Indians, the ‘Ugly Travelers’?

Indians, the ‘Ugly Travelers’?

We sometimes don’t hesitate to point our fingers at foreigners for their behaviour and sometimes, you know, for being loud, insensitive and obnoxious to us. But a recent study by Expedia, an online travel agency has revealed that Indian travelers are voted as “Ugly Travelers” to whichever part of the world they travel to.

Recently a survey involving 4500 hoteliers from around the globe rated Indians as some of their worst customers who often are loud, fussy and cheap.

As the Indian-Canadian comedian Russell Peters puts it, Indians are masters at bargaining. That very habit of ours is also considered bad when we Indians travel outside. Being loud and demanding is not new to us. To think of it, it could well be because Indians are known to live king’s life back at home.

It’s very normal for most Indians to own drivers, servants, nannies etc and it may reflect in our behavior when that sense of ownership is carried forward with us to other countries.

This is possibly the reason why some of the Indians end up treating attendants, receptionists, bearers and taxi drivers etc like we own them during their visits abroad. Indians calling a waiter at a restaurant by the click of fingers or calling by yelling out loudly is not uncommon be it in India or outside.

Indians are getting richer and India currently is one of the very few countries still spending its money on overseas travel on holidays. Time has come for us to get polished and to start behaving in a way so we can remove that tag attached to us.

While the “Incredible India’ campaign won the “World Travel Award -2009” for being the best campaign of the year for promoting India to foreign countries, it’s not at all a bad idea for the tourism ministry to come up with a “public interest” campaign that educates Indians how to conduct overseas.

India being one of the fastest growing economies has got the middle –class segment to include an overseas holiday in their wish list and the world cannot survive without Indian travelers any more. It doesn’t mean that the host countries should learn about tourist behaviors. Rather than banking on them to get acclimatized to our behavioral patterns, we Indians are capable enough to understand how to conduct outside of our home.

This could be possible if the Tourism ministry allocates and spends money on campaigns targeting the Indian overseas travelers by spreading “overseas travel tips” that educates a traveler on what to expect and how to fare during his/her time abroad.

Tips should include on how to conduct right from boarding the flight till return so India can remove that tag of “Ugly Travelers” voted by people who possibly are less traveled compared to Indians.

Once that tag of “Ugly Travelers” is removed from our necks, we can possibly win another award for another campaign, “Indians – Incredible Indians”.