British tourists love drunken debauchery

by Rob Peters | August 25, 2008 at 10:10 am

3889 views | 7 Recommendations | 21 comments

British tourists are quickly becoming known as problem travelers, according to a lengthy feature in today's New York Times. Apparently they've gained a reputation for drunken tomfoolery at major resorts around Europe, and many resort owners are fed up.

Some blame traveling packages that use cheap booze and uncouth behaviour as selling points. Others in the article put the blame on a certain British 'emotional discomfort.'

I was somewhat shocked to see this piece in the New York Times. It's basically a lengthy dis at an entire group of people. Could they have gotten away with the same type of generalization for any other group--Chinese tourists, say, or Germans?

In any case, don't sit next to a soused British tourist on lengthy train rides, apparently--you don't know what will come up.

They are the ones, the locals say, who are carousing, brawling and getting violently sick. They are the ones crowding into health clinics seeking morning-after pills and help for sexually transmitted diseases. They are the ones who seem to have one vacation plan: drinking themselves into oblivion.

“They scream, they sing, they fall down, they take their clothes off, they cross-dress, they vomit,” Malia’s mayor, Konstantinos Lagoudakis, said in an interview. “It is only the British people — not the Germans or the French.”

Malia is the latest and currently most notorious in a long list of European resorts full of young British tourists on packaged tours offering cheap alcohol and a license to behave badly. In Magaluf and Ibiza, Spain; in Ayia Napa, Cyprus; and in the Greek resorts of Faliraki, Kavos and Laganas as well as Malia, the story is the same: They come, they drink, they wreak havoc.

“The government of Britain has to do something,” Mr. Lagoudakis said. “These people are giving a bad name to their country.”

The stats:

They are also hurting themselves in the process. A recent report published by the British Foreign Office, “British Behavior Abroad,” noted that in a 12-month period in 2006 and 2007, 602 Britons were hospitalized and 28 raped in Greece, and that 1,591 died in Spain and 2,032 were arrested there.

The report did not distinguish between medical cases and arrests associated with drunkenness and those that had nothing to do with it. But it did say that “many arrests are due to behavior caused by excessive drinking.”

So it would seem. Reports of scandalous incidents rumble on regularly here and elsewhere, helping to cement Britain’s reputation as the largest exporter of inebriated hooligans in Europe.

But, of course, it's all a 'media exaggeration,' as one tourist put it, after listing off the 16 drinks he had the night before:

The tourists confessed to drinking a lot. One 21-year-old man from Essex, for instance, said that his consumption the night before had been five beers; six specialty drinks combined with Baileys, tequila, absinthe, ouzo, vodka, gin and orange juice; five vodka and lime drinks; and then five cans of Stella Artois, all of which, he said, emboldened him to pick up a woman to spend the night with. But they said that the lurid stories are media exaggerations.

So who's to blame, the tourist or the tour?

Local officials say the blame lies not just with the tourists themselves, but also with the operators of package tours promising drinking-and-partying vacations, and clubs offering industrial-strength alcohol at rock-bottom prices. For about $50 in Malia, tourists can go on unlimited-drinking pub crawls.

“British tour operators present them with these packages that promise a wild holiday in Malia,” said Brig. Fotis Georgopoulos, the police chief of Iraklion, which takes in Malia. “This predisposes them. They are automatically put into a wild and lawless mind-set that is beyond them.”

Or is it something else altogether:

David Familton, a Briton who works in a club here, said that it was a question of emotional comfort. “It’s because of British culture — no one can relax, so they become inebriated to be the people they want to be,” he said.

But don't people from every culture do that?

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Uwe Paschen

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 10:43 on August 25th, 2008

Rob Peters, I like this story. It's good stuff.

Helmut Schmit, former German Chancellor said in a public address to the Germans in 1976 I believe it was, after a news article about German tourist drunkenness in Spain, That each and every German is an Ambassador of Germany abroad and at home and that does failing to uphold a high standard of behaviour do harm the Father land in a great way and the German economy as well. It did work for a wile, yet they to may need a reminder now and then.

phoenixesrose

at 11:39 on August 25th, 2008

There was an article in the German newspaper, the Bild not too long ago about how German Tourists were fed up with British Tourists when they were on holiday. In particular, saying how rude the British tourists were among other things.

What's funny is that I think that all groups are simply different when they're on vacation v/s when they're at home.

Sputnic

at 12:29 on August 25th, 2008

I is a brit dont drink anymore though. When I lived out in spain everyone drank a lot loads of it was free like shots as prizes or to entice people into bars. The people who own the bars as well as the tour operators might want to change things

Sputnic

at 12:29 on August 25th, 2008

Sputnic

at 12:30 on August 25th, 2008

Sputnic

at 12:31 on August 25th, 2008

Emilio Lizardo

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 13:43 on August 25th, 2008

Rob Peters, I like this story. It's good stuff.

Not only Brits ... I know a few Americans that drink a lot. When I stayed in other countries they drank a lot there too ... heck, even wild bull elephants get drunk on fermented fruit every chance they get ... maybe that's just how many of us are wired up ... just a guess ...

paul.kilgannon@yahoo.ie

at 15:34 on August 25th, 2008

paul.kilgannon@yahoo.ie has contributed a photo to this story.

measiam

at 17:53 on August 25th, 2008

On the beach Aiya Napa.

measiam has contributed a photo to this story.

ptergillan

at 18:17 on August 25th, 2008

We Aussies didnt see any Brits-Behaving-Badly while we there, maybe they were all praying in the little Greek church on the beach? This photo was taken in 2007 in eastern Cyprus near Protaras and Cape Gkreko.

ptergillan has contributed a photo to this story.

highsmith

at 21:12 on August 25th, 2008

Too funny. I'm an American, but I was out with a bunch of drunk Brits when I took this photo in Ayia Napa , Cyprus. Yes, they are well known for getting piss drunk and acting like idiots. They tell me it's because back home the bars close so early that they've just developed a culture of pounding many beers in just a few hours since that's all the time they have to drink, normally, after a days work. SOooo get them somewhere you can drink all night and they just don't know how to slow it down. Each county has some generalization you can make about it's people and often they are true. But they are just generalizations, they don't apply to everyone...

highsmith has contributed a photo to this story.

Welshii

at 02:28 on August 26th, 2008

Ibiza.

Welshii has contributed a photo to this story.

Mikasi

at 06:59 on August 28th, 2008

Maybe a "Brits Gone Wild" video can be had out of this...

fed up american (not verified)

at 05:30 on August 31st, 2008

This is not suprising. They are the rudiest, most uncivilized culture in this universe. They act so "prime and proper' with there tea drinking and English accent, but the truth of the matter is that they are unhappy, miserable rude culture. I was bestfriends with a Brit here in America but had to end the relationship,.Too many embarrassing moments in public, and jst plain obknoxious to be around!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Titem

at 12:40 on September 3rd, 2008

A plane is about to land on Larnaca Airport, near a beach

Titem has contributed a photo to this story.

robertamsbury

at 12:17 on September 11th, 2008

Taken on the quiet end of Kavos beach, Corfu. It *was* nice once you walked away from town but Kavos was not for us - Eastenders, Footy and Only Fools and Horses on telly everywhere and full British breakfast at bargain prices.

Going through the main town at 4:00am on the way from the airport, there were many groups of drunken Brits stumbling around and bass driven music loud enough the shake the coach. I also saw a girl on her knees performing oral sex five yards down a side street - classy! When we explored during the day, there weren't any local crafts or culinary delicacies, but there were several tattoo parlours, a sex shop and more tacky souvenirs than you could imagine.

I would think that the British tourists (who predominated) are a complete pain, but the entire town was set up and dedicated to serving lager louts and loutesses out to get lobstered and contract a STD. Our tour rep only had information on bar crawls and nightclubs and that was with a large and reputable company. It didn't make me proud of my country but it also saddened me how the island had debased itself attracting our money.

robertamsbury has contributed a photo to this story.

firoel (not verified)

at 01:08 on March 30th, 2009

i am not concearned about or even interested in how brits behave when in holidays (abroad)

what they should be concearned about is:

why? they act like that.. what are the reasons that make them act like that (especially) when abroad....

when you brits find out the why... then you might actually be able to improve your tourist selves.

firoel (not verified)

at 01:14 on March 30th, 2009

I so much agree with david familton... i am a greek who lived in london, bristol and manchester and visited many other uk cities.

firoel (not verified)

at 01:16 on March 30th, 2009

i so much agree with david familton, i am a greek who lived in london bristol and manchester and visited so many other uk cities.

YeOldeSottsman (not verified)

at 12:08 on July 4th, 2009

Everyoon knoows that a brrit can't hold his juice! Haha ya spotty bastard BAM CAKE a mean wit the fukin cheese baws is tht ye couple ae fannys!

dak (not verified)

at 05:58 on July 16th, 2009

Just got back from a week holiday in Cavos, Corfu. As a Greek, I took great interest in observing the Greek tourist industry at work with British tourists and vice versa. By most standards, the whole tourist scene in Cavos is in bad taste. The main strip is lined with bars and restaurants/eateries one after the other. The restaurants serve substandard food at very competitive (read "cheap") prices. The bars serve poor quality alcoholic beverages at cheap prices and all play the same blarring music until sunrise. The competition is fierce! But this is arguably true of most competitive tourist destinations. From what I saw the Cavos strip doesn't offer an inkling of culture or much, beyond the climate, to tell Britons that they are in a different country. The whole thing is like being in the UK but with good weather... Everything is British! I couldn't even buy a Greek newspaper in the village. At a mini market the clerk was surprised to hear me speak to him in Greek. I guess Greek tourists are rare in Cavos, UK.... It was interesting that I was offered better prices at bars and restaurants since I was Greek.

Of course, I witnessed a number of sad and completely wrecked tourists who had literally passed out from drinking too much alcohol. Many of the tourists were also really rowdy, loud and obnoxious. However, what needs to be stressed about places like Cavos is that they attract a very young crowd (18-22 years old is my guess) of British tourists who are really not interested in Cavos' or Greece's culture (sad but true). Hence, their requirement for lots of alcohol and partying until sunrise is not surprising. Let's not fool ourselves. People of the same age class from other countries would probably act similarly. Florida, for example, has enough of such tourists during the college spring break who seek fun, sun, alcohol and sex and manage to wreck their own havoc.. It's partly about youth culture and their spending habits. Arguably, it has less to do with British tourists specifically.

The locals are interested in maximising the profit potential of their businesses and will give their customers what they want. Some of us may not like it, but it seems logical. The young British tourist is a market segment that merchants are reaching out to. Clearly, it is an issue of demand for a service. If Cavos locals understood that their clientele wanted dry martinis and lounge music then I think Cavos would be full of establishments offering just what their customers want.

Many nationalities indulge in drunken debauchery. When one collects a bunch of like nationality tourists in a small village then the debauchery is bound to be obvious and lead one to make oversimplistic generalizations about a given group of tourists. Yes, the British have a strong drinking culture (the why provides another discussion...), but places like Cavos, Malia and Faliraki should first and foremost be seen as places where young people congregate and secondly as places where British people congregate for their vacations.