Over 18 million Brits will leave the country for their holidays this summer, with Spain, Greece, Turkey and North Africa amongst the most popular destinations. We all know the stereotypes about Brits abroad, but do they still ring true? A new poll from ABTA highlights just what we think about ourselves on holiday.

The usual stereotypes are upheld with two thirds of Brits (65%)* unwilling to learn the local language and believing that the British holidaymaker speaks English to locals. Over half (55%) also consider the British holidaymaker to be guilty of rowdy drunken behaviour and 38% consider Brits to be badly dressed when on holiday.

There is some good news however, a third (32%) of Brits think of themselves as polite and 42% of us think of ourselves as friendly abroad.

Regional differences

In general, people in the North East have the most positive view of the British holidaymaker with almost two thirds (63%) pointing to our friendly behaviour and one in five (20%) stating we’re willing to learn the local language.

Some regions however, consider us to be particularly badly behaved and the table below reveals which regions think the worst of the British holidaymaker:

Perception of British holidaymakers Region National average
Extremely badly dressed (22% - East of England) 13%
Extremely bad tippers (22% - Scotland) 14%
Very unwilling to try new things (32% - Northern Ireland) 15%
Very rowdy and drunken (53% - Northern Ireland) 27%
Rude (41% - Yorkshire) 31%
Speaking English to locals (77% - East) 65%