Once again Britain is back in Spain’s naughty chair. In the government’s annual report about British behaviour abroad, most incidents involving Britons happened in Spain.
As many as 5,700 Britons were arrested overseas last year, the highest number, 1, 745, including 171 drug arrests, occuring in Spain. But we Brits didn’t stop there. The country also topped the list for the highest number of hospitalisations- 1,024 and counting- 1,639 deaths, and 4,971 callers needing consular assistance.
Britons continue to behave badly overseas
These figures make gloomy reading but perspective is needed. There are more than 13 million British visitors to Spain each year including one million residents so proportionally there will be a far greater number of problems affecting Britons than in other destinations. In comparison, countries such as Thailand pose far greater risk for holidaymakers. Of the 850,000 Britons visiting Thailand, 200 were arrested, 246 were hospitalised and there were 347 deaths. The Philippines also saw the death of 74 Britons from less than 100, 000 visitors.
In the same report, countries such as Egypt with 1.5 million visitors, Turkey with under three million, and Greece with two million, were shown to pose the greatest risk for rape and sexual assault. There were five rapes and 20 sexual assaults in Egypt, 17 rapes and 23 sexual assaults in Turkey and 15 rapes and 17 sexual assaults in Greece. Spain, despite having a far greater number of British visitors, recorded 19 rapes and 33 sexual assaults.
What also emerged from the government’s report was the ignorance of holidaying Britons when it came to local customs and the rule of law. Of those questioned, 32 per cent were unaware that if they committed an offence in another country they would be prosecuted under local law. Many didn’t bother to find out about cultural differences in advance of their trip, and 15 per cent travelled overseas without insurance.
Britons have got a long way to go before being considered model visitors overseas but there is light at the end of the tunnel. Overall arrests were down by 10 per cent and there was a 20 per cent reduction in drug arrests. And lest we forget, when it comes to etiquette, at least it’s not the Britons who are wont to commandeer the loungers by the hotel pool.
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