“What’s An Unwritten Rule In Your Country That Tourists Always Seem To Break?” (30 Answers)

Tourists come in all shapes and sizes, and the reasons why they might end up breaking a rule or two (or several dozen) can differ just as much.

This can range from something as simple as a lack of awareness to an utter absence of respect. It’s one thing to miss a cultural norm or or get blindsided by an overinflated sense of anonymity, thinking rules don’t apply to you in another country. But it’s a whole different can of beans if they travel just to spend their time getting boozed out of their minds.

Bored Panda reached out to freelance tour leader Irmante Sungailaite to learn more about the whats, whys, and hows of respectful tourism.

Irmante primarily works with National Geographic Journeys and private clients, taking travelers to a variety of locations across the globe—in 40 countries, to be precise, including Mexico, Central America, Europe, and the Middle East. Irmante herself has visited over 100 countries at this point, but it’s not about the count—rather about the experience.

“I’ve seen all sorts of travelers—the most outrageous ones are doing something right in front of the sign that actually says not to do it,” elaborated Irmante on what makes some tourists break rules.

“It depends on the person’s education and manners if they obey the rules, written or not. You can be wearing shorts in a place that it straight up means that you’re not from there. So you’re just giving yourself away. Yet, not following unwritten rules can be complicated sometimes, especially when you know no locals to advise you otherwise.

The most common reasons for breaking rules, however, are failure to get to know the country’s rules and customs, and being flat out rude, as Irmante notes:

“Tourists either are so ignorant and fail to familiarize themselves with written or unwritten rules when heading to a certain destination or are just straight up rude not to comply with social norms.”

“They might feel that certain boundaries don’t exist to them and that way they cast a shadow of shame on all of the traveling community. Traveling with conscience, understanding, respect and an open mind is really the way to go.”

Besides getting into heaps of trouble themselves, the willy-nilly kind of tourists make those around them have to deal with the consequences of their actions as well.

And this is besides the idea of unsustainable tourism—practices performed by those trying to make a quick buck in the travel and tourism industry that cause harm to the destination’s environment, society, economy and more.

Unsustainable tourism is caused by a purely profit-driven approach to tourism, lack of regulation, global economic disparities, consumer demand, and lack of awareness. And that can affect the environment, the people living there and the economy.

And yes, it can get as bad as the travel sector benefiting completely and the people whose land and very soul is being sucked out getting zilch.