Should Foreigners Pay Higher Prices?

[Ulysses G.]

And finally, we should perhaps refrain from stating our value judgements as if they were immutable and universal facts. I think that is just plain wrong.

I concur.

[soomak]

If the tourists would disappear from Thailand, the country would still do well.

We foreigners like to think we play a very important role in keeping the country afloat.

But we dont.

We only contribute to the total, and not as much as some of us love to think.

Tourism contributes 6% of the Thai GDP.

I'm pretty sure that expats are not counted as tourism.

So the expats probably make another 1-2% of the GDP (I spend like 5 average thais).

Also - I don't believe that the sex industry is included in the GDP - since its all under the table.

[soomak]

The idea that the money goes towards park rangers doing a good job and nice toilets is nice. But so flawed.

So many parks in SE were founded, funded and run by westerners sad by locals turning a blind eye to so many issue's. The oran-utan is just one.

Elephant's is another.

The fact quite plainly is- it is wrong.Any sort of discrimination is.

Thailand will never shed it's 3rd world 'joke of a knock-shop corrupt country"until this nonsense all stop's.

Thai's know it is wrong that why it is a touchy issue. It is sensitive because of the shame attached to it.

I hope thai's choose to step out of the self imposed chain's.

It is funny that people say it is 'wrong'.

Economics 101, stuff you learn in your first month of studying undergraduate economics- best way to profit maximise is to price discriminate. In the west, this takes the form of

- Children: cheaper prices

- Adults: Full price

- Old age/pensioners/concession card holders: discounted price

You charge people to the limits of what they can afford, all for the same service no less!

Companies do it all the time. The same product (camera's, computers etc) are much cheaper in Asia than they are in say, Australia. Why? Cause Australians will pay the higher price for it.

In Thailand charging foreigners (not based on race, but residency) is a blunt form of this. As others have pointed out, it works in reverse - foreigners get the cheaper price.

If it was racially based, then there would be no way that my blond haired, blue eyed children, who also happen to be Thai citizens, would get the Thai price. But they do. Cause they can.

Sorry, but I must correct your pricing theory.

For electric appliances, cars, shampoos or tooth brushes, the difference in price between countries is due to:

- Different taxes (VAT, excise tax, etc)

- Different rent prices

- Different salaries for the workers

- And local competition

It has little to due with how much the locals can afford to pay.

The cars prices here are cheaper than in my country because the VAT is lower, the excise tax is lower, and the salaries are lower.