Expedia: 2016 Expedia Flip Flop Annual Report

Expedia released the 2016 Expedia Flip Flop annual report, which conducted a detailed study of beach vacationers around the world. Pincheng summarized some interesting conclusions in the report on the characteristics of tourist behavior and the most popular destinations, such as Austrian tourists snatching the title of "the world's most fond of nude sunbathing on the beach" from German tourists.

Expedia.com released the 2016 Expedia Flip Flop Report, an annual survey of beach vacation behavior of tourists in North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Australia and New Zealand, which was commissioned by Expedia.com and conducted online by Northstar, a global research and consulting company. The survey subjects involved 11,115 adult tourists over the age of 18 from 24 countries and regions around the world. The study also specifically investigated interesting questions such as which country's tourists like to be naked on the beach the most, which beach behavior is the most inappropriate, and where to find the most attractive beachgoers.

The 2016 Flip Flop Report specifically noted that Austrian travelers preferred to stay natural on their beach vacations – which helped push Austria into the top spot for the first time. The report also revealed that 23% of Americans use beach Wi-Fi to “share what they’re doing on Instagram or Snapchat” and that beer is the world’s favorite beach drink, as 28% of global respondents named it as a favorite.

Austrians love nude sunbathing on the beach

In previous Flip Flop surveys, which date back to 2012, German respondents have always topped or tied for first place in nude sunbathing preferences. This year, 28% of Austrian respondents said they go nude on public beaches, compared with 25% in Germany and 18% in the United States. Worldwide, 10% of beachgoers say they have gone nude. Asian tourists are the world's shyest beachgoers; only 2% of Malaysians and South Koreans, and 3% of Thais and Japanese, said they have gone nude on the beach.

Most American respondents disagree with being topless or nude on public beaches. As many as 62% said they would be "somewhat or very uncomfortable" with a certain level of exposure - this proportion was only 44% in 2014, and 77% of American female respondents said they would "never" go topless on a public beach.

Americans divided over Speedo swim trunks

When U.S. respondents were asked about their opinion of Speedo-style swimwear for men, they expressed lower interest. About 48% of Americans believe that Speedo-style swimwear is acceptable for men, but only 6% say they would wear one. Worldwide, 63% of beach holidaymakers approve of Speedo-style swimwear.

Europeans: The world's best-looking beach holidaymakers

The Flip Flop report found that Europeans are often among the most attractive beach holidaymakers in the world. Worldwide, 24% of respondents said European beach holidaymakers were the most attractive, with Caribbean holidaymakers second (17%) and Americans third (14%). American respondents also showed patriotism, with 46% saying that the world's most attractive beach holidaymakers are in their hometowns - especially Florida and Hawaii.

Beach etiquette: The most annoying things to do at the beach

The 2016 Flip Flop report also asked respondents what behaviors beachgoers hate the most. "Slackers," or people who don't clean up after themselves, topped the list. For Americans, the 10 most unwelcome types of people at the beach are:

1. Lazy 48%

2. Parents who indulge their children 44%

3. Noisy people 36%

4. People who invade other people’s space 35%

5. Alcoholic 34%

6. DJ 28%

7. People who throw sand: 28%

8. Paparazzi 23%

9. People who flirt: 18%

10. Flirting 18%

Also theft, sunburn and sharks

34% of respondents said that having their belongings stolen was their biggest fear at the beach. 26% of Americans ranked it as their top concern. Sunburn was the second (18%) worry for American respondents, followed by bad weather (15%) and encountering sharks (13%). 53% of Hong Kong respondents said they don't swim at all to avoid being bitten by sharks, while about 22% of American respondents held the same view.

To avoid sunburn, 33% of respondents worldwide and 38% of respondents in the U.S. said they would apply high SPF (45 or higher) sunscreen and reapply it frequently. 41% of respondents in the U.S. said they would apply medium SPF (15-30) sunscreen and reapply it frequently, and 10% of respondents in the U.S. said they did not apply any sunscreen.

Beach rating: an important factor in popular tourist destinations

Respondents said they would definitely continue to flock to the beach in the future. About 46% of Americans said they had taken a beach vacation in the past 12 months, and 48% of respondents said they intended to go to the beach again in the next 12 months.

57% of beach vacationers said they traveled to an international destination in the past year. Based on the location of their most recent beach vacation, the most popular international beach destination for American sunbathers is Mexico. In the United States, Florida's beaches are the most popular. Worldwide, Spain's beaches ranked first, followed by Australia, Italy and Mexico.

Relaxation is the favorite activity of beach vacationers around the world (74% of respondents). Reading and napping are second, accounting for 44%. However, 17% of Americans work while sunbathing. Americans are second in the world in the proportion of people working while at the beach, second only to Indians (32%).

via: Pincheng Travel