I’ve visited 130 countries – British tourists are exactly what they need

It used to be easy for British holidaymakers to get away from it all. But now with flight cancellations peaking earlier this year, queues and delays at airports becoming interminable, more and more bureaucracy to navigate and prices rising everywhere, it can feel like leaving the UK for a break is more stress than it’s worth. Yet, for all the extra complications, Brits don’t seem to have been put off from heading overseas. So, are holidays abroad still worth the hassle? Writer and stand up Ariane Sherine Juniper and travel writers Kash Bhattacharya and Mike MacEacheran give their perspectives. The arid steppe of western Mongolia is a strange place to stumble across a piece of home. Full of Kazakh nomads and eagle hunters wearing fox fur hats, it supported very little in the way of tourism when I first visited 20 years ago. In July 2006, I was in the city of Ölgii on that dry steppe, standing in a dusty outdoor bazaar. Under a dusky pink sky, I found a beaten-up outdoor pool table surrounded by locals and, with a cue in hand, another Brit traveller who was enthusiastically taking on all comers. We played the appreciative Mongolians, shared our good humour and paid for their cheap beers, even if we struggled to communicate properly with them. What a night. What strange bedfellows. Britons abroad get a bad rap. But wherever I’ve travelled across 130 countries, I’ve met open-minded Brits. I’ve always been struck by our ability to fit in well, spend our money wisely and be appreciative, enthusiastic and undemanding, whether it be in Bangladesh or Bolivia, Zambia or Zimbabwe. We are world-beaters at being polite. And I’ve lost count of the number of times that we have lifted the mood through laughter and jokes. I’ve seen it with sullen-faced immigration officials in Peru and Mozambique and with intimidating cops in Cameroon and Russia. We’re not perfect, but, in my eyes, we’re the gold standard of travellers. This doesn’t mean other nationalities aren’t mindful travellers. But perhaps by virtue of geography and history, we possess more of a relentless hunger for travel. From the 17th century, for instance, Brits took to Europe in their droves for Grand Tours. Then, 200 years later, Thomas Cook birthed a global travel empire by inventing the package holiday. Britain has long craved to go abroad – and we’re not shy to pay for the privilege to see the world either. This is backed up by stats too. Not only are we one of the largest travel markets on the planet, but we’re also only behind China, the United States and Germany in terms of how much we spend when we’re abroad. Be it on tourist tat, local booze or big-ticket events, we’ll happily come home broke. In my experience, we don’t do half-measures. One story has dominated the summer so far, and, happily, it backs up my theory. I’ll tell you right now that the Scots’ impact during the World Cup in North America was unmistakable. More than that, I believe, it’s one that’ll have a lasting payoff for US-UK relations for years. My most recent long-haul trip took me to Massachusetts, and I was fortunate enough to be part of the seminal moment when the Tartan Army invaded Boston last month. For eight days, 50,000 travelling fans drank the city’s pubs dry of Samuel Adams beer, placed traffic cone hats on statues, and stirred up a carnival atmosphere everywhere, from beautiful Boston Common to Fenway Park baseball stadium during an absurdly fun night watching the Red Sox. We created a feel-good buzz that Boston really needed (at least, so I was told on multiple occasions). The rowing Norwegians didn’t do that for Boston. Neither did the Moroccans, the Germans, nor the French, all of whom arrived in their droves. Why, Bostonians wondered, with some envy, couldn’t they have that much fun all the time? The upshot is now a sister-city agreement between Boston and Glasgow and a mayoral and gubernatorial-backed campaign to bring the Scots back to Massachusetts on an annual basis. The economic affect? Massive windfalls for hospitality, including a 50 percent surge on beer sales. In Providence, Rhode Island, which also hosted fan groups, it’s been estimated that $35 million has been injected into the local economy. “No Scotland, No Party” will be ringing out for years to come. For anyone thinking this is tartan-tinted bias from a Glaswegian writer, I saw a similar effect first hand with the Welsh at the UEFA Women’s Euro 2025 in Switzerland last summer. At the stadium in St Gallen during the Wales versus France game with my daughter, the bar was set early – and high – by the Red Wall. The crowd was a sea of bucket hats and the French were nowhere to be seen. It’s easy to misrepresent Brits on tour, but for the most part we travel well and – whether we like to admit it or not – people around the world like us. For our history, culture and humour, but also for our idiosyncratic, eccentric ways. Maybe that’s why Britain is seeing unprecedented growth in visitor numbers in return. So right now, I’ll argue that Brits are the tourists everyone needs. Because we travel with total commitment and we’re always happy to launch ourselves into new adventures and conversations and be funny about it. The world needs us just as much as we need them, and the real pleasure is in giving as good as we get. Perspectives