Holidaymakers venturing to Paris, France from the UK have been warned that they could potentially face episodes of 'harassment', with some visitors indicating it's the most severe situation they've encountered. Reports of such worrying incidents have increased alarmingly, following a string of posts on Reddit which openly discuss and debate the less welcoming countries and cities for tourists.
A frequenter of the Reddit platform had this to say: "Paris is full to the gills with people hassling and scamming tourists. Far worse than anywhere else I've travelled."
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Another Reddit user chimed in with their own troubling experience, saying: "Paris was the worst incident while trying to buy tickets for the Metro from a machine in the underground."
They continued, detailing the intimidating encounter: "A guy was very insistent that we buy our tickets from him and not the machine. With no one around at the moment he was quite aggressive. It was just myself and my daughter. Once I had inserted my card into the machine he pretty much backed off as he wasn't going to scam us. I can see how someone might fall for it or be intimidated enough to just give in."
A different visitor recounted a similar incident, warning: "Paris is really bad for scammers. The most common one I've seen is young Arabic people asking for donations for a deaf/blind agency. There's usually 3-4 of them per big tourist site.", reports Birmingham Live.
Finally, reflecting the collective disappointment felt by seasoned explorers, another wrote: "It's so sad many countries are like this. As someone who loves to travel it really ruins it."
One individual expressed nostalgia for the past, saying: "Sometimes I wish I could go back 30-40 years and finish all my travelling, see places before the internet made it popular. It's gotten so bad that older Italian immigrants I know won't go back home to their beautiful country for a visit."
Another shared their unexpected experience in Paris: "I was surprised by the Latin quarter, Paris. So many shawarma places and other street vendors constantly harassing tourists. I haven't experienced that in the rest of France."
They added: "Such heckling or whatever it is called is pretty common in Egypt, Rome, Spain, Thailand and around Taj Mahal, India."
They also noted: "(From my personal accounts and close friends - they included Paris too - but I had better experience there so giving it benefit of doubt)."
