The bad behaviour of British tourists abroad caused a surge in complaints to police in the Spanish city last year – but where else dreads their arrival?

Is it something we said? If you are daydreaming about a summer holiday, you might get a less than warm welcome this year. This week, Barcelona became the latest tourist destination to hit back at British holidaymakers, blaming them for adding to a rise in complaints to police of almost a fifth last year, according to news reports.

Offences included drinking in the streets, all-night parties and getting naked in public – and totalled 113,707 between July and September. UK visitors avoiding countries targeted by terrorists created a tourist boom in Spain. But money can’t buy you friends, it seems – with Brits regularly topping surveys of the nationality that locals least want to see propping up their bars. So where have we made ourselves unwelcome?

Spain



Aside from Barcelona, we are hardly more popular elsewhere in Spain – even the British hotspot of Majorca is cold-shouldering us. This summer, graffiti sprang up across the island’s historic capital, Palma, reading “Tourists go home” and “Tourist, you are the terrorist”. The harsh words were said to be a response to the huge number of Brits now flooding the island. In 2014, things were even worse after the local mayor insisted he would take action when a teenager was filmed performing oral sex on 24 men in Magaluf, sparking outrage. A year later, British police were sent to Magaluf and Ibiza to try to help local police with unruly tourists.

Greece



What’s the problem with British tourists? The mayor of Malia was clear: “They scream, they sing, they fall down, they take their clothes off, they cross-dress, they vomit,” he announced back in 2008. And, in case there was any question, he added: “It is only the British people – not the Germans or the French.” By 2013, the situation was bad enough for the mayor to suggest creating an “out-of-town” area for foreign holidaymakers, quickly dubbed a “tourist ghetto”.

Latvia



The city of Riga is equally fed up with Brits behaving badly. Unsurprisingly, many in Latvia took exception at tourists urinating on the city’s Freedom Monument, which honours soldiers killed while fighting for independence. “If we also had other tourists, then British visitors who piss about all the time would not be as noticeable. Let’s not be politically correct – unfortunately, this is their speciality,” the mayor said in 2009. One tourist information company said it had stopped dealing with British tourists altogether.

Malaysia



In 2015, a British tourist was accused of causing one of the country’s deadliest earthquakes. A British woman – one of 10 tourists who stripped off on the top of Mount Kinabalu for a dare, to show they could withstand freezing conditions – was accused of angering the mountain, which is considered sacred by indigenous people. Four of the tourists were arrested for “committing obscene acts in public”, but later released with a fine after apologising.

The good news



According to the Foreign Office’s British Behaviour Abroad report, we are getting better. In the latest data, from 2014, there was a slight decrease in the numbers of British people arrested abroad in 2013/14. Most cases were handled in Spain (1,389), followed by the US (1,153) and the United Arab Emirates (261). Drug arrests had slightly increased from the year before (by 7%) but “the number of cases remains low compared to recent years”.

• This article was amended on 18 January 2017. An earlier version referred to “the island’s mayor” where “the local mayor” was meant.

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