Across Europe this summer the reputation of Brits abroad has taken a hammering - again - from Spain to Greece and other popular holiday destinations.
British newspapers and television programmes ran stories on a regular basis during the holiday months of Brits behaving badly, culmilating in the reports of two women being so intoxicated with alcohol on their flight home that they tried to open a cabin door to get some fresh air - at 30,000 feet - resulting in the plane landing in Germany before flying on to the UK, minus the two ladies in question.
One British based satellite television news channel sent a reporter to Majorca to see for himself what happened when holiday nightlife and British youth mixed - and the result wasn't pretty. Part of his report said:
'Just watching these hardcore holidaymakers is enough to give me a hangover - their ability to keep necking alcohol and party is incredible.
They are knocking back shots, pints, beer, spirits and coloured liquids that look like they should be used as bathroom cleaners.' And added 'It is colourful and amusing, if a little disturbing when stone cold sober. And of course there are some louts who spoil things for everyone else.
As the night wears on, the vomiting begins and some young people get in such a state they can barely get up off the ground, let alone make it back to their hotel or apartment.'
Meanwhile in the US, British behaviour while on holiday hasn't gone unnoticed, with one news channel reporting:
'A newly published report into British behavior abroad suggests that more Britons than ever are flying the flag of obnoxiousness in foreign climes. The report reveals a steep increase in arrests of Brits overseas: 33% in Spain and 42% in France over the previous year. "Many arrests are due to behavior caused by excessive drinking," the tv station reported, and added an official comment from the British Government - 'We are concerned that drink does play a part in a number of these situations.'
Wondering perhaps if the media spotlight falling on British holidaymakers by their own media was portraying them in a bad light unfairly, the US news channel observed:
60% of the Brits returning from Mallorca said that they had been drunk on at least five days of their one-week holiday, compared to 41% of Germans and only 6% of Spanish. More than 7% of Britons, meanwhile, had been involved in a fracas, compared with 3.6% of Germans and just 2.3% of Spanish.
The question of whether the British do behave badly while on holiday compared to other nationalities is answered perhaps by Mark Bellis, who is Professor of Public Health at Liverpool John Moores University which conducted the research.
'People from all the countries we've looked at have increased levels of alcohol use when they're travelling abroad - they're treating every night like a Friday or Saturday night. The reality, unfortunately, is that the levels of drunkenness among Britons are higher, and that's led to some of the alcohol-related problems we're familiar with.'
So it appears that while most people do increase the level of alcohol they drink while on holiday, the British tend to do it more than anyone else, and bad behaviour often follows excess drinking.
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