I’ve experienced this within the United States while traveling to Orlando’s Universal Studios and I think price discrimination also applies to college tuition for in and out of state students. They offered a steep discount to local residents, while patrons traveling from other states had to pay full price or have a resident purchase tickets for them. I do have a cousin who travels the world frequently and he has often said that tourists pay much more than locals. He’s traveled to Africa, Egypt, Guatemala, and many others. When he travels he likes to live among local and not separate in Americanized hotels. He likes to eat what they eat, sleep where they sleep, travel how they would normally travel and learns the language/accent. When he sends our family email updates, he’s usually in the local attire down to the footwear. He said he not only does this because that’s part of the experience for him but also because he tells the locals that he’s a native traveling from nearby. He explained that he does this because on his very first trip they realized he was not a local and they charged him for everything and they charged him in excess of prices on the signs. He even was being extorted by authorities to pay to enter the country although he had a passport. Once he realized he was being victimized for being a tourist and American he began to disguise himself as a local in order to be treated the same and be quoted the same prices as the locals. He said he rarely mentioned he was American out of fear of being kidnapped for a ransom neither he nor our family would be able to pay. His friend in Africa stated that tourist who are visiting poorer areas or countries that are not aware of the culture or price gouging are targeted immediately because they feel that tourist have loads of money that they travel with. The people are usually poor and see tourists as a means of extra income and the government sees it as a way to extort much needed income for their countries.
I’ve experienced this within the United States while traveling to Orlando’s Universal Studios and I think price discrimination also applies to college tuition for in and out of state students. They offered a steep discount to local residents, while patrons traveling from other states had to pay full price or have a resident purchase tickets for them.
ReplyDeleteI do have a cousin who travels the world frequently and he has often said that tourists pay much more than locals. He’s traveled to Africa, Egypt, Guatemala, and many others. When he travels he likes to live among local and not separate in Americanized hotels. He likes to eat what they eat, sleep where they sleep, travel how they would normally travel and learns the language/accent. When he sends our family email updates, he’s usually in the local attire down to the footwear. He said he not only does this because that’s part of the experience for him but also because he tells the locals that he’s a native traveling from nearby. He explained that he does this because on his very first trip they realized he was not a local and they charged him for everything and they charged him in excess of prices on the signs. He even was being extorted by authorities to pay to enter the country although he had a passport.
Once he realized he was being victimized for being a tourist and American he began to disguise himself as a local in order to be treated the same and be quoted the same prices as the locals. He said he rarely mentioned he was American out of fear of being kidnapped for a ransom neither he nor our family would be able to pay. His friend in Africa stated that tourist who are visiting poorer areas or countries that are not aware of the culture or price gouging are targeted immediately because they feel that tourist have loads of money that they travel with. The people are usually poor and see tourists as a means of extra income and the government sees it as a way to extort much needed income for their countries.