Locals’ Price vs Gringo Price
Before I came to Brazil, I spent the best part of a year backpacking my way from Argentina to Mexico. While very few (if any) backpackers I met were actually poor, most of them were doing their best to make a limited budget stretch as far as possible. People were always swapping money-saving tips – cheap hostel recommendations, scams to avoid, any handy discovery to save a few pesos/soles/bolivianos.
But one financial question always seemed to cause disagreements: Locals’ Price vs Gringo Price.
I think we all feel we have the right be charged a fair price, but how exactly do we define ‘fair’? I remember on several occasions seeing a local person being charged, say 5,000 Pesos and then being charged 7,000 myself. The instant reaction is “That’s not fair! Why am I being charged more?”. On the whole, if the difference wasn’t too much, then I would just shrug it off, but this kind of thing would spark many discussions back in the hostels.
Should a relatively rich traveller really demand to pay the same price as an extremely poor farmer who is struggling to feed his/her family? Does the well-intentioned paying of these higher ‘gringo prices’ actually do more harm than good by raising the prices that everyone pays? A form of ‘price gentrification’ as it were.
Whatever your feelings on this subject, it is happening in Rio right now. Brazilian reporters Luciana Weyne and Evelyn Moraes went out onto Copacabana recently, one dressed as an archetypal carioca, the other playing the part of an estrangeira (foreigner).
A ‘gringa’ and a carioca – can you guess which is whiich?
They wandered the beach and made purchases from the same vendors (the ‘gringa’ laying on her best North American accent). They bought everything from bikinis and sunblock to Biscoito Globo and water. The difference in what they were charged was massive!
Now that the World Cup is nearly upon us, prices are set to rise dramatically and it seems like everyone is ready to cash in. Half the people I know here are making plans to rent their apartments out for big bucks. In fact accommodation prices have got so high that two British guys have set up a camp site for 800 people in the far western suburb of Recreio! A tent for the night will cost you £35 (R$140)! I think some guests will get a shock when they take their first taxi home from Copacabana…
Back in my travelling days I always happy to see national park entrance fees were lower for locals, especially in the poorer countries like Nicaragua and Guatemala. But what do you think about these gringo prices in Copacabana? If nothing else, it’s a great incentive to work on your carioca accent and blend in with the locals!
I get very frustrated with opportunistic vendors who try to charge me more for things because they think I didn’t hear them quote a different price to the person next to me!
It should be one price for all….but I have a feeling that this isn’t going to happen this year!
Definitely not this year! :)
It boils down to the old problem of ethics. Simple as that.
I agree with Bruno, a twisted standard of morals is the issue here. Why just the other day I was buying an endangered bird and as soon as the seller knew the final client is located overseas he doubled the price on me. C’mon!
I wouldn’t put it past you Gritty! ;)
But should it always be the same price for everyone? What do you think about the discount for locals I saw for the entrance to a Guatemalen national park. The average Guatemalteco could never afford the price they were charging foreigners for entry. So either they price out their own people from a location of national heritage or they miss out on valuable (and much needed) tourist dollars for the park.
Tom,
I think a policy which mandates discounts to locals should really be seen and calculated as a tax return. In some Swiss skying villages they pretty much do the same by way of charging a daily fee that non-residents (of the village) must pay. This “daily stay in town” fee is included and specified on hotel bills. The idea here is to charge the tourists for using the towns infrastructure, hence increasing revenue for the village – which in return will foward those resources to maintain said infrastructure and alleviate the burden of that cost on residents. Sounds fair to me.
Being the dreamer that I am perhaps a direct transfer to residents would be a better policy in Guatemala (or anywhere else really) because it would make locals actual partners – with benefits and, more importantly, responsibilities. If they can´t get their act together and keep the village clean, plus implement other measures that are always good for both natives and outsiders (civil traffic, avoid noise and sign pollution, provide a better workforce by way of better schooling, etc) then they would see the returns on their partnership dwindle. A way, I think, to incorporate people instead of just having a local mayor or party decide what should be done with the “daily stay in town” fee. And break that Latin vice of Always having the homen/hombre forte/fuerte hold array over the lives of others (the ol´ Figura Paternal …. disgusting).
Now about me hiring you as a “birdwatching guide” to see this park in Guatemala I´d like to know what kind of material (cages) you work with.
Ha ha ha! ;)
As far as charging nationals less for things like parks entry, one rationale for that could be that the park is in the country of the national, so in a sense they already own a piece of it, and they are probably paying some taxes or fees elsewhere, a small portion of which goes towards the maintenance of the park and the salaries of the park employees. That`s how I see it.
The `gringo price` issue to me is just fundamental macroeconomics being played out. A seller of anything always wants to get the highest price they can, and they will go to lengths to try and do so. Is the gringo price phenomenon any different than, say, utility companies charging business customers more per kilowatt hour of electricity than they charge residential customers? Their justification is that the business customer will probably use more electricity than the residential customer, and hence make greater use of the entire infrastructure, so they should pay more. But even if the business customer does NOT consume more electricity than an average residential customer, they still pay the higher unit price right from the start. So the bottom line is the utility companies charge them more simply because they know they can. Same with vendors in Brazil, and every other South and Central American country I have been to. They perceive that they can charge gringos more, so they try to do so. To me that is just one more thing that any traveller should make themselves aware of, not unlike weather and safety type things, and proceed accordingly.
I agree with Bruno, but it can happen in any country.
When I visit my wife´s family in Argentina I always ask why as a foreigner I have to pay double the price for a domestic flight in comparison to an Argentine.
Is it the same in Brazil?
Seriously?! It is officially more for foreigners? I haven’t heard of that happening in Brazil – sounds crazy.
I always work on the assumption that I won’t buy where there is no price visible (illegal anyway) as they will probably have a dual pricing system (and it’s not just Brazil).
I would add that this confirms my long held belief that, nice though Copacabana is, it’s tourist country and even the local pricing is higher than my local beach, Praia do Flamengo. I would never buy sunblock on the beach.
True – buying sunblock on the beach is asking to be ripped off.
You are right John. If tourists stopped buying things on the beach the vendors would reduce their prices. It is called “malandragem” in Portuguese. Unfortunately there loads of vendors at the beach that do not have any character, they are called “malandros”. They do not respect anyone.