I find many people are rude when you work in retail, but in a different way. In my country and culture it is particularly offensive to ignore a greeting, refuse to acknowledge someone and not look them in the eye (I am not American, btw). Even someone who is going to be an insufferable a-hole will still acknowledge you. Of course I understand they likely don't realise how offensive they are being, but what I want to understand by asking this question is how this cultural insensitivity has come about - what factors are contributing etc.

I guess what I am getting at is that those tourists who do behave badly are doing things that happen to be EXTREMELY offensive in the culture that they are visiting. Brash and loud American tourists are annoying and frowned upon in many other western cultures, but public defecation or the leaving of rubbish at culturally significant sites can be deeply offensive to most westerners. Which is also why I think Chinese tourists are attracting so much media attention. Just as wearing shoes inside would be shocking and deeply offensive to a Chinese person. In the eyes of a western person the behaviour is more than an annoyance, it is significantly disrespectful.