Both sinned against and sinning: The Indian tourist story

Indian tourists dancing on the Great Wall of China. Indian tourists jumping into a five-star hotel pool without the mandatory shower. Indian tourists being rude on Thai beaches. Indian tourists being ticked off in upscale establishments at Gstaad. Suddenly, the whole world seems to be talking about the ugly Indian tourist. So how much of the hate is pure racism and cultural myopia and how much of it is actually true?

First up, it is important to call out the inherent racism lurking in much of the hatred that Indian tourists are attracting online. As someone who has travelled to many parts of Asia and Europe both for leisure and work, I have faced this myself. Often this manifests itself as poor service — an airport shop girl in Geneva pretending you’re invisible because she can’t be bothered with an Indian customer or the white cabin crew of a European airline snapping at you because you asked for water multiple times or even the restaurant in downtown Tokyo where you were made to wait for 40 minutes before being served the menu.

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It’s a conspiracy of silently ignoring a paying customer based on the colour of her skin. I have sometimes ignored it, sometimes called it out but never failed to see it for what it was.

Which brings me to the trope of the loud, Indian-snack-chomping, garba-dancing desi tourist that has gone viral for all the wrong reasons. Much of the shall-break-into-a-dance or song itch is fed by social media. As reels like these go viral, totting up millions of views and comments, they feed an entire community of travellers for whom this behaviour is the only reason why they are travelling in the first place, local sensitivities be damned. Is it hugely annoying? Absolutely. Is it culturally tone-deaf? Totally. But this is not an Indian phenomenon alone. When white influencers go around making reels about the grossest of Indian street food or post #Indiaisdirty reels about garbage and plastic-choked rivers, netizens globally don’t call them ugly tourists. In some weird way, it is ok to be anything from insta-annoying to insta-obnoxious depending upon the colour of both your money and your skin. But if brown girls and guys step out of line, they will be trolled from here to eternity.

None of this excuses some truly objectionable behaviour by Indian tourists. Let me recount a personal experience from over two decades ago when I was visiting Japan as part of a delegation of Asian journalists who were covering the Tokyo Motor Show. The authorities had appointed a lady who was in charge of our very tight itinerary. The entire programme sheet had been emailed to us 48 hours in advance. And yet, every single day, our tour guide would spend 15 minutes frantically calling a couple of members in the India group who would habitually wake up late/wander off to take photographs/forget something at the last moment thus delaying the team bus. For a people as punctual as the Japanese are, this behaviour was not only puzzling for our hosts but also deeply disrespectful.

Punctuality aside, basic civic sense and respect for surroundings is also something many of us lack, not only when travelling abroad but generally. I live in Pondicherry, a scenic beach city which gets inundated with tourists every weekend thanks to its very Insta-worthy heritage vibe. And yet, we locals constantly carp about how people park just about anywhere, litter everywhere even though there are garbage bins in the vicinity, put their foot on the painted walls to take selfies thus dirtying the walls, shoot reels in the middle of the roads blocking traffic and randomly enter private buildings in search of the perfect social media shot.

This complete disregard for public space and public convenience is a problem. It is a problem when we Indians travel abroad but it is also a problem when we travel within our country. Today's reel culture has only heightened this disregard.

Having said that, it is important to bring some nuance to the picture. Are Indian tourists often boisterous, unpunctual, habitual bargainers? Definitely. Do Indian tourists often do things that are specifically not allowed in private premises like getting into the swimming pool without wearing a swimming costume or bringing tiffin boxes of food into a restaurant? Definitely. But are Indians the worst offenders when it comes to being toxic tourists? Absolutely not.

There are multiple dip-stick surveys on social media that categorically state that the worst and most entitled travelling tribe on planet earth is the American tourist. Expedia’s 2009 survey named the French as the worst for being mean with tips and snooty to boot. And a December 2024 list by Travel Magazine US named the Chinese as the worst offenders followed by the French, British, Americans, Russians, Indians, Israelis, Australians, Germans and Italians.

I have witnessed this myself on a trip to Mount Titlis in Switzerland a couple of years ago. While waiting for the rotunda to take us down from the mountaintop, I saw a Chinese old marm casually take out the chewing gum from her mouth and gently place it in the Christmas grotto that had been set up in the waiting area. Like that was the most natural place for something like that. No big deal. Similarly, while vacationing in Samarkand some years ago, I got chatting with our tour guide who complained about just how entitled American groups tended to be. “They come all the way here but they want to eat pizzas and burgers only,” he said. “They don’t want to try our food.” I have also seen tourists wearing culturally inappropriate clothing while visiting places of worship in India and then complain about the locals staring at them.

So clearly Indian tourists are not the only ugly travellers. Nor are we the worst offenders by a mile. So why the hate? Part of the reason is the confidence with which Indians now travel abroad. In the immediate years after liberalisation, the prosperity it unleashed was still new and the Indian traveller still just a smidge tentative. Three decades on, everyone aspires to travel abroad and do so with confidence. A record 32.7 million Indians travelled abroad in 2025, up from 4.4 million in 2000. With prosperity comes aspiration and with aspiration comes confidence.

The Indian traveller is no longer diffident. This can, and sometimes does, come across as brash and entitled. It is also something that triggers the racism in the algorithm. Cue the trolling.

This is not to excuse problematic travel etiquette. Most foreign travel sites say the big problem with Indians is their habit of haggling and stretching the rules to suit their convenience. Like packing a sandwich for lunch from the breakfast buffet (which prompted a stern tick-off at an upscale hotel in Gstaad) or swiping not only the room toiletries but also items like hair dryers and towels before checking out of a hotel.

This behaviour is not restricted to budget travellers alone but even to the well-heeled premium-priced segment. It’s like buying a Mercedes-Benz and asking for a discount. It’s ok in India. It’s not ok elsewhere in the world. Clearly, we’re both sinned against and sinning when it comes to travel reputation. So, if we call out the one, we need to call out the other too.

(Nandini Sen Gupta is a freelance writer and author of several books. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstpost’s views.)