People booking holidays to Thailand or South Africa are advised to look in to local customs before travelling.
Holidaymakers planning to book flights to Thailand or holidays to Egypt are being advised to research customs and tipping expectations at their intended destinations.
The International Currency Exchange (ICE) has released some hints and tips for people travelling this winter, ranging from tipping practices to religious customs.
For those planning holidays to Thailand, the ICE emphasises the Buddhist temple dress code, which means no shorts for men and no sleeveless tops for women and advises that everyone must remove their shoes before entering a temple.
This is especially useful for visitors to Bangkok, which boasts some of Thailand’s most important Buddhist temples, including the Temple of the Emerald Buddha and the Temple of Dawn.
If you are booking flights to Egypt, you could be interested to know that tipping in hotels and restaurants is called ‘baksheesh’ and is typically between ten to 15 per cent for any service.
Travellers planning a holiday to South Africa may find it useful to know that it is common practice to tip around ten per cent in taxis.
Andrew Hamilton, head of marketing for ICE, comments: “Winter sees people travelling further to escape the cold of the UK – but that often means we are travelling to destinations that have very different customs to our own.”
Written by Ruth Norris
