Folks, I felt like it was time for a reflective post in some ways, and there was something that was hard to ignore when I was travelling earlier this year which I encountered in a number of countries, and that’s two-tiered pricing.

In fact some places have three-tiered pricing all depending on where you are from, such as Senegal where there was a price for Senegalese, a price for those in a certain part of Africa (French West Africa, states which I guess are linked) OR Africa in general, and then one for everyone else. Basically, if you haven’t travelled say beyond Europe or North America/Australia etc (which is NOT a criticism by the way) you may be unaware that some countries charge foreigners a different price to locals.

Is it OUTRAGED by this? No, of course not. There are logical reasons for it which in many cases are fair enough. For example the Pyramids of Giza have a different price for foreigners as for locals. They are an historic site of incredible significance, and it costs money to look after the area. But for locals to get in, well, they simply do not have the income to afford what foreigners are charged and it’s not fair that they can’t see the famous sights of their country, so their entrance fee is much lower.

Certainly this is true in many many countries where the average wage is a fraction of what we might loosely called the ‘Western World’. Then we have to consider what is a reasonable rate at which to charge. I would say double is ok. What do you think? But often you get left feeling like you have been taken for a ride. For example the Lahore Museum – 1000 Pakistani Rupee when I was there for the foreigners versus 50 Rupees for the local. It really seemed over the top. In fairness though, 1000 rupees was about $3.50USD at the time, so you can’t really complain about being charged that amount to see a museum. The Pakistani Rupee has been in a very precarious position too over the last 12 months or more. 140 PKR to the AUD when I was planning and booking, a couple of months later? 190 to the AUD.

At the end of the day, it’s common policy to charge foreigners more in Pakistan and I don’t have a problem with that, and often prices will be tied to the USD for foreigners so they will go up in local currency as the local currency falls. I don’t care that much in Egypt, or Senegal either. But some countries that do this might surprise you.

One of them is Russia, okay perhaps not a place many are rushing to right now, where places such as the Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg, the most famous museum (also a palace) in the country charge foreigners an awful lot more than locals. I felt like this was not a financial necessity, rather it was emphasising how much they didn’t like foreigners to be fair lol.

The one that shocked me on my latest trip was Turkey, a country that despite a President who wants to align Turkey more with the Middle East, still has hopes of joining the EU. I visited in 2004 and do not recall any two tiered pricing, but this time around everywhere I went that required a ticket had a big discrepancy from locals to foreigners. In fact, I even had the lady selling tickets at the ‘Basilica Cistern’ apologise to me. 300 Turkish Lira – about 14 Euro to enter, and for the local it was 50 Lira, a little over 2 Euro.

And Istanbul comes across as a pretty affluent place, beautiful houses, great public transport, and then the question needs to be asked, is the government or private owners benefiting from this? There was also two-tiered pricing at the incredible Topkapi Palace, but it was nearly severe as six times the price. At the Basilica Cistern they also hide the price, foreigners go to a separate booth, and no where will you see the price for the local advertised, although there are booths just for locals. I asked the lady serving me who told me the local price. So they believe they may have some unpleasant kick back from foreigners if they were to know they pay six times what people from Turkey were.

I wouldn’t have minded so much if say extra money raised was going to victims of the earthquake or something like that, but it seems the owners of the Basilica Cistern are probably running away with the profits. It’s very popular in 2023, unlike 2004, but unlike the palace it’s not so big and it is just one site, one thing to see, an historic place for storing water under Istanbul.

In short, generally I don’t have a huge objection to paying more than locals, at least when there is a marked discrepancy in wage earning capacity. I do object when it seems to be over the top in a situation where it simply becomes a case of taking advantage. People don’t want to miss this amazing sights!

What do you think? Is it basically a scam, or is it a reasonable thing to do? Let me know in the comments. Take care wherever you are in the world, May the Journey Never End!