Travel guide producer Fodor’s has revealed its pick of the worst tourists of 2024, including vandals who took aim at historic sites and stag-do brawlers.
It has rounded up 10 incidents from the last year that they think were the worst for tourist behaviour over the world, from enraging locals to damaging property and leading to fines and arrests.
Fodor’s named the group who brawled at a restaurant in Mallorca as one example of the worst tourists of 2024, which led to the arrest of eight Britons who were on a stag do.
The melee began when a staff member asked them not to throw beer cans and rubbish into the sea, with a waiter and two police officers ending up injured as a result.
The local council said the reaction from the Britons was “extremely violent” and police added that they had been excessively drinking while staying at a hotel in Palma.
Other violent tourists also made it onto the list. Two couples were filmed fighting each other at an observation deck in Tibet back in June, allegedly to secure the best selfie spot while attempting to climb Mount Everest.
During the brawl, the two men are seen on video punching each other while they wrestle on the floor, while one of the women was seen trying to pull one of the men away and the other woman joins in and starts kicking one of the men. All four were taken into custody.
Also appearing on the list were several tourists who did not think to bear in mind the social etiquette of the country they were visiting.
Fodor’s mentioned the time when two women decided to sunbathe in front of Bangkok’s Grand Palace in January 2024, as well as two other tourists who had been seen sunbathing beside a temple in Chiang Mai. Both incidents made headlines across Asia.
Tourists who danced on a Fujikyu Railway train in Japan and then posted it on social media, causing outrage online, also feature.
The operator of the railway stated that they did not “tolerate any dangerous or disruptive behaviour in our vehicles or any behaviour that interferes with the safe operation of our trains.”
A group of men also drew criticism in Namibia after posing naked for pictures atop the popular Big Daddy dune in the Namib desert, making it worthy of a place on the list. Officials said the act was a public indecency violation of park regulations and national law.
Fodor’s did not forget the time in July when a female tourist was filmed simulating sex with a life-size statue of Bacchus, the god of wine, pleasure and fertility, in Florence. The country’s culture ministry was outraged after the pictures of the tourist’s actions were shared widely on social media, leading to other social media users also expressing their anger.
Other list entries related to the damage of historical sites, such as the parkour tourists in the Unesco World Heritage city of Matera, Italy, who were climbing and jumping over ancient buildings, leading to a section falling off along with one of the free runners.
The final three places in the top 10 went to damage to the natural world, such as in August when three German tourists shot paintballs all over Joshua Tree National Park in the US, or the time a man kicked a bison in Yellowstone National Park and was arrested.
Finally, completing the round-up, Fodor’s also gave mention to the two Nevada men who were accused of damaging 140-million-year-old rock formations in a US national park after a video capturing them went viral, and ended up facing trial.
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