaining that Marc Jacobs is the designer for Louis Vuitton? Yea, we didn't think so either. Keep it clean out there folks; only plain American Apparel T-shirts allowed and leave the racy ads at home.

Related Stories:
· Man Jailed In Dubai For Wearing Marc Jacobs T-Shirt [StyleList]
· In Dubai, Sex On The Beach Could Lead To Prison [Jaunted]
· Dubai Travel Coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: elvis_payne; T-shirt photo: ebay]

Tags: Cheap NYC / Tourists / Travel Deals / → All Tags

When New York Starts Getting 'Real', Tourists Save Money

Over at HotelChatter, we've seen the room rates in New York drop pretty drastically. Just today, we learned the Gansevort Hotel has dipped to under $200. These are dead-of-the-winter rates in the spring. It's quite unusual but it's also great for anyone heading to NYC this summer.

And now NYC & Company, New York's official marketing, tourism and partnership organization has just launched a new promotion for tourists, NYC: The Real Deal. The promotion is actually three phases of deals and offers spread out over the summer.

The first phase is "Buy One, Get the Second One 50% Off" and applies to more than 100 NYC & Company member businesses such as museums (the Whitney), tours and attractions (the NYC Ballet), nightlife spots, spas and even transportation (the NY Water Taxis). And yes, it even applies to hotels.

more ›

Tags: Tourists / Technology / Tourism Boards / Tourism Marketing / New York City Travel / → All Tags

New York City Wants Tourists to Touch Their Technology

What is New York City to its tourists but a loud, crass and hectic metropolis centered around areas like Times Square and Fifth Avenue, places that only further the frenetic mood. Seeking to counter this as well as bolster their own resources, the tourist board opened the starkly fresh "Official NYC Information Center" in Midtown this January.

Nestled into a storefront on Seventh Avenue between 53rd and 52nd Streets, the friendly space designed by WXY Architecture is packed to the gills with user-friendly technology. It's pretty much a confused tourist's dream, with touch-screen map tables which can help you to create personalized city itineraries, along with the ability to browse free events and NYC Visit's "Just Ask the Locals" feature.

more ›

Tags: Destination Dissing / Tourism Boards / Tourists / SNL / The Rock / Hawaii Travel / → All Tags

Is Destination Dissing Like Totally Uncool These Days?

Apparently even long after the presidential election has ended, viewers are still to tuning into Saturday Night Live on NBC. And this time, it's not just grounded teenagers watching. Politicians are also paying attention. And one politician in particular was pretty riled up over a recent skit. No, it wasn't Sarah Palin.

Lt. Governor James "Duke" Aiona of Hawaii recently voiced his displeasure about a skit that poked fun at folks who choose the Aloha State as their vacation destination. In fact, a whole bunch of people working for the Hawaii government are a little cranky over the way in which Hawaii hospitality was portrayed, claiming skits like these are further wounding their already beaten down tourism economy.

more ›

Tags: Andaman Sea Field Trip / Islands / Tourists / → All Tags

Heaven, Hell Or A Little Of Both?

Thailand... Are we nuts?! Nah: The airport trouble is over, and while politicians keep bickering in Bangkok, the rest of the country is ripe for exploration. Claire Duffett just spent two weeks in southwest Thailand sailing the Andaman Sea from Krabi to Phuket.

When Leo DiCaprio agreed to star in the film adaptation of “The Beach”, we wonder if the environmental activist knew he was about to turn one of the world’s most beautiful islands into the Cancun of Thailand.

Although Phi Phi Lai, the actual island where the movie was filmed, remains a national park, the adjacent Phi Phi Don is now the definition of tourist hell. Thousands of drunken gap-year kids storm the town’s Irish pubs at night. During the day, they shuffle between the endless diving and snorkeling companies lining the impromptu town’s fake streets. Rickety longboats ferry tourists across rocky seas to the main attraction--Phi Phi Lai--every day.

more ›

Tags: Political Travel / Harry Reid / Tourists / → All Tags

Harry Reid Sick of Smelling All You Tourists

We'd heard the swamptown know as Washington, DC gives off a stench every once in a while, but we figured it was coming from those scumbags that call themselves Congress. According to Senate bigwig Harry Reid, though, it's the tourists who stink up the place:

The Capitol Visitors Center, which opened [Tuesday], may have tripled its original budget and fallen years behind schedule, but Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid found a silver lining for members of Congress: Tourists won't offend them with their B.O. anymore.

"My staff tells me not to say this, but I'm going to say it anyway," said Reid in his remarks. "In the summer because of the heat and high humidity, you could literally smell the tourists coming into the Capitol. It may be descriptive but it's true."

But it's no longer going to be true, noted Reid, thanks to the air conditioned, indoor space.

Glad to hear we're not offending you with our underarms anymore, Mr. Leader! Good luck with that whole populist appeal thing.

Related Stories:
· Reid: We Won't Smell the Tourists Anymore [Washington Examiner]
· The Capitol Visitor Center [Official Site]
· Poltiical Travel coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: The Capitol Visitor Center]

Tags: Protests / Tourists / Somchai Wongsawat / → All Tags

New Thai PM Tells Country to Start Smiling

Thailand has a new acting prime minister who's had it with weeks of protests that have dominated the news from Bangkok. Why? Because tourism, which accounts for six percent of the country's GDP, is down!

The brother-in-law of fugitive former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, acting PM Somchai Wongsawat, says the country has to stop scaring foreigners:

I appeal to all parties to turn to each other to resolve the problem and together heal the damage done to the nation. We should bring back the smile to the country once again, as we are called the Land of Smiles. We have to restore confidence in outsiders, especially tourists, that we are a peaceful country and have no more conflict.

Though the political turmoil is real, tourists in the capital aren't in any sort of danger, as the protests have been largely peaceful. Bangkok blogger Newley Purnell has loads of on-the-ground reports, including photos and audio slideshows.

Related Stories:
· Thailand Lifts State of Emergency Amid Tourism Fears [NYT]
· Thailand Lifts State of Emergency Citing Tourism [AP, via Google]
· Thailand Travel coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo of Bangkok protesters: NYT]

Tags: Taxis / Tourists / Dumb Tourists / → All Tags

Dumb Tourist Travel: Norwegian Taxi Fare From Hell

We've done our fair share of ending up not exactly where we planned when traveling by bus or even taxi in foreign countries, but the Spanish couple who just spent a fortune on two long taxi rides in Norway have far exceeded our attempts.

Headed for Olden to re-join a cruise ship, the taxi driver misunderstood them--apparently--and took them to Halden instead, 380 miles away from their intended destination. They spent the night in a hotel there and only realized their mistake when no cruise-ship awaited them--and they taxied on to Olden. Round trip bill: €3,870 ($5,680) for a scenic trip between the northwest and the southeast of the country.

We wonder why the taxi driver didn't double check the destination, unless he deliberately tricked them; we also don't get why the Spanish couple didn't notice that the journey seemed to be taking a really, really long time. Then again, they were the cruising kind who usually just come ashore with a nametag, so perhaps their travel skills were lacking. In any case, they've given a couple of taxi drivers a big income boost.

Related Stories:
· $6,600 Cab Fare Lost In Translation [The Age]
· Norway Travel coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: Narisa]

Tags: New Zealand Travel / Animals / Tourists / → All Tags

New Zealand Tourism: Look Harder for Sheep

We've mused before that New Zealand might be on its way to having more tourists than sheep but we always thought that'd be because travelers kept, uh, flocking there.

Turns out that instead, the number of sheep in New Zealand is decreasing. Well down from a 1982 peak of having 22 sheep for every one New Zealander, these days the stats can only boast eight sheep per Kiwi resident. Drought and more cows are the cause, but we're scared this trend will change New Zealand forever--and take away the reason for a whole lot of sheep jokes. That's baaa-d news!

Related Stories:
· Kiwis Only Have Eight Sheep Per Person [news.com.au]
· New Zealand is #1 (and #2 and #37) [Jaunted]
· New Zealand Travel coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: vtveen]

Tags: Airports / Airport Bars / Tourists / Travel Snapshots / DTW / → All Tags

Travel Snapshot: Happy Hour in DTW

You know how you can always tell the tourists headed to warmer climes when you walk through the airport? They're always the ones wearing goofy print shirts and short shorts even though it's bound to be frigid on the plane.

Jaunted member JetSetCD sent us this funny snapshot, along with a bit of an explanation:

I mean, it may be the Motor City and all, but really? Gotta love the guy in the tropical shirt at the bar; the flights around it were headed to various parts of Mexico.

Have your own travel snapshots? Drop 'em in our Flickr pool.

Related Stories:
· Travel Snapshots coverage [Jaunted]
· Tourists coverage [Jaunted]

Tags: Dangerous Travel / North Korean Travel / Tourists / Death / → All Tags

North Korea Travel: Not Entirely Safe

Walking around on the beach is usually only dangerous if a giant wave attacks or a shark decides to walk on land, but in slightly scary North Korea things can be a bit different.

Tourists from South Korea are allowed to travel to two tightly guarded spots in North Korea, one of them being the mountain resort of Mount Keumgang. Over the weekend a 53-year-old South Korean woman was shot dead there by a North Korean soldier because she crossed the boundary line of the resort during a walk on the beach.

Some sources say she ran towards her hotel once the guards approached her, while others say she was walking deep into the prohibited zone. Whatever the case, it's a reminder that although they can do some incredible crowd choreography, those North Koreans can be a really sinister bunch.

Related Stories:
· North Korean Soldier Kills South Korean Tourist [CNN]
· Can You Still Travel to North Korea? [Jaunted]
· Communist Choreography in North Korea [Jaunted]

[Photo: litlnemo]