There's a New Sort of Ugly Tourist Afoot in the World

Jeff—Saturday

There’s been a revolution of sorts in the tourist industry. For generations tourism operators have had their “least favorites” list of guests, most often categorized by countries of origin. Virtually all new-to-travel nations have experienced time it that ignominious barrel, fermenting away in their own anxieties and cultural self-defenses, until demonstrating the desired mellowed good graces of being appreciative and courteous toward their hosts; whereupon they’re replaced by the next batch.

Today, there’s a new breed in the barrel. One that’s comes without a tinge of political incorrectness, for it cuts across all national origins, cultures, ages, races, religions, and sexual preferences.  But most importantly, across all brands of smartphones, a/k/a cell phones or mobiles.

Huh? you ask.

Permit me to backtrack.  Mykonos is a terrific place for tourism research. It’s currently one of the hottest tourist destinations on earth, drawing every conceivable category of traveler, be that by wealth, origins, or predilections.

Over the years (how many I shall not say) I’ve found myself in conversations with folk involved in tourism worldwide and listened to assorted takes on their then “least favorite” tourist. Generally, the evaluators agreed.

So, this year when friends in tourism began complaining about this year’s crop of visitors, I asked the natural question. “Where are they from?”

The answer blew me away. “Everywhere.”

“How could that be?” I’d ask, and the answer was as often mimed as spoken—by fingers imitating pounding on a cell phone.

It’s finally happened. That little screen has achieved what religion, globalism, and the Tower of Babel never did.  Universal assimilation of very different backgrounds around one shared ideal:  “I am the center of the universe, and what I hold in my hand shares my importance with the world.” 

A Tower of Babel made up of cell phones

Every tourist provider I spoke to said the same thing:  Social skills are gone. “Hello” has been replaced by “Do you have WiFi here?” and “Thank you” is now, “What’s the password?”  Far too many lack rudimentary civility, miss social cues, and believe they alone are all important in any situation.

If they arrive four hours before check-in, they want a room immediately.   If they stay four hours beyond check out, so what? How their desires impact upon other clients is of no concern to them, and disagreement is met with, “I shall give you a bad review on TripAdvisor.”

Etiquette has become a thing of the past for this type.  Loud phone conversations in the most public of spaces, peppered with curses and revelations of the most intimate nature, are commonplace. A gentle reminder that conversations of that sort are better held in the privacy of one’s room elicits the ever-at-the-ready, “I’m going to give you a bad review on TripAdvisor,” threat.

Desperate to emulate the celebrities they follow on Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest or whatever floats their boat, they use their phones to groom themselves for selfies, and much as did Snow White’s Evil Queen, anxiously await confirmation from their magic mirror of just how admired they are.

Thankfully, it’s not everyone from everywhere. But even a single burr under your saddle can wreck your day.

In the past, countries have attempted to counter their respective nation's bad tourism reputation by distributing to prospective travelers information on how to behave in the countries they chose to visit. [e.g., The Communist Party’s Central Guidance Commission for Building Spiritual Civilisation and the China National Tourism Administration issued a 128-character-long rhyme to remind tourists of behaving in a “civilized manner” on the road.]

Perhaps what’s needed today is a similar effort on the part of cellphone providers, passing along instructions on the elemental behavioral norms of face-to-face human interactions. Maybe a podcast would work, set to music, and narrated by a reality TV star.

Maybe.

—Jeff