
Do you remember being a kid at a birthday party when someone got more raisins on their cupcake, and the sulking and arguments began?
Dual pricing exists in Thailand because there are a lot of poor farmers here. A fair price is set for foreigners and then a separate fair price for the many borderline poor people in Thailand, who also pay taxes to help subsidise the attractions. What the foreigner must do is decide if his price is a fair one and then go about his business. But Westerners are so hung up on parity and equality that they are unable to do that.
They ignore the outrageous prices in their own countries and instead worry about whether they have parity with the economically challenged in Thailand.
Khun Burin, in his letter on the subject, brought up the fact that there is no dual pricing in Las Vegas, Tokyo, Hawaii or Hong Kong. That is true, but then there are no Thai farmers in any of those cities. The “poor” there have credit cards.
The unfortunate thing is that, if Thai authorities do take notice, they will likely address the issue by raising fees for Thais rather than lowering them for foreigners. Such a move would, no doubt, satisfy the many foreigners who are so desperate to achieve parity in pricing.
John Arnone