A visit to Australia is a fascinating experience. Natural beauty awaits here, with mesmerizing oceans and forests. And hence, tourism has been booming in Australia for quite some time. The country’s most popular visitors are Americans. And, if you are from the USA you might wonder, what do Australians think of Americans?
Primarily, Australians believe Americans are exceptionally patriotic. Australians also think Americans are very litigious about small inconveniences that might happen during their stay.
The tourism industry has certainly contributed a lot to Australia’s economy in the past several decades. Nevertheless, Australians are often accused of hating Americans or treating them with little to no respect.
So, is that accusation credible? Read on to learn more about this topic, along with what else the Australians think of the tourists from the USA.
Australian’s Views of American Tourists
It needs to be noted here that there are approximately 26 million people in Australia, and therefore, their opinions are bound to differ about American tourists.
Not all tourists are impolite and ignorant about Australia, so the stereotypes that have been around for hundreds of years are not discussed here.
Therefore, the following list includes general views of several Australians regarding the American tourists and what they like and dislike about them when they are visiting their country.
1. Remarkably Patriotic
Many Aussies have mentioned, whenever they have encountered an American tourist, they were extremely patriotic. To be honest, this is a great trait to possess.
However, when it comes to believing that America is the greatest nation in the world, many Australians had problems with that statement. There are reasons why they react that way too.
As Australia has always been portrayed as inferior to countries like the United Kingdom and the United States, it has been held in low regard for a long time.
So, Australians take it very personally when American tourists paint Australia as a less developed country than theirs. So, this is an appropriate response, as Americans should be respectful towards other countries too.
2. They Only Want to Visit the Beaches
There are many beautiful places in Australia, yet tourists from America are drawn to its beaches more. Australia does indeed have a lot of beaches, however, since there are 12,000 of them.
But, there are also 500 national parks and 8,222 islands. So, just visiting popular beaches and monuments in popular cities such as Sydney and Melbourne is not the real Australia.
So that’s why the Australians always nudge their tourists to visit unsaturated places, like the Pink Lakes, Great Barrier Reefs, and Cape Tribulation.
Visitors can also enjoy scuba diving and meet friendly kangaroos in Murramarang National Park. In general, Americans tend to limit their visits to popular beaches, and that is baffling to Australians.
3. Their Accent is Weird
Although people from both Australia and the United States speak English as their native language, Aussies pointed out American accents seem a bit weird to them.
So, what do Aussies think of American accents to be exact? The answer is- many have stated, they find American English to be more forced and stylized than necessary.
As Australian English adheres to British pronunciation rules, the American accent appears to be more dominated by its clear “R” sound to Australians.
However, that does not mean Australians find American English difficult to understand. It’s just their perception of how a particular language is being spoken differently, in two places.
4. They Are More Progressive
Australians have also observed that American tourists are more progressive than them in some cases. For instance, in America, gay rights are more liberal than in Australia.
Additionally, Americans are currently more aware of the impacts of climate change and other challenges associated with it. Whereas, these kinds of development are a bit slow in Australia.
You have to take into consideration that Australia is disconnected from the outside world, as it is practically surrounded by the Indian Ocean, The Pacific Ocean, and the Southern Ocean.
Hence, this place develops in isolation from its allies which are Canada, United Kingdom, and America. As a result, American tourists are more advanced in some departments than Australians.
5. Litigious Nature
Even with the slightest inconvenience, American tourists are much more likely to sue someone. So, Australians find this trait very intriguing because they don’t practice this culture so commonly.
They do not believe that every minor issue should be discussed through a legal lens. So, Australians believe Americans have litigious nature even during traveling.
While traveling, there is the possibility of experiencing many unpredictable situations. That is one of the beautiful aspects of it.
So, when Americans begin blaming Australian authorities for some small unwanted affairs, it just leads to resentment between the two parties.
However, it is important to keep in mind, in America, people do practice litigiousness religiously.
Do Aussies Hate American Tourists?
Hate is an extremely strong word, to begin with. The stereotype that Australians hate Americans is not accurate. It is impossible to hate an entire nation and its population.
As discussed earlier, Australians and Americans do have some differences in several aspects, but that does not imply Aussies hate American tourists.
Americans have been their close allies since the beginning, and they have been the major percentage of the tourists in Australia. So, they gain a lot of money from them. Therefore, Australians have nothing against them in general.
However, there are some characteristics of Americans that offend Australians, such as the belief that they belong to the best country.
To emphasize, how a person would react to a certain action, highly depends on that individual’s characteristics. So, not all Americans are disrespectful, nor all Australians are rude.
People in Australia are more likely to treat each other according to their actions. So, you might not receive any special treatment (good or bad) just because you are an American tourist.
Similarly, Australians despise the idea of looking down on other people, so being arrogant around them should be avoided. Therefore, it all depends on American tourists and how they behave with the locals there.
If they are being respectful towards the Australians and their homeland, then Aussies would also show the same amount of respect to them. This seems like fair behavior.
Furthermore, Australia is also a multicultural country, which means they have different ethnicities living peacefully together. As a result, they do not mind foreigners visiting their nation, because they are habituated to seeing different races every day. Whenever Americans are in Australia, they welcome them wholeheartedly.
However, Australians are very reserved and warm if you get to know them personally. From the outside, they might seem loud and brash, and that is how they have been stereotyped for years.
Thus, Americans tend to think they cannot converse with Australians, but that should not be the case. People will be friendly with you as long as you are humble with them.
Conclusion
All things considered, what Australians think of Americans and American tourists depends mainly on a corresponding relation. There is no beef between the two countries or their citizens.
Due to the importance of tourism in Australia, Aussies do not feel animosity towards tourists. They only dislike arrogant foreigners who consider Australia less developed and mock their cultures.
I hope this article was able to educate you of how Australian’s perceive American tourists. I’m sure whatever radical myths you heard have been eradicated from your thoughts after reading this article.
Thanks for stopping by. And I wish you the best of luck on your visit to Australia.
