Poll suggests Russians are the 'new rude'

A poll conducted by Skyscanner; Europe’s leading travel search site reveals the French have only narrowly beaten the Russians to the coveted title of ‘world’s rudest nation’.

Taking 19% of the vote, the French have long been known for their abrupt and curt nature, especially when dealing with foreign tourists, which has often been taken as rudeness by visitors.

However, the Russians appear to be hot on the heels of the French, winning 17% of the vote. The Russian economic boom and relaxation of visa regulations has led to a boost in Russians taking holidays in Mediterranean resorts popular with British holidaymakers.

Flight searches at Skyscanner from Russia to the UK’s favourite holiday destinations are up 203% year on year, meaning that more Brits are now rubbing shoulders with Russians whilst abroad.

Brits voted themselves the third rudest nation, taking 10% of the vote. The accolade comes just months after Brits voted themselves world’s worst tourists. And whereas it was once the Germans who were pegged as the sun-lounge hoggers by British holidaymakers, they only placed fourth in the poll.

Tatiana Danilova, Russian Market Manager for Skyscanner commented: “Russians can be more direct when talking, which may be misconstrued as being rude. However this is more a difference in culture than genuine rudeness. The Russian language is not as polite as English, so when Russians translate directly from Russian to English, it can sound rude to an English speaker even if they don’t mean it to. Russians tend to consider British people extremely polite due to their courteous way of speaking.”

At the other end of the scale, Brazilians, those from the Caribbean islands and Filipinos were voted least rude.

World’s Rudest Nationalities:

1. French 19.2%
2. Russian 16.6%
3. British 10.4%
4. German 9.9%
5. Chinese 4.3%
6. American 3.3%
7. Spanish 3.1%
8. Italian 2.3%
9. Polish 2.2%
10. Turkish 2.1%

*UK’s top 20 destinations taken from Skyscanner Travel Trends 2012: Spain, USA, UK, Italy, France, Turkey, Germany, Portugal, Greece, Cyprus, Ireland, Australia, Thailand, Netherlands, Poland, India, Switzerland, Croatia, Canada, Morocco