Tourist and Rude-Tourist Prices

by Martha Edwards on

One thing that I never get used to about travelling is the ever-changing prices. Here in North America, prices are clearly outlined everywhere — on signs, price tags, ads. They typically stay the same throughout the year. But almost everyone I’ve travelled to outside of North America has a special kind of pricing — I call it “I charge what I feel like charging” pricing.”

Vendors often don’t post their pricing; they eye you up before they figure out what they’re going to charge. This is both good and bad — on one hand, it allows you to barter with the vendor, but on the other hand, it usually means you’re getting ripped off, just by virtue of being a foreigner. Prices also vary by season. Summer prices can be double what you would be paying if you went a few months before or after.

Truth be told, it’s quite common for prices of food, accommodation and souvenirs to be raised drastically according to not only the season but where you’re from. But here’s an instance of seasonal prices being taken to whole new level — Merchants in Venice are charging 3 different prices: Low (for locals), High (for tourists) and super-high (for rude tourists.)

I think this is amusing (certainly nobody in Canada would have the gall to charge rude people more) but actually, I kind of like the idea. There’s nothing more annoying than the ignorant tourist who goes to another country to do little more than act like a jerk and insist that everyone speak English to him. He makes everyone else look bad. Word to the wise: when you’re a guest in someone else’s country, the least you can do is maintain some sort of polite dignity for the language and customs, and if you can’t do that much, perhaps you deserve to get treated less hospitably.

(via Intelligent Traveler)

The World’s Most Polite and Rude Cities

by Willy Volk on

I don’t know how empirical this study is, but here’s the skinny. Reader’s Digest dispatched several undercover reporters in three dozen cities across the world. In each city, the reporters:

  • Walked into public buildings 20 times behind people to see if they held open the door.
  • Bought small items from 20 stores and recorded whether the sales assistants thanked them.
  • Dropped a folder full of papers in 20 busy locations to see if anyone would help collect the scattered contents.

The reporters awarded one point for each positive outcome and nothing for a negative one. The results of this “study” show that the top three most polite cities are New York, Zurich and Toronto. Conversely, Asia fared very poorly. Eight out of nine cities there finished in the bottom 11. Could this be a cultural thing?

The least friendly city? Mumbai, India. They may be rude in Mumbai, but they sure can cook.