Brits 'worst behaved in Europe'

British tourists have been named as the worst behaved in Europe, in a survey published by Expedia.co.uk.

Expedia's Best Tourist Index is an annual poll that gathers the opinions of over 4,500 hoteliers worldwide in order to rank different nationalities on their behaviour.

Brits are also messy, bad tippers and very likely to complain, according to those from other European nations questioned in the survey.

"Being voted the worst tourists in the world by our closest neighbours highlights the fact that the 'Brits Abroad' moniker is a label we still haven't managed to shrug off," said Jonathan Cudworth, head of product marketing at Expedia.co.uk.

"While we are in second place in the global 'Best Tourist' rankings, we clearly have a job to do to convince our European counterparts and those at home that we can be better behaved on holiday," Cudworth continued.

Despite the complaints from European nations, Britain ranked second-best overall with one-fifth of those surveyed commending us for our politeness.

Those from the UK were ranked second in both the best-behaved and most generous nationality categories, trumped both times by the Americans.

Britons moved up from third last year to being the most likely to attempt the local language when travelling abroad.

The French were voted the world’s worst European tourists as well as the worst tippers and the rudest, with 10 per cent of voters labelling them as the most impolite.