Like it or not, we're all victims of (and to greater or lesser degrees, guilty of) cultural stereotyping, and travel seems to be the catalyst that brings out the worst in us if surveys about the rudest nations on earth are any indication. One conducted earlier this year named the French the rudest, followed by Russians, British, Germans and Chinese. If I was French I'd be feeling a bit rude myself right now.
I wonder to what degree perception is set before anyone leaves home. The rudeness of the Parisian waiter is legendary, but I must say I have had the opposite experience more often than not in France.
While there is not a single Singaporean face starring in the STB's tourism campaigns (diversity seems to be the keyword here), arguably most tourists will associate Singaporean-ness with the Singapore Girl. Yes, she's attractive and attentive and ever so helpful, but I can't help feeling that if I were a Singaporean woman I'd find the image just a little old-fashioned, or even demeaning.
Being an Australian male, the burden I carry is a heavy one. After Crocodile Dundee and the Crocodile Hunter – what is it with Australians and crocodiles? – travellers should have a right to complain when they find that the average Australian bloke lives an urban existence.
Stereotypes are bunk. Except... I have an admission: I'm guilty of seeing travellers through a lens that can only be described as prejudice, though the cultural stereotypes that I hold to be true do actually have some basis in personal experience.
It used to be American travellers who were the loudest and most annoying, though that has changed over the years. I still hear the odd, loud American twang when I'm hitting the tourist sites but less than before. It may be that I'm less interested in visiting tourist spots.
Then again, maybe the weak US dollar is keeping Americans at home – in which case the strong Australian dollar has become my nemesis. Australians are everywhere, it seems, except Australia. When I overheard a loud Australian voice in Sienna explaining that Florence "is just another big city really. Like Sydney," I became a Kiwi on the spot. (New Zealanders are almost universally liked. Canadian is another good option, though I can't quite master the accent).
Loads of easy money sloshing about in Russia seems to have spilled over its borders too, and my experience of Russian tourists can be summed up in one word: Pushy. I'm hoping there are some polite Russians somewhere, but they're not going where I am.
Japanese tourists used to do the group thing, though I see it less these days. And I must say they do tend to be courteous, so not all stereotypes are negative. Then again, I did meet a Japanese guy riding a bicycle from Sydney to Perth once (it's a 3,800km journey) and I did wonder whether he was some sort of serial killer, even though he was awfully polite.
And Singaporeans? I have had a bit of a laugh at travelling companions wanting to eat Chinese food in Rome and coming away disappointed (when in Rome, eat Italian), but I can't say Singaporeans fall into any easy stereotype as travellers. So these days I always tell people I'm from Singapore when asked. I'm seldom believed, so maybe there is a preconceived notion of what a Singaporean traveller looks like after all.