Japanese tourists the most polite, Americans the biggest spenders
New research among 192 safari operators shows major differences in how tourism professionals perceive guests from different markets. The results are also of interest to European destinations, but they should be read as the operators' perception rather than a universal scale of tourist behavior.
Japanese tourists are comfortably first for politeness, Americans lead the way in tipping and spending, while Germans are rated as the most inclined towards an active and adventurous holiday. These are the results of a survey conducted by SafariBookings among 192 partners operating in the African safari market.
Japanese way ahead of the rest in terms of politeness
As the market with the most polite guests, Japan received 21.1 percent of weighted mentions. It is followed by Norway with 10.6 percent, Switzerland with 10.4 percent, Canada with 9.2 percent and the USA with 8.7 percent.
Italy is at the opposite end of the table with 1.3 per cent. However, that result does not mean the Italians were voted „rude“, but rather that the fewest operators named them as the most polite guests.
Americans tip and spend more
Data related to spending are more interesting for the tourism sector. Americans were named as the best guests when it comes to tipping by 29.5 percent of operators, far ahead of Germans with 13.1 and Canadians with 10 percent.
A similar picture emerges with total consumption. The US leads with 24 per cent, while Germany and Canada share second place with 12.8 per cent each.
Germans, on the other hand, stand out for their activity. 21.1 percent of their answers position them as the most adventurous tourists, ahead of the French and the Dutch. In gastronomy, India leads with 18.7 percent, ahead of Japan with 17.5 percent.
For operators, the guest profile is more important than the star rating itself
The research has clear limitations. The responses are weighted according to the number of safari enquiries per individual market in 2024, and respondents were able to state multiple nationalities. Therefore, the results describe the experience of a specific segment of tour operators rather than the behaviour of all travellers from a given country.
However, I believe that colleagues who work directly with tourists will recognise the links to this research, and it is a real shame that more nationalities were not included
