I have just spotted this on advrider and thought I would repost it here to see what Hubbers think. I have spotted what I believe to be a massive error with it and am curious to see if anybody else notices it.

A surprising map of the countries that are most and least welcoming to foreigners

Totallly agree! ....masive error. Well I dont want to offend anyone - but for sure I had bad experiences in a lot of blue countries ...and lot of good in red ones.....latest Iran , which so far has been the best country I ever travelled !! .....

Surely not a scientific survey. Or even a useful one for determining a friendly place to visit.

The WEF gathered the data from late 2011 through late 2012 by asking respondents, “How welcome are foreign visitors in your country?”

This seems to people's perception of their fellow countrymen. A better survey would ask the foreign visitors how well they felt welcome. I felt quite welcome in Russia, but maybe the Russians think that their fellow countrymen and not welcoming (regardless of how welcoming the respondent himself may be).
A better question would have been “Do YOU welcome foreign visitors in your country?”

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Japan touring information

It depends a lot on your nationality. Because of their presidents war politic US passport holders are not very wellcome in arabic countrys and often have to pay a higher price for their visum...
For me Brasil Argentina and Chile were the most wellcoming countrys but i hate Nigeria and to get a visa for Angola was a nightmare...

http://reisemotorrad.eu

Liverpool UK ! ( not including any Hubbers ...........or course )
Felt unwelcome and under more threat than I ever felt anywhere else, including I might add, being caught in the middle of "Arab Spring" demo a few years ago.
But then Liverpool is red anyway isn't it ?

But seriously, it is an interesting map but totally accurate............. for one person and that's the person who produced it and interpreted the data gathered to make it. Everyone could produce a similar map but no two would be the same.

Gathering your own data would be fraught with problems, as it depends how you approach people in the first instance. Even the most unwelcoming 6ft tall 300 lb bearded axe murderer would be very welcoming if a very attractive young lady in the shortest shorts and top .........etc You get the idea.

It very much depends on who you are and how you are with others as to what response you get in return. Being a "traveller" you most likely enjoy meeting others and make the effort to be friendly and so on. I have friends who go on holiday and do the all inclusive sit at the pool get drunk thing and never go out of the complex. They think its great and the people are very "welcoming" Drop them in the middle of a souk in Marrakesh and they would hate it and say the people are not "welcoming" Anyone who has been there will know this is not the case at all !

The map? Give a blank one to 30 five year old kids and ask them to colour it in with blue and red - same result really

Tim........still waiting to get away

Malaysia. Got to be one of the most welcoming and traveller-friendly country that I've visited.

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Paul "Every county of England, every country of Europe and every (part of every inhabited) continent of the Earth" 94% done! What's left? Central America, East, Central and West Africa, Australia & New Zealand

Looks more like a political map , and a lot of bull shit!

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As per the points made in earlier posts, it all depends on the individual personal experiences which, by definition, are personal i.e. they vary from one to another person and with time, and with location - so, there are plenty of variables there.
Which glaring error you perceive depends on your own perspective.
For instance: quite a few of the countries shown in red are reported to be quite welcoming to a certain US citizen who was recently disowned by the USA with his passport being cancelled.
On the other hand, a whole range of European countries were less than welcoming to the President of Bolivia recently, who only wanted to overfly them or stop off at one of them for a slurp of avgas fuel.

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Dave

The UK thinks it is welcoming of foreigners? I'm sure the official prefered policy is for all tourists to land, leave their money and depart by the next possible means but that also seems to hold true for internal travellers who wish to use our tourist industry.
Austria must rate itself so highly because they've closed Matthausen.

... so true as we all know this map is a lot of bull shit .... as so much bull shit comes out of Washington DC ... we should just stop listening to it, and go find out what the world looks like - and than expose the liars and criminals.

mika

What a complete waste of some ones time.....

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A big boy did it and ran away.

Not if the person who compiled it was trying to influence how people think and the decisions they make, if that was their aim I expect it was very successful.

When you have nothing to do - then make work, when you have nothing to print then put something in to fill the space.

I'd think it is 'journalistic fill', probably done by a junior reporter to provide fill on a no news day.

I wonder if it is possible to set up our own survey of members based on their own personal experiences, one that allows people to rate countries from 1 to 5 for most welcoming? I personally would not know how to set it up but perhaps one of the site boffins does, it would be interesting to compare it to the one in The Washington Post.

"The person who compiled it" was not a person at all: it was the World Economic Forum, a Swiss nonprofit, and you can read the whole thing yourself after clicking on the link in the WaPost article. Anyone tempted to blame the whole thing on Washington D.C. (e.g., #10) might want to limber up their critical thinking skills before posting.

The research itself is fatally flawed, of course, as are the conclusions drawn. The attempt is interesting, and the report itself showed some promise before it sent me into a stupor by page 50 or so.

Mark