Quote:
Originally Posted by AmericanSentiment
I have a few of the arguments posted and quite a few agree with me. It should not be about money. I am sure there are wealthy Dominicans that live in the Dominican Republic. Everyone there is not working class, but I am sure they pay the same price. I was very unhappy with this experience there. The only way I can see it as maybe racist or discrimination. There are dominicans that come to the U.S and other visitors from different countries that come here, and we would never do that. Some visitors that come to the U.S make 5x's as much as some citizens that live here. I don't see the point of over charging a visitor to a country. No one has made a valid argument of why someone should be over charge because they are not a resident.
Even as someone who has live in the U.S and when I go to tourist attractions here I am charge the same as a visitor.
I am still not happy about that during my first visit. I did not let it ruin my time, but I felt discriminated by Dominican citizens.
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IMHO there are two sides to this that are intermingled but really need to be separated. On the one hand formal set pricing, which at some tourist attractions and monuments may be the set higher than for residents. On the other hand places without set prices where in the Dominican Republic like in many other countries the price is set in mutual agreement, sometimes through negotiation.
In the first case in the DR a higher official non-negotiable set price for attractions like the teleferico, etc. This is very normal practice in developing countries, where the attraction is financed mainly through tourist visits, and locals are given a discount so that they can afford to visit as well. There is no racism whatsoever here, as the discount applies to residents, so to US, German, Japanese, etc. citizens with residency in the DR too. The rationale is that the
average tourist visitor in developing countries is a lot wealthier than the
average local, and the average local could never afford the tickets. Of course there are very wealthy Dominicans and tourists visiting on a budget (although even being able to afford the flight puts you above the average Dominican in terms of wealth), but those are relative exceptions. This is very normal in countries in a similar situation; I just came back from Egypt, where locals pay of fraction of the price that foreign tourists pay for entry to monuments like the pyramids, museums, etc. And if course European and North American countries also make all sorts of public services available to citizens that are not available for non-citizens. The result of the same price for tourists and locals would simply be either huge loss and closure of the attraction, or none but a few wealthy locals being able to afford to enter.
The second, pricing through negotiation, is something completely different, and yes, both tourists, expats, wealthy Dominicans, people from out of town, locals, family, frequent visitors, etc. might all be charged differently, to different degrees and in different situations. But that's just the nature of the pricing system.