AGRA, India - With my wallet 750 rupees lighter after visiting India's most famous sight, the Taj Mahal, now seems like a good time to discuss the country's duel pricing system.
At the Taj here's how it works: foreigners (including those of Indian descent, although I'm sure this requirement is not enforced) and Indians are seperated into two separate ticket queues. The foreigners pay 750 rupees (about $18.75) and the Indians 20 rupees (50 cents). Then the two groups merge into a single to pass through a security checkpoint. A stern mustached man in a military unform rifes through bags to make sure no guns, explosives, iPods, headphones, cigarettes, playing cards or bottles of Jack Daniels are brought into this shrine to Muslim monarchies. Then Indian and foreigner are free to mix again freely, to enjoy the same fabulous views of this 400 year old wonder of the world.
To be absolutely clear, foreigners do enjoy a couple extras. For a fortnight of wages for an Indian working at the legal minimum wage, the entrance fee comes with a pair of shoe covers for walking around the base of the Taj and a 500 millileter bottle of water.
Is it fair? I think so. The average Indian makes less than a thousand dollars, while the average person able to travel to India might not make 35 times that at the moment, but certainly there is a high probably that they will in the near future (persuming they are not looking for a career in journalism). How much a person is charged for an attraction should have some relation to how much people pay, especially for a one-of-a-kind item like the Taj; this is how traffic fines are computed in some Nordic countries.
Duel pricing isn't unique to India. Plenty of countries, mostly developing ones, allow residents to enter attractions free or with a minimal fee while socking it to visitors. At Angkor Wat in Cambodia, nationals can wander the temples for free while visitors have to cough up $60. Entrance fees at the best game reserves in Africa can run in the hundreds of dollars.
But there's something about the system in India that bothers me, and that something is related to the origin of the second tier. Charges for many, many years remained equal. The system changed just seven years ago, when India was ruled by the Hindu BJP, a political party which pledges to uphold the 'Hindu Idenity' of the country. The government wanted to generate extra revenues that would be used toward keeping these monuments, statues and relics (several hundred tourist sites were allowed to charge duel admission under the bills). The law implies that foreigners are basically responible for subsidizing Indian culture upkeep. I don't agree with this, there are many rich Indians who are allowed to visit these sights nearly free of charge.
I find myself more in line with Chinese admission policy. There admission to historic sights is a flat rate, athough concessions for senior citizens, students and army veterans are in place. Attraction charges have risen steeply in the last decade - far too steeply, actually - but people are charged the same. This profiteering by local governments effects affulent Chinese along with foreign tourists. I believe things will soon reach a tipping point and admission fees will begin to fall, and when they do, they will fall for everyone.
While I respect the Indian government's right to charge through the nose to foreign guests, I'd rather the current government, led by Congress Party, reconsider.
