Discrimination
The guy quoted me the price. Then he corrected himself and amended the price upwardly. He said because I am a foreigner, the price is higher by a hefty $150. I asked him why. Is the air I breathe more costly? Are they going to serve me better food? Does my bed on the boat take up more space than it does for a Chinese person? Of course not.
I asked if Japanese and Korean tourists taking the boat also had to pay this surcharge. Because I know that at other places where ticket price discrimination takes place, it is enough just to LOOK Chinese. This means that ticket discrimination is enforced based on the fact that I am white. It is racial discrimination.
The tourist agent assured me that Japanese and Koreans also had a surcharge. (Later he admitted that different nationalities had different amounts of surcharge. I know that Americans get the highest surcharge.)
I didn’t let this rest. The tour agent said that Americans make more money than Chinese, so we can afford to pay more. Excuse me? I see Chinese driving BMW’s and toting Louis Vuitton bags everyday while I ride a bike and carry a backpack. “If that’s what they think, then why don’t the boat companies just ask to see our bank books when we get on board?” I asked. Because that would be way more fair than assuming that all Americans are rich.
Finally, the agent got to the heart of the matter. He said, “The boat company takes you to certain shopping areas for shore excursions, and they get kick-backs, or commissions, from the merchants. The boat companies get almost no money from foreigners when they do this. The Chinese buy lots of gifts, but foreigners are more frugal.”
Maybe if foreigners didn’t have to pay $150 surcharge (after already having paid $1500 for airfare to get to China in the first place) they would have money to spend at the vendor shops.
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