Grenfell selfies and Peruvian orgies: The world's rudest tourists

From smelly feet in Thailand to stripping off on a sacred Malaysian mountain, these are the globetrotters who rubbed locals up the wrong way

A tourist caused outrage in Thailand when refusing to take her feet off a head rest on a bus seat

Travelling the world is one of the greatest luxuries a person can ever experience. Sadly, that privilege is occasionally lost on some globetrotters. After a gondolier recently posted a video of a group of tourists engrossed in their phones instead of the awe-inspiring Venice canals, we look at other examples of rude tourists.

Thailand: Feet first

In Thailand, feet are considered dirty and showing the soles of them highly disrespectful. So it’s easy to understand why Narong Thaopanya was a little upset when a western backpacker refused to remove her feet from his headrest. “The smell from her feet was filling the whole bus,” he said in a post which quickly went viral. “It was hot and made me feel sick, because her feet were next to my head. I asked her many times to put her legs on the ground and she would not do it. She just kept them in the air.”

Posting online, along with a video, he went on to say: “Somebody will have to use the seat and put their head where her dirty feet have been. Would she have done this in her own country?”

Bangkok: Dine and dash

It’s understandable to be hungry at the end of a long day of sightseeing, but this may be taking the biscuit.

Last year, a group of tourists from China were dining at an all-you-can-eat buffet in Bangkok when they took the edict a little too literally, pilling plate upon plate with shrimp and barging each other out of the way.

Germany: Football fans

Despite our bad reputation, English football fans are mostly respectful when travelling. There are, however, always a few who let the side down for the rest. This year, several members of the England Supporters Travel Club were banned by the FA following a 1-0 defeat to Germany in Dortmund for booing the German national anthem and singing distasteful songs about the Second World War and German bombers.

A minority of England fans were criticised for singing anti-German songs during a game in March 2017 (Credit:AP)

Peru: Party people

In 2014, Peruvian police arrested over 60 (mostly) Israeli tourists who had been camping at an archaeological site of Sacsayhuaman, just outside Cusco. The tents and pegs element of their stay didn’t bother police; it was more the debauchery surrounding it, which included possession of cocaine and marijuana, drunkenness, and orgies. Some were even reportedly caught having sex in a room used for meditation. How very respectful.

A gondolier was appalled in Venice to see a group of tourists looking at their phones instead of the canals (Facebook)

Venice: Digital nomads

One of the most beautiful cities in the world, Venice is often best enjoyed from a gondola ride around its wondrous canal system. However, a group of tourists visiting the city in October 2017 seemed more interested in their social media feeds than the glory of La Serenissima.

An irked gondolier recently posted a video of their antics on Facebook, commenting: “A fantastic ride. The customers are very happy, they’re enjoying the beauty of the city, they appreciate it a lot. They’ve taken lots of photos, made comments and said they will soon return to this wonderful city.” Let’s hope they tipped well.

Burma: Racist poems

Sometimes tourists can be forgiven for not knowing the ins and outs of a country’s history. When that tourist happens to be the expensively educated British Foreign Secretary, that excuse falls somewhat flat. On a recent trip to Burma, Boris Johnson enraged local officials by reciting a Rudyard Kipling poem, and had to be stopped by the UK’s ambassador to the country before he reached a really offensive line. The poem is written from the point of view of a retired British serviceman in Burma, and was seen as a reminder of the Asian nation’s colonial history under British rule.

Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson needed to be stopped from reciting colonial poetry in Burma

Sri Lanka: Rude tattoos

Tattoos are a part of life these days, but in 2014, Sri Lankan authorities ordered the deportation of a British tourist after she arrived from India with a Buddha tattoo on her right arm. Naomi Michelle Coleman was found guilty of “hurting others’ religious feelings”. She’s not the only westerner to offend Buddhists, who are sick of seeing tourists wearing Buddha T-shirts, slogans and buying mini-statues to put in their bathrooms or yoga studios.

London: Outrageous selfies

The Grenfell tragedy of June 2017 cost at least 80 people their lives, many more their homes and rippled throughout society, putting great pressure on councils and politicians. Understandably, local residents were outraged in the days and weeks after the tragedy when visitors, who had come from afar purportedly to pay their respects, began taking selfies in front of the charred tower.

Locals were upset when visitors began taking selfies at the site of the Grenfell disaster (Rex)

Rome: Making a splash

A group of young women caused a stir in 2016 when they cooled off during a scorchingly hot day in Rome. With temperatures soaring to 32 degrees, the trio took a dip in the 400-year-old Fontana dell’Acqua Paola on the Gianicolo hill, upsetting local residents. “You should go and do something similar in England or Germany,” one social media user posted in a gross overestimation of Britain’s sunny weather.

Thailand: Rocking up

In 2016 (which seems to have been a bumper year for rude tourism) police in Thailand released images of a man who had climbed a sacred “penis-shaped” rock to pose for a photo. Known as Hin Ta and Hin Yai (Grandfather and Grandmother rocks), the rocks resemble male and female genitalia, which presumably influenced the climber’s decision to scale the male member of the rock formations. However, many locals found the tourist’s action disrespectful while others worried he may have damaged the rocks.


 The rock on Koh Samui in Thailand is considered sacred by locals 
 (Flickr/Peter P)

Malaysia: Stripping off

Walk around naked on a Saturday in Munich’s Tiergarten and you’ll be fine. Do it on a sacred mountain in Malaysia, less so. British tourist Eleanor Hawkins discovered this to her detriment in 2015 when she and a number of other tourists posed nude for a photo on Mount Kinabalu. She and three others were arrested, given three days in jail, fined £1,000 and deported.

A zoo keeper was sacked for allowing visitors to ride a 69-year-old giant tortoise

China: Shell shock

A zookeeper in China went out of his way to accommodate guests in 2015 after photos emerged of tourists riding a distressed 69-year-old-tortoise. Native to only two countries, the Seychelles and Ecuador’s Galapagos Islands, meeting one of the near-prehistoric beasts is a rare privilege, but can probably be captured in memory without climbing on top of it.