This article covers the 30 Rudest Cities in the World, with insights into global tourism trends and steps taken to promote sustainable tourism. For a quick overview of the top 10, read our article 10 Rudest Cities in the World.
The issue of residents being rude to tourists is nothing new. Back in 2017, people were asked on an online forum to list down annoying things that foreign travelers often do. Some residents in Italy expressed annoyance at tourists not following rules, such as taking a bath in the Trevi Fountain. Meanwhile, the locals in Denmark did not appreciate that tourists were always getting in their way.
The Rising Concerns in Global Tourism
In the last couple of years, tourism has been affected by a number of reasons, including inflation, rising costs of travel, and added restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic. But another factor that has impacted visitation is the rudeness of the locals, which puts off foreigners.
For instance, the image of the locals in France being uninviting and rude has led to the birth of a condition, often referred to as Paris Syndrome. It was discussed for the first time in 2004 and published in a French psychiatric journal. The condition is mainly known for being prevalent among Japanese visitors, causing hallucinations, sweating, delusions, feelings of persecution, and dizziness among them. Around 20 Japanese tourists contract this syndrome every year.
Paris is not the only city where tourists are treated rudely by the locals. In various locations across the globe, locals have admitted that they do not appreciate the noise, rising rents, and displacement that come with the overcrowding of tourism or overtourism.
A survey carried out in Hawaii revealed that half of the responders believe the state wants to benefit tourists at the expense of the locals. In the same survey in Barcelona, residents complained that rowdy tourists and rising rents have made their lives miserable. Locals in Venice also voiced concerns, saying that they have been displaced by foreign visitors.
A study revealed that because of an influx of a large number of tourists, residents also lose the right to live their lives in peace. Moreover, they feel alienated from their city’s local spaces.
Overtourism has also led to various global issues, including global warming and rising car crashes. The large influx of tourists has made some cities dangerous to drive in. Consequently, this leads to greater congestion on roads, and thus, inevitable car crashes.
As a result, it stands to reason that locals do not appreciate an influx of tourists and are rude to them, and sometimes, this resentment boils over. For example, in 2016, residents organized protests against cruise companies that were responsible for dwarfing the historic Doge’s Palace. Due to the anger of the locals, various governments and companies have sprung into action to curb over-tourism and improve the behavior of the locals towards visitors.
Promoting Sustainable Tourism
Various popular locations across the globe, such as Mallorca, Iceland, and Amsterdam, have been experiencing the aftereffects of overtourism, such as deterioration in infrastructure. For instance, Bali – receiving over 6 million foreign travelers every year – is slowly deteriorating. The large influx of tourists is taking a toll on the infrastructure, natural resources, and, most importantly, the people of the island.
Therefore, various countries and industry leaders are taking steps to overcome the issues of over-tourism. For example, Airbnb (NASDAQ:ABNB) has taken various steps to tackle the issue of overcrowding by tourists.
In 2018, Airbnb (NASDAQ:ABNB) set up a board to help draft a sustainable long-term vision of the company, which would reduce the role of the company in overtourism. Airbnb (NASDAQ:ABNB) aims to focus efforts on promoting tourism in rural areas, especially since these regions would benefit from tourism spending.
The efforts of the company continued in 2022, with it announcing in May that it would be using the platform to house the people displaced from their homes due to inflation. Consequently, it invited its hosts to provide shelter to Ukrainian and Afghan refugees.
Shortly after the series of announcements, Airbnb’s (NASDAQ:ABNB) market capitalization was at $74 billion. Currently, the share price of the company stands at $128.54.
Another company striving to promote sustainable tourism is Marriott International Inc. (NASDAQ:MAR), a hospitality service provider. In April 2023, the company reiterated its commitment to helping travelers enjoy their vacations in a sustainable manner. According to Marriott International Inc. (NASDAQ:MAR), it will ensure that all of its hotels and properties achieve green building certifications by 2025. Thus, it has started sourcing sustainable cleaning products, bottled water, room amenities, and paper.
Soon after the company announced its steps toward becoming more environmentally responsible, Marriott International Inc. (NASDAQ:MAR)’s share price showed an upward trend. It rose from $170.14 in April 2023 to $201.81 at the end of July 2023.
Branding to Improve Reputation
Cities are not new to rebranding activities, especially those with poor public images. For instance, New York City revamped its image in the 1970s, by partnering up with an advertising firm to start the “I Love NY” campaign.
Cities tend to use branding opportunities to come up with flagship projects that set them apart from the rest of the world. It is also a helpful way to move in the direction of economic and urban renewal. Some examples of these include the Pompidou Center in Paris and the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao.
Moreover, such branding activities are an opportunity for cities to change the way foreign travelers view them. For instance, Paris decided to host the 2024 Olympics and Paralympics to create excitement among locals and foreigners alike and promote a more inclusive image of itself.
To create a more positive image of the city, the Paris 2024 Olympic Committee has partnered up with some top luxury brands, such as Sephora and LVMH Moët Hennessy (NYSE:LVMUY). LVMH Moët Hennessy (NYSE:LVMUY) has agreed to be a premium partner for the event, with sources revealing that the company spent around $163 million to seal the deal.
Only a month after LVMH (NYSE:LVMUY) made this announcement, its stock stood at $858.73, an increase from $694.10 recorded at the start of the year. The dividend yield as of August 23, 2023 was recorded as 1.58%. LVMH (NYSE:LVMUY) is currently valued at $431.12 billion.
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Methodology
We have explained ‘rudest cities in the world’ as ones that are believed to be home to unfriendly locals, who can be unwelcoming and unhelpful to foreign travelers. For this purpose, we went through numerous Reddit threads pertaining to locations where tourists felt unwelcome. We used search terms like “Rudest cities in the world,” “rude cities in the world”, and “cities that are rudest to tourists” to find relevant threads.
To ensure the authenticity and relevance of our research, we focused on cities that were most frequently mentioned by Redditors across various threads and discussions. This approach led to a list of 30 rudest cities in the world.
Below is our complete list of 30 unfriendliest cities in the world 2023, ranked in descending order from 30 to 1.
30 Rudest Cities in the World
30. San Francisco
In a study conducted in 2022, San Francisco was named to be the rudest city in the state of California. People believe that this is mainly due to locals who aren’t from San Francisco.
29. Hong Kong
A study named Hong Kong the second rudest city in the world, which comes as no surprise. On various occasions, the locals have been deemed impatient, rude, and unfriendly.
28. Doha
Research by a company based in Doha revealed that hotel revenues in the capital of Qatar declined by 17.8% in 2019. This was mainly due to locals displaying rudeness to tourists. The traffic in the city has also been quoted to be horrible.
27. Frankfurt
A 2020 survey ranked Frankfurt as one of the rudest cities in Europe, with 4.7% of the respondents expressing that they had an unpleasant experience in the city due to rude locals. While the government has not taken any significant steps to improve tourist experiences in Frankfurt, Minor Hotels announced an initiative in 2023 to expand Avani Hotels & Resorts for millennial travelers.
26. Bombay
Bombay has been listed as one of the unfriendliest cities in the world due to the rude nature of its staff with foreign visitors. In a study, it only scored 3.91% in the friendly staff category.
25. Hamburg
Another survey also ranked Hamburg as one of the rudest cities in Europe. The city was given a rudeness score of 5.6% due to tourists stating that the locals had questionable manners.
24. Rome
When taking account of the rudest cities in Europe in 2020, Rome was ranked 20 out of 50 in a survey, mainly because of the people of the city being unfriendly and unpleasant. Moreover, the city has also been reported to have a poor work-life balance and minimal access to healthcare services.
23. Portland
In 2020, a survey was carried out among a population of 2,000 American adults to ascertain which cities in America are the rudest. Portland ranked 34 out of 50 locations in the US, based on the rude behavior of the locals of the city.
22. Johannesburg
A 2014 survey revealed that Johannesburg is the rudest city for tourists. Some were afraid of the high crime rates, while others did not appreciate speeding drivers. Over the years, the country has continued to have a poor reputation, with expats rating the city the ‘worst’ to settle into in 2022.
21. Seattle
A 2022 survey ranked Seattle as the 13th rudest city. 70% of the respondents said that people in cities are ruder than those residing in rural areas.
20. Baltimore
In 2020, Baltimore was consistently referred to as the ‘city in crisis’, which pushed the government to make efforts to rebrand it. Thus, the Super Bowl commercial in February 2020 was aimed to promote tourism by inviting people to eat a crab in the city.
19. Copenhagen
The Copenhagen Fashion Summit rebranded itself as the Global Fashion Summit in 2022 to promote the image of greater collaboration. With the change in its name, the event marketed its theme for the year, ‘Alliances for a New Era,’ to bring together different locations and boost relations. Copenhagen wanted to develop impactful partnerships through this summit.
18. Quebec
44 Canadian cities were surveyed in 2023, which listed Quebec as one of the rudest cities in the country, alongside Brampton, Surrey, and others. The average rudeness score given to the people of Quebec stood at 3.87 out of 10.
17. Los Angeles
Los Angeles was ranked among the top 10 rudest cities in California in 2022, with an average score of 5.35. This figure resulted after various calculations that took into account the rude behavior of the residents, such as not acknowledging strangers and not letting others merge in traffic.
16. Prague
In 2021, Prague City Tourism revealed a new marketing concept to entice domestic and foreign tourists. The main goal of the concept was to showcase the free lifestyle of the residents, as well as their life stories, creativity, and pure Bohemian heart.
15. St. Petersburg
On a list of the 25 unfriendliest cities in the world, St. Petersburg was ranked third. The reason behind this was cited as locals being unaccommodating and unpleasant to tourists, which left them disappointed.
14. Amsterdam
The Dutch have a reputation for being honest, which people often find rude. Their behavior is often deemed impolite and abrupt because they never make an effort to hide what they are feeling. Amsterdam is also home to locals who do not believe in protecting anyone’s feelings.
13. Vienna
In a study of 50 cities conducted in 2022, Vienna was ranked 27th, largely due to the perceived poor temper of its residents. 46% of respondents believed locals were unfriendly towards foreigners, while 43% gave a negative rating to the overall friendliness of the residents in the city.
12. Cairo
Cairo, the capital of Egypt, boasts numerous entertaining and cultural destinations, but some find the locals not quite welcoming. This is evidenced by the experience of Will Sonnebuchner, a content creator, who was treated poorly in the city in 2022. According to a news report, his photographic equipment was confiscated, and he was pursued by authorities throughout the duration of his stay.
11. Marrakesh
Foreigners, who have visited Marrakesh in the past, reported recounting poor experiences with the locals in the city. On various occasions, they experienced rudeness when asking for help from the residents of the city.
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Disclosure. None. 20 Rudest Cities in the World is originally published on Insider Monkey.