In Africa Expect To Pay Tourist Prices
September 15, 2007 by Jerry
If you are visiting Africa for the first time and don’t know what to expect, then you might want to know that tourists in Africa tend to pay more for almost everything than a resident.
The fact that you are actually visiting or touring Africa is proof that you’re immensely rich by local standards. Your flight ticket will most likely have cost far much more than the average annual income, chances are that your daily spending will also often be more than the average person makes in a week. So if you actually think you are poor then think again because you are about to be looked at like a cash cow - And if you are buying anything expect to be offered a “special price” with special VIP treatment.
That however doesn’t mean that you are about to be ripped off from every corner. Special tourist prices tend to apply to tourist services, tourist goods like souvenirs and if you are planning a wildlife safari then expect to pay more than residents when it comes to park fees.
You will often find that there will also be an officially sanctioned tourist pricing to deal with. Hotels and lodges often have local and tourist rates and the difference can be considerable.
These special prices are also prevalent In places where there are tourist resorts and on beach holiday spots frequently visited by tourists.
Here everything from food stuff to taxis will initially sometimes be offered to you at ridiculous prices.
You will often need a little haggling to settle at a decent price. You may need to remember that most of these people live from food to mouth so they are not as well off, and they also expect you to haggle with them so they have to start high.
Most taxis are not metered and so prices are not fixed. Other forms of local transport like mini vans which are common in East Africa and buses tend to have fixed fares.
So is all this fair to a tourist? Not when you consider that the average income of the average person is about $70 a month or less.
Many went to Egypt loving the sights and scenes but were irked by the touts and the sky-high tourist prices everywhere. I can understand locals see tourists as gold mines. However this will hurt tourism in long run. I think I’ll hire you as a tour guide when I visit your beloved country. Africa is big, where’s the first place I should go?