MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.,
May 13 /PRNewswire/ -- Even though Americans enjoy
traveling abroad, many neglect the local customs of other countries and make
common faux pas that can lead to confusion and embarrassment, according to a
new survey conducted by international travel site vayama.com. To help
travelers avoid cultural misunderstandings on future voyages, vayama has added
country specific etiquette guides that cover everything from dining practices
to appropriate attire, available at
http://www.vayama.com/etiquette.
Vayama's survey focused on U.S. adults' know-how of appropriate etiquette
in other countries and found that 95% of travelers(1) say they typically learn
about the places they visit outside of the U.S. However, they don't educate
themselves on local customs as much as they could. In fact, over half of
travelers (54%) said they typically stick to U.S. customs when traveling
abroad, and nearly half (47%) said they did something when traveling outside
the U.S. that they later learned was inappropriate behavior in that country.
"The results of this survey paint a bleak picture of how Americans are
behaving in other countries," said Tony Hanseder, General Manager of vayama.
"To help travelers overcome some of the common obstacles outlined in the
survey, we added country specific do's and don'ts to vayama.com to help people
brush-up on correct protocol before they travel."
Launched today, vayama's etiquette guides provide a quick and easy
snapshot of a country's culture and customs, including tipping practices,
dining etiquette, appropriate attire, how to greet someone, gift-giving,
cultural taboos and more. Vayama currently has guides for more than a dozen of
its most popular destinations and expects to have more than 50 guides
available in the next couple months.
Vayama's survey revealed that, overall, travelers are not very
knowledgeable about the customs of the places they visit. With Europe, over
half of travelers (56%) say they have no or limited knowledge of European
customs even though the same number of travelers (56%) have been to that
region of the world. Nine out of 10 travelers (91%) are somewhat to not at all
knowledgeable about the culture of Africa, and over three-fourths admit the
same lack of knowledge for South America (83%) and Asia (82%).
Vayama's survey found that travelers' lack of knowledge is most apparent
when it comes to table manners in other countries. For example, about half
(48%) think it's appropriate to tip when they travel outside the U.S.
regardless of the local customs, and a quarter of travelers (26%) learned
afterward that it was inappropriate that they tipped a waiter/waitress. One in
five travelers (19%) found out it was inappropriate that they waited for a
waiter/waitress to bring them a check, and one in four think that forks and
knives are used around the world so there's no need to learn other forms of
dining.
Americans are oftentimes misunderstood as disrespectful in other countries
when it comes to greeting locals and other nonverbal communication. Two in
five of travelers (42%) typically shake hands with someone they meet outside
of the U.S. even if it's not that country's custom to do so, and about one in
five travelers (17%) incorrectly think it is a generally accepted practice
outside the U.S. to gesture to someone with a "thumbs up" sign or the "OK"
sign.
"Unfortunately, certain stigmas of Americans abroad ring true. We are
typically too informal in our interactions so we end up being perceived as
rude or uncivilized," said Syndi Seid, etiquette expert to vayama.com. "When
traveling, people need to know that they can't behave in Madrid the way they
would in Miami so vayama has included this type of helpful information in its
etiquette guides."
The survey also compared the habits of those who travel abroad for
business to those who travel for leisure and uncovered that business travelers
surprisingly make more mistakes than their leisure traveling counterparts. For
example, almost a quarter of business travelers (22%) kept their shoes on in
someone's home without knowing it was inappropriate to do so, compared to just
13% of leisure travelers, and 13% of business travelers incorrectly addressed
someone as Mr./Mrs./Ms. versus just 8% of leisure travelers.
When it comes to learning about the places they visit, about four out of
five travelers (84%) learn about the country they visit by reading about it on
the Internet (75%) or in books/magazines (66%), and about two-thirds (62%) ask
someone such as a friend, relative or business associate who has been there
before. Only one third (34%) ask the locals when they arrive.
For more information on the vayama survey and its country etiquette
guides, go to http://www.vayama.com/etiquette.
About Vayama
Vayama (http://www.vayama.com) is a first-of-its kind travel website that
provides North Americans a whole new world of choice for booking international
flights. Using the latest in web technologies, vayama offers a massive
selection of airlines, flights and fares, many never previously available
online, so you can find the lowest prices and best schedule options for all
your international travel. Even though vayama is new, the company was founded
by travel experts with decades of experience, and is backed by one of the
world's largest travel organizations. Vayama is a subsidiary of BCD Holdings
NV, one of the global leaders in the travel industry.
About Harris Interactive
Harris Interactive is a global leader in custom market research. With a
long and rich history in multimodal research that is powered by our science
and technology, we assist clients in achieving business results. Harris
Interactive serves clients globally through our North American, European and
Asian offices and a network of independent market research firms. For more
information, please visit http://www.harrisinteractive.com.
About the Survey
This survey was conducted online within the United States by Harris
Interactive on behalf of Airtrade International between March 13 and March 17,
2008, among 2,552 adults (age 18 and older) of whom, 834 travel outside of the
United States at least once per year. Figures for region, age within gender,
education, household income and race/ethnicity were weighted where necessary
to bring them into line with their actual proportions in the population.
This online survey is not based on a probability sample, and therefore no
theoretical sampling error can be calculated. A full methodology is available.
(1) For the purposes of this study, we have defined the term
"travelers" to mean U.S. adults ages 18+ who travel outside the
U.S. at least once per year.
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