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How much should you tip when traveling abroad? The answer can vary wildly depending on the country and what type of service you are using.
In some countries like the U.S., tipping has become an integral part of work and service culture. Whether you are grabbing a coffee, ordering food delivery, or visiting a hotel on vacation, tipping becomes a part of your expenses.
But in others, tipping is not encouraged and can even be frowned upon. So how do you know which tipping culture you’re interacting with?
These maps from Hawaiian Islands studied the tipping trends across 162 countries, looking first at TripAdvisor’s tipping etiquette guides for each country then cross-referencing with other articles on tipping in those locales.
How Much Should You Tip at Restaurants?
Exploring local cuisine and trying out different restaurants can be an important part of an international holiday, but so is understanding each nation’s tipping etiquette.
For example, while servers and bartenders in the United States—the only country with a 20% recommended tip—often depend on tips to supplement wages, tipping at a restaurant could be considered an insult in Japan, China, or South Korea, where employers include higher service standards as part of wages.
Also consider that the maximum expected tip can vary. If you are at a restaurant in Canada, Serbia, or the Dominican Republic, tips of around 20% would be at the top of the typical expected range. Meanwhile, 66 countries welcome a 10% tip.
Some countries also have “mandatory tips” in the form of service charges or gratuity for larger parties. Others like India have banned restaurants from mandatory tipping.
Tipping For Lodging
Whether you’re staying abroad, tipping may be expected for you to get the best service from the concierge desk, bellhop, or cleaning staff .
If you are in the U.S. or Canada, lodging staff tips range from $2‒$5 USD. On the other extreme, in countries like Argentina, Thailand, and Sri Lanka, you can get away with a tip of 50 cents.
For many other countries in the world, including Brazil, Mexico, and India, tipping etiquette and expectations usually amount to $1 to $2 in hotel staff tips.
Tipping For Transport
When you’re not traveling with your own rented car or public infrastructure, travelers look to local taxis and ridesharing services like Uber and Lyft for convenient ways to explore new places.
Interestingly, these drivers do not expect any tips in 88 countries around the world. Many countries including India, Sweden, and Morocco simply round up the cab fare as a small tip.
In 21 other countries including Canada, cabbies are usually tipped 10% over the price of the ride. But the U.S. tops the list with a tipping etiquette of 15% for taxi rides.
How Much Should You Tip For Different Services?
How does each country’s tipping culture vary by service, and how do they compare? And which countries don’t have tipping data available?
This interactive table helps you explore the map data directly by searching for your country of choice:
