Multiple ticket price for foreigners is justified
I read the letter from Scott in the Star who put up a lopsided argument by quoting only low purchasing power foreign labors and budget travelers unable to enjoy the beauty of Penang Hill due to quadruple ticket prices, and of course I disagree with him. How about affluent tourists from high GDP nations or even from low GDP nations like China and India?
Dual tier pricing is a common practice in any country. For instance, Kandy Botanical Garden and other world heritage sites in Sri Lanka are charging foreigners at least five to ten times more than locals. Also most of the tourist spots in China are using dual tier pricing for local and foreign tourists.
Foreign workers are paid to work in Malaysia, basically their contributions are compensated accordingly and they should grateful to Malaysia for offering them jobs. They have no privileged rights to ask for equal term like our local people in accessing our public facilities. Local people should enjoy lower prices for various public facilities because they are tax payers who support local authorities and government.
No country in the world is running welfare-like tourism to cater for low income foreigners. Please travel and spend your hard-earned money in your own country if you can’t afford to pay expensive tickets in the foreign land. Anyway, there are alternatives for shoe-string budget travelers who visit Malaysia. Rest to be assured, there are still thousand more beautiful hills and mountains in Malaysia are waiting budget tourists to explore at no costs.
Nasi lemak and Char Koay Teow stalls are not operating by our government, whether to impose surcharge or not is irrelevant to Penang Hill’s quadruple pricing issue. I let the private businessmen to decide on their own pricing.
Let put a stop on same pricing policy for both local and foreign tourists in our tourist attractions especially those projects paid by our public funds.
http://www.nkkhoo.com/2011/04/26/multiple-ticket-price-for-foreigners-is-justifiable/
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