Why do tourists behave badly on holiday?

From knocking over ancient rock formations in Nevada to miming lewd acts with a statue in Italy, stories of tourists behaving badly on holiday seem to be on the rise, and destinations around the world are taking notice.

In the last few months, there have been protests against overtourism and "bad" tourist behaviour around the globe, and both issues seem to be coming under greater scrutiny. Websites and Instagram accounts like Tourons Of Yellowstone and Welcome to Florence serve as repositories of questionable traveller behaviour, and with each new documented instance, many may wonder: "What were they thinking?"

According to Javier Labourt, a licensed clinical psychotherapist and avid traveller, the answer is varied. "There are many factors that could influence this [kind of] behaviour," he says. "There could be individual factors, there could be contextual factors [and] there could be group factors, if the person is travelling with a group. So, I think that the first question that we need to ask to ourselves is, okay, is this person someone that would do this type of behaviour when he or she is at home?"

What counts as bad tourist behaviour can run the gamut from something thoughtless, like blocking a walkway to get that perfect Instagram shot; to offensive behaviours, like posing nude in public; to dangerous ones, like approaching wild animals. 

According to Dr Alana Dillette, Assistant Professor of Hospitality and Tourism Management at San Diego State University, some types of inappropriate tourist behaviour, such as trying to help an animal rejoin its herd at Yellowstone National Park, may come down to a general unawareness of social norms and what's acceptable in different destinations.

"I think a lot of it is lack of knowledge and [the] understanding of your impacts on the place that you're visiting," Dillette explained. "I think so many people travel and they're thinking about how it's going to be an experience for them, but they don't think about how their [actions are] impacting the place that they're in, because they just don't have the knowledge."

Another classic form of bad tourist behaviour is what behaviourist and author of the book On Being Unreasonable, Dr Kirsty Sedgman, who teaches at the University of Bristol, refers to as "main character energy".

[Tourism] has the power to lift people out of poverty, it has a power to connect people across cultures and religions and languages – Alana Dillette

When away from home, some people can become rude and demanding in a way that assumes locals, service professionals and others are there solely to serve them. This behaviour has seen a particular uptick on planes, where we now get regular reports of "air rage", passengers becoming belligerent, eschewing basic courtesy and refusing to comply with crew instructions. It got so bad that in 2021 airline industry coalitions sent a letter to the US Justice Department asking for help to curb the problem.

"It's not just that people are getting more badly behaved," Sedgman explains. "It's that often when they're called out on those bad behaviours… it's much more likely now that people will [get angry]. That sense of 'don't tell me what to do' it's really strong."

Labourt, however, feels that there may be deeper psychological issues at play. "[When travelling] we have to connect to the destination, to a new culture. This connection, it demands us to be in a different emotional position, and not everyone is ready for that."

The financial and psychological impact of bad tourism

Though much has been written about the environmental impact of overtourism, the impact of bad tourist behaviour – particularly vandalism – is something that's often overlooked in the voyeuristic retelling of bad tourist stories. The financial and psychological effects of these one-off instances, such as the destruction of sacred cave art in South Australia, are much harder to calculate.

"When heritage sites associated with a marginalised group are desecrated and vandalised, it says that their bodies, their lives and their history doesn't matter," explains Brent Leggs, Executive Director of the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund. "It often triggers memories of historic injustices and systemic racism, reactivating generational trauma."

Even damage that's not specifically intended to harm can still take a heavy toll, both emotionally and financially. "Oftentimes the property owners and stewards of historic assets are already struggling to care for these resources. So, when a building is vandalised, it's adding an undue additional financial responsibility," Leggs added.

What's more, sometimes the damage can't be undone. For example in 2021 a visitor etched over 4,000-year-old petroglyphs with their name in Texas' Big Bend National Park, permanently destroying a site sacred to local Indigenous communities. Priceless works of art and culture have also been affected by tourist behaviour.

What can be done?

Dillette feels that the way tourism is often advertised contributes to the problem: "I do think there's this element of anonymity that people feel when they travel that makes them act in ways that they might not otherwise, but then I think also some of it has to do with the way that… corporations and governments package tourism to people," she explained. "That's why I'm not a huge fan of mass tourism… The whole goal is to just get people in a place where they can over-drink, overeat, over-consume. It's like setting them up for failure."

Dillete says participating in more localised travel experiences can help visitors be more mindful – both about the way they act in a destination and the impact they have on the people who live there.

Governments across the globe are attempting to curb bad behaviour by instating harsher laws, creating official guidelines for behaviour and enacting hefty fines. From Amsterdam's "Stay-Away" campaign targeting drunk British visitors to Italy's barrage of new restrictions and fines aimed at limiting tourism and discouraging bad behaviour, destinations are coming up with new solutions to deal with the situation. Labourt however, feels that travellers themselves are the ones who need to change. He says that while it has become easier for more people to travel, not everyone is emotionally ready for the impact of being outside of their comfort zone, which could explain the uptick in antisocial behaviour.

Both Dillette and Labourt agree that the remedy for this kind of behaviour ultimately comes down to a shift in mindset – one that encourages people to realise that travel is ultimately a privilege, that visiting a place means you are a guest in someone else's home and that you should interact with people of different backgrounds in a thoughtful and respectful way.

"Tourism is really interesting because it does have the power to literally change people's lives," says Dillette. "It has the power to lift people out of poverty, it has a power to connect people across cultures and religions and languages that we wouldn't have if we weren't able to travel. But it's about how you do it. I don't want it to be like, 'Don't go anywhere.' But let's do it with a more mindful approach."

-bbc