The Iniquitous Practice of Two Tier Pricing November 20, 2007
Posted by Clarissa Hughes in : Tourism , 4comments
There are not that many things in life that get my hackles up. But two tier pricing in the tourism industry, for African and non-African residents, is one of them.
I think the practice arose back in the 1980’s when South Africa was the world’s pariah and the sub-continent’s tourism industry was tarred with the same brush (foreigners had to fly via South Africa to get to any of its neighbouring countries). In those days the industry was largely dependent on the South African market and any foreign revenue was seen as the cream-on-top. I imagine the thinking went something along the lines of: “Well if they’ve taken the trouble and risk of being ostracized to come, they really must want to and therefore they’ll pay.” It was common practice well into the 1990’s in Botswana, Mozambique, Namibia and Zimbabwe to have a price for South African residents and another, higher price, for non-South African residents. (more…)
