Climbing Mount Jade to cost foreigners NT$700, but locals just NT$220

[Confuzius]

...Since Taiwan would fit into 41 of the 50 US states (ie smaller than 41 of the states) your comparison is insanely flawed.

Not at all. What has size got to do with it? Cities and even smaller municipalities often have local resident rates as well. What matters is the entirely arbritrary political divisions within a country and not their relative size compared to others.

It has everything to do with it. Many of the discounts in the US are state wide, so actually the residents within an area of about 5-10 times the size of Taiwan have to pay a different price than everyone else on the planet.

If you think the US resident prices being different are wrong too, well, thats another thing.

[Abacus]

I think Confuzius simply loves to debate whether or not he actually believes in a position.

Even if there are some state parks with different rates it doesn't matter. Why not? Because the concern here is that tourists get annoyed with the double pricing policy. It might be hard to imagine but tourists do remember these types of things even if it's a trivial amount in a vacation budget. The bigger concern is that we'll see the policy extend nationwide. Why is this a concern? Tourism growth. Taiwan is actually underrated as a destination but the industry definitely won't grow with a double pricing policy. There are a lot of other reasons that it won't grow but this just adds to them.

[Mucha Man]

...Since Taiwan would fit into 41 of the 50 US states (ie smaller than 41 of the states) your comparison is insanely flawed.

Not at all. What has size got to do with it? Cities and even smaller municipalities often have local resident rates as well. What matters is the entirely arbritrary political divisions within a country and not their relative size compared to others.

It has everything to do with it. Many of the discounts in the US are state wide, so actually the residents within an area of about 5-10 times the size of Taiwan have to pay a different price than everyone else on the planet.

I'm sorry but that just isn't convincing. Size has no bearing on this. States, countries cities, towns, etc, vary all across the world both in size and population.

Your argument seems to be that because Taiwan is smaller than most US states then a two-tier pricing policy here is simply the same as a statewide resident advantage program over there. Only it isn't. Again, Taiwanese are not getting a discount. Foreigners are being charged more.

[GuyInTaiwan]

I wonder if there is a secret key on governmental computer keyboards that they can push to generate a random bullshit excuse at the touch of a button.

I laughed out loud at this. If there isn't, have you thought about marketing it? Much like my idea of having an attachment on a person's scooter that burns ghost money so they won't have an accident, it could make a fortune.

To be fair though, I think dealing with most government departments in most countries entails a certain amount of bullshit. Try getting anything done with a local council in Australia, for instance!

[Mawvellous]

Yes, there is a theoretical foreigner quota but in reality I have never seen it effectively used except for members of AIT and foreign embassies.

Actually, there does appear to be an official foreign quota - and from what a number of people have told me, it is much easier for foreigners to get permits. I got a permit at the second attempt, which was either due to the foreigner quota or a large slice of luck given the fact that Paiyun is massively oversubscribed, even in the week.

[Omniloquacious]

Why is this a concern? Tourism growth. Taiwan is actually underrated as a destination but the industry definitely won't grow with a double pricing policy.

It will grow, though. For every Westerner, Japanese or Southeast Asian who decides to give it a miss, ten or a hundred more Chinese will come flocking over from the mainland in tour groups or as independent travelers. There are more than enough potential tourists across the Taiwan Strait to totally engulf Taiwan's receptive capacity. They're the easiest tourists to lure over, and the easiest to cater to. The government and the tourism industry will be happy enough to milk them for all they're worth, and won't mind too much if the numbers of visitors from elsewhere fall short of what they could be if the utmost effort were made to attract and accommodate them.

[Feiren]

If there really is a quota, it should appear in the written rule by law or it should be possible to get information about it with a freedom of information request.

The question to ask the officials are:

1. Is there a quota for foreigners that can be accessed with the higher price?

2. If so, which law or regulation creates the quota?

3. How many foreigners applied and received places this way over the last there years.

All of this information should be readily available or something is wrong.

Yes, there is a theoretical foreigner quota but in reality I have never seen it effectively used except for members of AIT and foreign embassies.

Actually, there does appear to be an official foreign quota - and from what a number of people have told me, it is much easier for foreigners to get permits. I got a permit at the second attempt, which was either due to the foreigner quota or a large slice of luck given the fact that Paiyun is massively oversubscribed, even in the week.

[GuyInTaiwan]

Why is this a concern? Tourism growth. Taiwan is actually underrated as a destination but the industry definitely won't grow with a double pricing policy.

It will grow, though. For every Westerner, Japanese or Southeast Asian who decides to give it a miss, ten or a hundred more Chinese will come flocking over from the mainland in tour groups or as independent travelers. There are more than enough potential tourists across the Taiwan Strait to totally engulf Taiwan's receptive capacity. They're the easiest tourists to lure over, and the easiest to cater to. The government and the tourism industry will be happy enough to milk them for all they're worth, and won't mind too much if the numbers of visitors from elsewhere fall short of what they could be if the utmost effort were made to attract and accommodate them.

This is probably right on the money. It's like Egypt with the pyramids. The locals can be complete idiots, but it won't matter because if you want to see the pyramids, it's not like you can go to Canada or Belgium instead. So, there's always going to be a huge market, regardless.

[headhonchoII]

Just was talking about this to the girls in the office, all of whom studied overseas. All of whom discovered that they were paying many, many, many times the prices charged to local students. Their reactions, one and all? Are you allowed to say "Fuck off," on the flob these days? There is NO sympathy among the educated here about a foreigner fee -- they've have enough of it themselves.

Yeah well they can pay for more all tourism sites overseas then if they want to. This kind of logic is pretty sad and nobody forced them to study overseas and choose expensive courses but they chose to so they could get paid more in Taiwan.

[sandman]

Just was talking about this to the girls in the office, all of whom studied overseas. All of whom discovered that they were paying many, many, many times the prices charged to local students. Their reactions, one and all? Are you allowed to say "Fuck off," on the flob these days? There is NO sympathy among the educated here about a foreigner fee -- they've have enough of it themselves.

Yeah well they can pay for more all tourism sites overseas then if they want to. This kind of logic is pretty sad and nobody forced them to study overseas and choose expensive courses but they chose to so they could get paid more in Taiwan.

Sad or not, its the case. And as Omni (?) pointed out, every time you read anything at all about the government's tourism efforts, change every reference to International, foreign guests, etc., to "Chinese." Really, that's all they're interested in. Japanese and Koreans to a far lesser extent. They couldn't give two hoots about a few Americans or Europeans, and who could blame them. Where's the profit in that?