Expedia.com has just started an annual survey which asked 4,000 hoteliers to comment on and rate tourist based on 10 specific categories including popularity, behavior, manners, willingness to learn the language and try local cuisine, generosity, tidiness, volume, fashion sense and propensity to complain. The Japanese score top honors, Americans are in the middle of the pack with the Chinese bottoming out the list.

“Hoteliers are the experts when it comes to interacting with tourists, so as the busy summer travel season approaches and vacationers prepare for their own travel experiences, we thought it would be fun to present some of their common perceptions regarding tourists from all around the world,” said Karyn Thale, travel expert, Expedia.com(R). “We hope the results inspire Americans to keep up their generosity and cultural curiosity and convince them to leave the white tennis shoes and fanny packs at home!”

Obviously, it is not that easy to silo nationalities into a neat little list but there are some insights to be gleaned beyond the “fanny pack” and American noise level. Basically, I feel that the main issue that Americans get frustrated by, and complain about, is the fact that hotel rooms are much different outside the USA. In the USA one can roll up to any Holiday Inn and have a big comfortable room with two queen beds, cable T.V., 400+ count bedding and a lot of other comfort items. However, as a general rule, this is not the norm with hotel rooms outside North America, which can be quite a shock when spending $200+ for a three star hotel in London that is a little more than a shoe box with a double bed and a tele that only shows Sky News and CNN International. I am a pretty seasoned traveler and this fact still gets me, but it is simply a rule of the road and not something to get upset about. So, simply adjust that expectation and expect that “quaint and comfy room in a former royal palace” to be the size of a Pod. After all it is just a room.

So, after no more avail here it is: The World’s Best Tourists, Ranking From Best to Worst, 2008

1. Japanese

2. German/British (tie) (The Germans were considered the tidiest of all nationalities.)

3. Canadian (The most popular tourists in their own country were the Canadians as well.)

4. Swiss

5. Dutch

6. Australian/Swedish (tie)

7. Belgian

8. Norwegian

9. Austrian/Danish/Finnish (tie)

10. New Zealanders (Kiwi)

11. U.S. American/Thai (tie)

12. Irish/Czech/South African/Portugese (tie)

13. Brazilian

14. Italian/Greek/Polish (tie)

15. Turkish

16. Spanish

17. Mexican

18. Russian

19. French …The French didn’t do too well, coming in, as you can see at 19th. They were seen as the most “fiscally conservative,” presumably when it comes to such matters as tipping.

20. Indian

21. Chinese