The Rudest (And Friendliest) Nations For Travelers

Travel search site Skyscanner.com surveyed its users to find the world's rudest nations for travelers and the results are unlikely to surprise you.

Skyscanner promoted the online poll on its website, newsletter, and social media channels and had more than 1,200 responses from Europe, North America, and Australia.

So what nationality came out on top?

With more than 19 percent of the vote, the French easily took first place. Their notoriously snooty reputation shined through in the survey, with Skyscanner noting, They're known by many of their European neighbors for their abrupt and curt nature, particularly when dealing with foreign tourists.

Skyscanner's Travel Editor, Sam Baldwin, said the results were more or less in line with what he expected.

It wasn't surprising that the French were voted the rudest nationality, he said. This seems to be a fairly common stereotype, albeit not one which is necessarily true.

What was interesting, he said, was the way the British felt about themselves.

About 60 percent of the respondents were British, yet the British voted themselves the third-most rude nation. Familiarity obviously does breed contempt.

In a previous Skyscanner survey, the Brits also voted themselves the World's Worst Tourists.

The preponderance of responses from the British Isles may also explain why the French rated so high, given the long rivalry between the two nations.

In between the French and British were the boisterous Russians at No. 2.

According to Tatiana Danilova, Russian Market Manager for Skyscanner, some of the Russian's perceived rudeness may be cultural.

Russians can be more direct when talking, which may be misconstrued as being rude, she said. The Russian language is not as polite as English, so when Russians translate directly from Russian to English, it can sound rude to an English speaker even if they don't mean it to.

On the other end of the spectrum, sunny Brazil was rated the least rude country in the survey.

Brazilians are generally very warm, welcoming, and open to visitors, explained Mateus Rocha, Skyscanner's Market Development Manager for Brazil.

How did your country fare? Press Start to look at the 10 rudest and 10 friendliest nationalities according to the 2012 Skyscanner survey.