Double pricing system in Thailand

[oliversmith]

What do you think about the “double pricing system” in Thailand?

What’s about this: Foreigners (farangs) have to pay more than Thais when they go to a national park (like Khao Yai in Korat), or a zoo (like Chiang Mai Zoo & Night Safari).
In Khao Yai they want to have from foreigners about 400 baht and about only 80 baht from Thais. Or let go your wife ask at a market in Bangkok for a simple t-shirt an you go and ask some minutes later for exactly the same shirt.

What would a Thai say if he ever has to pay five times or even up to ten times more then an American native when he is going to a zoo in LA?

I am very much interested in your opinion about this behaviour.


morelam

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[Ian]

What do you think about the “double pricing system” in Thailand? ...
What’s about this: Foreigners (farangs) have to pay more than Thais when they go to a national park (like Khao Yai in Korat), or a zoo (like Chiang Mai Zoo & Night Safari).
In Khao Yai they want to have from foreigners about 400 baht and about only 80 baht from Thais.
What would a Thai say if he ever has to pay five times or even up to ten times more then an American native when he is going to a zoo in LA? I am very much interested in your opinion about this behaviour....

dusit zoo bangkok 100 baht,
los angeles zoo 12 dollar = >400 baht. berlin zoo 18 euros = 850 baht, NO discount for americans or europeans!
what would a farang say if he gets an 80% discount at home? WHAT was your point??

What is the entrance fee actually for? I would assume it contributes to animal feeds, enclosure mantenance and construction, vetinary fees, animal keeprs wages and all the ancillary staff and costs. So in a country with a high cost of living, such as Britain or Germany, the entrance fee needs to be scaled accordingly. Thailand with a much lower cost of living the entrance fee is accordingly cheaper, however, this does not explain why a foreigner is expected to pay more. This is a seperate issue.

[ohm]

I saw this in the bkk post, ‘post bag’ the other day

This forum has provided an avenue for farangs to vent their anguish when they find Thais pay one price and farang pay differently (usually higher) for the same service.
Many called it discrimination, racism or, more politely, affirmative action. Some Thais called it fairness and offer an explanation based on the tax system.
Whatever it may be, I just want to let my dear farang friends know that Thais too suffer the same fate.
A while ago I made a booking at the Peninsula Bangkok and found that room rates could be very different depending on your nationality. Thais pay a substantially higher price than others.
As I work in Australia, I used my Australian credit card to book and reluctantly pretended not to be Thai (it was cheaper this way). I don't know the basis of this policy but a friend in a travel agency substantiated it and said all high-end hotels in Bangkok subscribe to this policy.
Perhaps reverse discrimination on its own people, I don't really know.
There, I said it. So all my farang friends, don't be annoyed or disheartened, it happens to us too.

[Moa]

Before accusing anyone of double pricing, let's have a reality check...does any foreign 'native' english speakers here...ever complain of getting a bigger chunk of the pie...just how many of them takes home pay that is equivalent to 2-3 months pay of 'local' teachers average pay who are working in the same international school?

[rs2000]

If you look at it from another perspective, the Government is looking after their own people, which is, in my opinion a good idea so perhaps we could do the same in our own respective countries if we charge the tourists the full price and we get concession so we could take our family to those venues and interesting places without paying through our noses. Why our government do not look at out best interests at heart.

[dsugita808]

Yes, it's unfair that foreigners are charge more in Thailand no matter where we go. It's still cheaper that what I pay when I am living in Hawaii. I don't feel too sorry for all you farangs that are able to live and possible work in Thailand, even at the double standard of pricing. Somehow it all seems fair, considering all the benefits that Thailand has to offer. If it bothers you too much you can just go back home. It will just make more room of us that would like to be living there. If you are a tourist then you may just want to compare the price you have to pay in your home country. Globalization has still not affected much of the Thai working class.

[rleedy]

Double pricing is pretty standard in many places around the world. I see no problem with it. If going to a museum or zoo costs a little more for me it is OK. The fact is that I can afford the higher price and Thailand is very dependent on tourist income. Sometimes the street vendors get a little carried away with overcharging but some good old fashioned barganing can get the price down. The LA zoo does not depend on foreign tourists to survive.

[Ian]

Double pricing is pretty standard in many places around the world. I see no problem with it. If going to a museum or zoo costs a little more for me it is OK. The fact is that I can afford the higher price and Thailand is very dependent on tourist income. Sometimes the street vendors get a little carried away with overcharging but some good old fashioned barganing can get the price down. The LA zoo does not depend on foreign tourists to survive.

Double pricing I can live with, quadruple pricing and more is just too much for me to swallow.

[Michael Bukit]

If all you farangs think the double pricing system is unfair to you, especially those who live and work in Thailand. Then spend a bit of times to find out how much a farang teacher is paid compared with the Thai teacher. Do you know a farang teacher is paid a few times more than a Thai teacher just because they are teaching English? And some of the Thai teachers can be more qualified than farang teacher and they have a lot more works to do than the farang teachers. Like interview student parents, reading reports to student parent, answering student’s parent’s questions, etc..... as all these have to be done in Thai language.

[Sean Moran]

If all you farangs think the double pricing system is unfair to you, especially those who live and work in Thailand. Then spend a bit of times to find out how much a farang teacher is paid compared with the Thai teacher. Do you know a farang teacher is paid a few times more than a Thai teacher just because they are teaching English? And some of the Thai teachers can be more qualified than farang teacher and they have a lot more works to do than the farang teachers. Like interview student parents, reading reports to student parent, answering student’s parent’s questions, etc..... as all these have to be done in Thai language.

I think some of the best native-English-speaking ESL teachers come from the Philippines, and they can survive fairly well in a foreign country away from their local friends and family quite well on around 25% more than they seem to pay a Thai 1st year graduate, and they know the ins-and-outs of grammar far better than us Australians too.

Paying an extra 180 baht to get into Ko Samet for the weekend is nothing compared to what it costs to survive as an English teacher in a foreign land.