Where is the love? Study shows where Brits are most welcome

Ampilot’s map of Europe shows that the further east one goes, the less friendly towards Brits the continent becomes.

Brits abroad get a bad rap. Despite the millions of euros they pour into many of the continent’s most popular (read, most popular with Brits) destinations, in a lot of places they are at best tolerated, at worst openly despised.

So runs the rhetoric, anyway…

Actual proof that Brits are no less welcome in some countries than any other nationality is thin on the ground, and the handful of studies and surveys conducted on the topic usually show that a British tourist is more welcome than most.

And a recent study by hen and stag party organiser Ampilot looked into where in Europe the Brits are most welcome, and where the sight of a British tourist sends the locals running for the hills.

The results were not too surprising, but they are interesting to analyse nonetheless. Based on a rather rudimentary checklist covering English language skills, comfort with British culture, past experiences with British tourists and their own experiences of the UK, the study ranked countries on a sliding scale from friendliest to least welcoming.

Ireland topped the charts, making it Ampilot’s Number 1 most-welcoming country for British tourists and expats, followed by Austria and then, in third place, Spain.

On Spain – which has a long and proud history of welcoming hordes of British holidaymakers every summer – Ampilot said: “There’s no way around it, Spain has an outrageous number of British expats, more than eight for every 1,000 Spaniards in fact. Despite the middle-of-the-road score on English proficiency, the sheer number of Brits in Spain help it to number 3 on our list.”

At the other end of the scale, countries in Eastern Europe scored badly in their overall warmth towards all foreigners, not just the British, with ex-Soviet states faring the worst: a lack of English, a general unfriendliness to outsiders and a wider lack of exposure to other cultures making life in these countries quite challenging for an expat.

Scandinavian nations are, on the whole, welcoming, if chilly and expensive for expats, while central European destinations such as France, the Netherlands and Germany are rather neutral on the whole issue. Those countries seeking EU membership, however, showed a noticeable softening in their attitudes towards the Brits.

“Our in-house team of researchers and writers looked at a large volume of data for this study,” said Ampilot founder Rasmus Aarup Christiansen. “We rated the best and worst destinations for British expats. Overall, we hope this information will help Brits decide where they might be most welcomed as they move through Europe both for work and leisure.”