Your passport doesn’t grant you a license to be clueless.
Traveling abroad is an incredible opportunity to broaden your horizons, but it’s also a chance to make a terrible impression if you’re not careful. In the age of social media, a moment of cultural ignorance or disrespectful behavior is no longer just a private embarrassment; it can be filmed, posted online, and turned into a viral moment of public shaming. The entire world is now watching.
Avoiding these common blunders is the key to being a respectful and welcomed guest, rather than becoming the main character in the next viral “tourist behaving badly” video.
1. You are dressing completely inappropriately for a sacred site.
One of the fastest ways to earn the scorn of locals is to show up to a sacred religious site, like a Buddhist temple in Thailand or a cathedral in Italy, dressed like you are going to the beach. Wearing shorts, a tank top, or other revealing clothing is a major sign of disrespect in these places of worship, as reported by CNN. Many sites will have signs at the entrance detailing the dress code.
Ignoring these rules is a profound act of cultural ignorance. You will be seen as a disrespectful tourist, and you may even be publicly called out by a local or a guard and denied entry.
2. You are taking a selfie at a solemn memorial or tragedy site.
There are certain places in the world that are sites of profound sadness and remembrance, such as the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum or the 9/11 Memorial in New York City. These are not appropriate places for a smiling selfie or a fun Instagram photo shoot. To treat a place of mass tragedy as a backdrop for your vacation photos is the height of insensitivity, as mentioned by Radical Storage.
Doing so is a huge breach of decorum that is likely to earn you the angry glares of other visitors and could easily get you publicly shamed if your photo is posted online. These are places for quiet reflection, not for content creation.
3. You are harassing the local wildlife to get a better photo.
This is a type of behavior that is now being frequently filmed and posted online to shame the perpetrators. This includes getting dangerously close to a bison in Yellowstone, chasing a sea turtle that is trying to nest on a beach, or trying to touch a wild dolphin from a tour boat. This behavior is incredibly stressful for the animals and can be very dangerous for you, according to Sage Journals.
When other tourists see you harassing the local wildlife, they are now very likely to film you and to post the video online, a form of public shaming that can have real-world consequences, including fines from park rangers.
4. You are flying a drone in a crowded or restricted area.
A drone can capture some incredible travel footage, but in the hands of an irresponsible tourist, it can be a massive nuisance and an invasion of privacy. Flying a drone low over a crowded beach or a historic town square is a sure-fire way to get yelled at by the locals. Flying one near an airport or over a sacred site is not just rude; it’s often illegal.
The loud, buzzing sound is incredibly intrusive, and people do not appreciate the feeling of being surveilled from above while they are trying to relax. This is a behavior that will get you instantly called out.
5. You are being loud and obnoxious on public transportation.
The local subway or bus is a part of daily life for the people who live in a city, and it is generally a quiet space. A group of tourists who are talking and laughing at a loud volume, eating a smelly meal, or playing music without headphones is a major breach of etiquette and a huge annoyance to the local commuters who are just trying to get to work.
This kind of clueless and self-centered behavior is a common complaint from locals about tourists, and in the age of the smartphone, it is the kind of thing that can easily be filmed and shamed online.
6. You are touching the art or the artifacts in a museum.
The signs in a museum that say “do not touch” are not suggestions. The oils from your hands can cause irreparable damage to ancient statues, delicate paintings, and historic artifacts. A tourist who ignores these signs to get a selfie of themselves touching a famous work of art is committing an act of cultural vandalism.
This is a particularly egregious form of bad behavior that will get you immediately and justifiably called out by the museum guards and by other visitors. It shows a profound level of disrespect for history and for the shared cultural heritage of the world.
7. You are complaining loudly and publicly about the local customs.
Nothing marks you as an ugly American faster than complaining loudly in English that things are not like they are “back home.” Complaining about the small coffee, the lack of ice, or the fact that the shops close in the afternoon is incredibly arrogant and makes you look like a deeply uncurious and entitled traveler. The entire point of traveling is to experience these differences.
This kind of public complaining is not only rude to the local people who can often understand more English than you think, but it also makes all of your fellow citizens look bad. It is a behavior that deserves to be shamed.
8. You are taking photos of local people without their permission.
A country and its people are not a zoo. Taking a close-up photo of a local person, especially a child, without asking for their permission is a major invasion of their privacy and is considered incredibly rude in most cultures. They are not a part of the scenery that is there for your entertainment; they are human beings who are just trying to live their lives.
In the modern era, where everyone has a camera, this has become a major source of friction. You would not like it if a tourist came to your hometown and started taking pictures of you without your consent. It is a behavior that is increasingly being called out.
9. You are leaving your trash behind at a beautiful natural site.
There is a special place in travel hell for the tourist who enjoys a picnic at a beautiful, pristine beach or a scenic overlook and then leaves all of their trash behind. This is a profoundly disrespectful act that despoils the beauty of a place for everyone who comes after you and can be incredibly harmful to the local wildlife. The “leave no trace” ethic is a fundamental rule of responsible travel.
In an age of social media, a person who is caught littering in a national park or on a beautiful beach is likely to be filmed and publicly shamed for their selfish and destructive behavior.
10. You are haggling disrespectfully with a local artisan.
In many cultures, haggling is a normal and expected part of shopping at a local market. However, there is a difference between friendly bargaining and aggressively and disrespectfully haggling a local artisan down to a ridiculously low price. To argue endlessly over a price that, for you, is the equivalent of a cup of coffee back home is a very ugly look.
This kind of behavior shows a lack of respect for the artisan’s skill and their time. It can be seen as a form of bullying, and it is a behavior that can earn you the scorn of the entire market.
11. You are treating a sacred site like a playground.
Some tourists seem to forget that a historic church, a Buddhist temple, or a sacred memorial is a place of active worship and remembrance for the local community. They will talk loudly, let their kids run wild, or take goofy and inappropriate photos, showing a complete lack of reverence for the space. This is a massive sign of disrespect.
This behavior is incredibly offensive to the local people and to other, more respectful visitors. It is the kind of cluelessness that can easily lead to a public confrontation or being asked to leave by a guard, a shaming that is completely deserved.