Unfriendliest nations

D

djjaycool

Active Member
http://www.cnn.com/2013/03/14/travel/friendly-countries/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

This article list unfriendliest and friendliest nations. What does everyone think?

Attitude of population toward foreign visitors
(1 = very unwelcome; 7 = very welcome)
Friendliest
1. Iceland 6.8
2. New Zealand 6.8
3. Morocco 6.7
4. Macedonia, FYR 6.7
5. Austria 6.7
6. Senegal 6.7
7. Portugal 6.6
8. Bosnia and Herzegovina 6.6
9. Ireland 6.6
10. Burkina Faso 6.6
Unfriendliest
1. Bolivia 4.1
2. Venezuela 4.5
3. Russian Federation 5.0
4. Kuwait 5.2
5. Latvia 5.2
6. Iran 5.2
7. Pakistan 5.3
8. Slovak Republic 5.5
9. Bulgaria 5.5
10. Mongolia 5.5
How do your travel experiences compare with this ranking?
 
I thought Morocco and Austria were friendly but not that friendly. I haven't been to any of the others.

I actually found Latvia and Bulgaria to be pretty friendly!

No comment re: Russia.
 
I've got to be honest, when I went to Morrocco I found that the vast majority of locals i spoke with where "friendly" because they wanted something.

I'm not being small minded foreigner here, from the taxi driver to the hotel worker and the kids in the street and pretty much everyone we met along the way, they saw they $ signs before they saw you. And that was from the souks and the Squares to the villages in the Atlas mountains. Everyone had an angle, or so it felt. Maybe unfair, but it was the impression left.

I guess we're fair game in that regard, there was a lot of poverty. But to contrast that to a country like India where there is a genuine warmth from people (even when giving the hard sell ):lol:.

Great place, some great charactyers and interesting people but not much warmth though.
 
Morbyd said:
I thought Morocco and Austria were friendly but not that friendly. I haven't been to any of the others.

I actually found Latvia and Bulgaria to be pretty friendly!

No comment re: Russia.
Click to expand...
Latvia was friendly and Russia was reserved, I must admit this was just after the fall communism. The times I visited Austria the people were stoic(I did a lot of snowboarding there)

MARKB said:
I've got to be honest, when I went to Morrocco I found that the vast majority of locals i spoke with where "friendly" because they wanted something.

I'm not being small minded foreigner here, from the taxi driver to the hotel worker and the kids in the street and pretty much everyone we met along the way, they saw they $ signs before they saw you. And that was from the souks and the Squares to the villages in the Atlas mountains. Everyone had an angle, or so it felt. Maybe unfair, but it was the impression left.

I guess we're fair game in that regard, there was a lot of poverty. But to contrast that to a country like India where there is a genuine warmth from people (even when giving the hard sell ):lol:.

Great place, some great charactyers and interesting people but not much warmth though.
Click to expand...
Morocco and Tunisia were the same to me. I hope this doesn't crass, but it may be a cultural thing to suck up every tourist dollar they can. I found that they enjoyed haggling over price and enjoyed it if you drove a hard bargain. I agree Mark warmth and greed are two different things.
 
The only nation I've been on that list is Portugal. Friendly enough.

I met a girl from Moscow last night though, she was very friendly so I'll base my opinion on Russians on that.
 
Found Bulgaria particularly unfriendly, but tbf it was the period a few years back when the country was in turmoil and we had a job on avoiding the daily demonstrations! Ireland definitely friendly, especially deep in the country.
 
Think Kuwait might have gone up a notch or two!

Kuwait is introducing measures, including a freeze on issuing new work permits, to cut the number of expatriates in the country by more than 1 million, Minister of Social Affairs and Labor Thekra Al-Rasheedi said.
Foreign workers make up about two-thirds of the country's population, estimated to be about 3 million.
But Rasheedi said the government was working to reduce the number of expats to only 1 million by 2023. About 100,000 would be culled each year, she said.
“It's part of the ministry's efforts to regulate the labor market, curb the phenomenon of marginal labor and restore the demographic equilibrium of the country,” she said in a statement to the Kuwait news agency KUNA.

New work visas would not be issued from April 1, while it was not clear whether existing visas would be renewed when they expired.

The measure will limit companies to hiring only Kuwaiti nationals. There are fewer than 1 million Kuwaitis of working age.
Rasheedi said an inspection team had been established to ensure employers complied with the new regulations.
There has been a recent surge in proposed new laws targeted at expats, including only allowing them to access medical care in the afternoon unless it is an emergency.
Lawmakers also have called for large subsidies for services such as water, electricity and gas to be scrapped for expats, which could push up monthly bills beyond the average salary.
Kuwait was named as one of the world's least friendly countries towards tourists in a global travel and tourism competitiveness survey by the World Economic Forum released this week.
It was ranked 137 out of 140 countries for friendliness.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top