Whether you live in a popular tourist town or are a frequent traveler yourself, there’s one thing that could test even Buddha’s patience: unruly tourists. There are a lot of tourists out there – 1.035 billion international tourist arrivals in 2012, to be exact. So when their cultural quirks tread on your tolerance, does your composure hold up?
A recent New York Times article singled out Chinese tourists as the new global pain in the neck. Deserved or not, the sheer number of Chinese who are on the move have made Cole’s line from the 01:34:09 mark of the movie The Sixth Sense the new reality: “They’re everywhere.” Last year, the adventures of 83 million Chinese nationals abroad made them the world’s biggest tourism spenders. Eighty-three million? That’s like the entire population of Australia leaving down under FOUR times in 12 months. These numbers are big, people, and they’re only going to grow.
Sometimes it’s the place that creates the swarm. Take Istanbul, for example, which had more than 11 million visitors in 2012. If you want to see the “cool stuff,” (as noted in guide books and, like, history) then you have to be prepared to stand in line. This happened to me and my travel companions when we visited in October of 2011. 
Even with it being low season, it took us three tries before we gathered the courage to brave the Topkapi Palace ticket line. I did my fave thing and started talking to the people in front of us (who happened to be from Bangladesh, and since I’d worked for the Grameen Foundation, we found a commonality to discuss in Muhammad Yunus, yay!). By the time we’d baby-stepped our way through the Imperial Treasury with all the rest of the looky-loos, though, my ambassadorial finesse had hopped a boat down the Bosphorus.
Are tourists avoidable? Well, if you like to travel to some of the kinds of places I like to go, maybe. Most people would rather go to Paris, and there, you will have to deal with the crowds. My advice is to work those patience skills hard. Harder than when you taught Grandpa how to use a computer mouse. Even harder than when you tried to change your telecommunications provider. REALLY, REALLY HARD.
I say this because inevitably, once you’ve reacted poorly to that egregious person who just stabbed you in the eye with an umbrella on Champs–Élysées, it will be you who feels worse for it. Martha Beck calls displaced aggression “stress rolling,” and while it may not be stress that causes you to misbehave on vacation, once you’ve done it, your conscience is still with you, every step of the way. I know this because I’ve been there (and if I could apologize to the taxi driver in Fethiye that I punched on my 1989 trip to Turkey, I would. For whatever reason, it’s not tourists, but taxi drivers who seem to be my trigger!).
When all the self-help speakers and motivational coaches say that you’re unique and there’s no one else like you in the world, they have a point, so don’t expect anyone else to act like you, especially if they’re from a place that has had a completely different cultural history than what you’ve experienced (there are some interesting observations about this and China in the NYT article). One thing we will always share, however, is the desire to feel good, and that feeling comes from being good. Dig around in that fanny pack for some extra fortitude, if you must. You don’t have to take the traveling offender(s) home for dinner or anything, so try not to let them get to you in that moment, and it will make for a more pleasant, and peaceful, day.
Have you ever lost your cool over a tourist’s (or taxi driver’s) behavior?
The line to shuffle through Topkapi place can really try a person’s nerves. Plus all those bodies make everyone hot and sweaty. Or the crowds at the Grand Bazaar. Or hmmm, every site in Istanbul swarms with people. Over the years, I’ve come to accept hoards can just be part of the tourist experience. So that means I also try to make time for activities that will allow me to escape the crowds (and I really, really don’t like crowds). The time I spent working in Yellowstone and the Everglades made it clear that the majority of tourons leave the pavement. The solution: take a hike. But sometimes lots of people want to take a hike. I did lose my cool in Glacier National Park on a trail at the top of The Going to the Sun Road. People were moseying up the hillside and this one old fart was really going slow and enjoying the view, not to mention he was packing his camera and tripod like it was some sort of badge. Hubby and I strode by (we don’t mess around when it comes to steep inclines) and the man made some sort of comment how people were always in such a hurry. Who was this person to refer to those around him in the third person? Why not just call me out personally? I huffed my way past him, and said something to the effect of how maybe he should worry less about those around him and focus on the hike.
I have this vision of you running around trying to get away from people, and everywhere you go, there they are, popping up like a Whack-a-Mole game! And man, people with cameras and tripods are the worst (says the woman who is married to a professional photographer… hahahaa! I’m evil).
I am just not perfect, so I try to be compassionate when others are not, but I am afraid, I do judge sometimes and am embarrased when I am somewhere else and the obnoxious people are Americans.
I know what you mean, Jodi. If the loud people around me are from my neck of the woods, I get very, very quiet! And it is hard not to judge. But like I’ve learned from you and others, awareness is the first and major step, and helps to temper that tendency. Thank you!
We go to the ‘must-visits’ only first thing in the morning and, if possible, on pre-booked tickets. The art is in the planning. Otherwise, the best spots are NOT the best spots! 😉 Really enjoyed this, which reminded me of early naivety. I don’t think I’ve punched anyone, but felt like it. 🙁
If by “early naivety,” you mean “when we were young,” then I will agree. 🙂 I was more reckless in my behavior when I was young and am mellowing with age.
Your idea of visiting certain spots first thing in the morning is great (I just wish I was a morning person!). Thanks for reading, Christina.
Great advice. Crowds are huge in China too (to the point of claustrophobia sometimes–I couldn’t wait to get out of a maze of a bazaar in Sanya, Hainan) so Chinese tourists are likely used to jostling and elbowing and such. Patience is indeed what helps most, as does sense of humor. I like your approach of befriending people in line–makes the time seem to go faster.
Oh boy, I can only imagine the crowds in cities in China! Thanks for reading, Jagoda.
For me, this is the most depressing part about travelling – realising that everyone else in a crowd is as uncultured as me 🙁
Nice post, Laura, but I couldn’t spot the hidden naughty word *sniff*
“The unwashed masses” and all that, hey? Haa!
p.s. the naughty word is seen only in the bottom of the screen when you hover over one of the links. 😉
Good post Laura! I’ll keep this in mind as I venture only a few steps from my front door and hit Banff Ave. You’d think after all these years I’d be used to it…
Ohhhhh yeah, you’ve got it right at home, lucky you! 🙂 Thanks, Kendall.
Good article, I often visit crowded places such as markets, streets etc but never been to a place crowded with tourists.
Wow! cities getting more than 11 million visitors a year! my country attracts less than 1.5 million tourists a year despite the numerous tourist attractions.
Hi Rachel! Wow, I’m surprised that Kenya is at 1.5 million — I would have thought more go for the safaris, given the well-developed industry around that.
Hmm I went to Istanbul a few years back in June and the lines were incredibly manageable. Although yes I agree things do get worse these days, but go off the beaten path and its easy to be alone. But unruly tourists are the worst. They forget they are in someone’s home and it is not just a “sight’ to see and built just for them to gawk at. You can go now before things get even more crowded, or does that just make us part of the problem as well?
Right, maybe as “early adopters” of some places and sites, we just get the problem rolling?! Thanks for stopping by, and I hope you get to make that trip to India with your mom this winter. We visited in 2009, loved it very much.
I generally manage taxi drivers ok – but I’m on my own, and reckon keeping my cool with them is common sense, given that I often don’t know where I am and they could abandon me anywhere.
But was furious with some Chinese tourists – when I was last in Nepal, out for a meal with friends (a young family with beautiful children), a group of about twenty Chinese tourists took photo after photo of the children – without asking, So while we were busy eating and chatting we kept getting cameras thrust in our faces. I was rude to them – but they knew no English (or appeared to know no English) so it made no difference.
Yikes, that does seem a bit over the top, Jo! And hard to “coach” them in etiquette when there’s that strong of a language barrier.
I’m usually the tourist who ticks locals off. The taxi driver in France who looked at me with disgust when I handed him Belgian francs (this was pre Euro), the lady in the train station lav (also in France) who threw up her hands and refused to look at me when I wailed that I’d left my purse a mile down the station with my husband and didn’t know toilets require quarters in Europe. One nice thing,the taxi guy pulled over to an ATM and waited patiently while I procured French francs. And in general I thought French were much kinder than their reputation.
Ha! I can just picture it, Cindy! And I hate to break it to you, but the taxi driver was being nice and pulled over because he wanted to get paid! Thanks for sharing your tourist tales. 🙂