Price discrimination - tourists pay 5x what locals pay

[Happy Dude]

I have no qualms with governments charging whomever whatever they like for visas - mostly that's tit-for-tat or there's risks associated with some nationalities - but it should be a national disgrace to charge foreigners more to see government run attractions. Dual pricing is discriminatory gouging and it would be branded a shameful disgrace if it were practised here.

 

[burmans]

I ended up booking on the U.S. site as two one-way flights and paid around US $330 all up - that's still nearly 3x what locals pay but about half of what they wanted on the Australian site. Thanks for the tip burmans​.

Happy to have been of service! Thats what AFF is for IMO.

 

[burmans]

Driver's licence, I believe.

No, No. read the website!
"If you are Tasmanian, and identify yourself as such (yes, yes, second head etc etc), you get in for free."

 

[Mattg]

Happy to have been of service! Thats what AFF is for IMO.

Cheers mate

 

[grubbidok]

Sometimes price discrimination is not to rip-off foreigners, but simply to deny government subsidies to non-residents. I know many emerging economies subsidise travel quite significantly and rich tourists would bleed them dry.

In terms of LAN in South America if you are entering South America on QF (or other OWE - in fact a variety of airlines apart from them too) you can get the South America Airpass, which makes flights in South America a lot cheaper: South American Airpass - Plan your trip with LAN Airlines - LAN.com. You do need 3 one-way flights to do it though.

Using a VPN to book flights always makes them cheaper. I'm yet to see anything travel related that is more cheaply done through an Australian website.

 

[grussellt]

Same in Cambridge. Was there last week with a friend who was a local and whereas I was paying up to about $30 to get my family into each college he was able to get into most for free.

If you pass the entrance exams into Oxford or Cambridge they will let you in for 3-4 years. However tuition is no longer free like in the good old days (and overseas undergraduates only paid 50 pounds p.a.)!

 

[Melburnian1]

The Swiss do it too. They get a 50% discount on SBB train tickets via a day pass free from their local council or by purchasing a yearly 50% discount card. Their argument is why should the local taxpayer subsidise the tourist leisure travellers on a nationalised transport service. ( not sure that argument applies to The OPs posting though)

However, when Australians or anyone else from outside Europe buys a Swiss Pass, if one travels a lot, one gets a hefty discount on what it would otherwise cost.

Without going off topic, I don't think we can always hold our heads up here. Consider the Chinese tourists who come to Australia. They can be herded into opal or similar shops and presumably then pay inflated prices, with a kickback going to the tour operator.

We don't give 50 per cent off to overseas senior citizens for bus, ferry, tram or train travel like our Australian seniors (and many other concession card holders) enjoy.

 

[Musongman]

"Consider the Chinese tourists who come to Australia. They can be herded into opal or similar shops and presumably then pay inflated prices, with a kickback going to the tour operator."

This is all to do with the "tourism mafia" and other shonky operators. Mindless foreign groups, I think, expect this, and rarely whine.
Alittle different to what the OP meant. IMHO.

 

[here2go]

Re: It's the Vibe!

Actually the price discrimination by the MONA gallery and SeaWorld are against the Australian Constitution and therefore illegal. The relevant section states:
　

"A subject of the Queen, resident in any State, shall not be subject in any other State to any disability or discrimination which would not be equally applicable to him if he were a subject of the Queen resident in such other State."

A class action would however be required as it's hardly worthwhile mounting a challenge to save such a small sum. It's the vibe!

We have "Territorian Passes" here in the NT, which cost the same or slightly more than an ordinary ticket, and encourage us to take visitors out to the various attractions, noting there aren't that many, and there is only so many times you can feed the archer fish meal worms at the Territory Wildlife Park before it gets tedious (although the novelty hasn't worn off after three years)

 

[Happy Dude]

"Consider the Chinese tourists who come to Australia. They can be herded into opal or similar shops and presumably then pay inflated prices, with a kickback going to the tour operator."

This is all to do with the "tourism mafia" and other shonky operators. Mindless foreign groups, I think, expect this, and rarely whine.
Alittle different to what the OP meant. IMHO.

Indeed. I recall reading an article in the age a while ago detailing how the (predominantly chinese) tour groups were mercilessly exploited on tours run by their own nationals. The local tourist groups and operators were aware of it and were going to great lengths to educate incoming tourists.

 

[crm911]

Consider the Chinese tourists who come to Australia. They can be herded into opal or similar shops and presumably then pay inflated prices, with a kickback going to the tour operator.

One of the current affairs shows covered this story for Japanese tour groups being herded into souvenir shops in SEQ that were owned by Japanese business interests.