It is increasingly common to hear the idea that suggests tourists should be charged more than citizens of a region for visiting the local attractions. While I relatively agree with this idea, I argue that this action should be made subtly.
On one hand, there are several reasons why I believe it is reasonable to take more money from foreign visitors for cultural and historical attractions. Firstly, we should pay attention to the fact that local people have already paid some amount of money for the attractions of their place of living by paying taxes because the local governments usually afford some proportion of maintenance costs from previously received taxes. Secondly, duo to low value of national currency in some countries compared to developed countries, it is easily affordable for foreign visitors to pay for example for a ticket to visit a historical building. For example, while paying 10 USD to visit a place of a poor country cannot be a financial challenge for a tourist from USA, it can be completely difficult for local residents of that country, in which 10 USD equals to a remarkable amount of money. Finally, the government can encourage their citizens by making discount regarding visiting attractions to take more advantage of those fascinating places and become more familiar with their national culture.
On the other hand, it is worth to be mentioned that taking money from tourists more than others can be counterproductive as well. Governments and local people should know that charging extra money can be considered a disappointing fact for foreign visitors and lead to spoil the general impression of a country in front of other nations. Individuals have an inherent desire to pay less, regardless of their economic status or country of origin. As a result, being charged more than others can give visitors from another countries the sensation of discrimination and discourage them to come to visit that region once again. Following that, the overall annual rate of tourists may witness a gradual decline in the future, which lead to financial losses for local markets and hotels. Considering these facts, conservative measures should be taken in order to receive money from tourists more than local citizens by a narrow margin and subtly.
In conclusion, I support the idea of making foreign visitors to pay more than local people for cultural and historical attractions because of several reasons, however, I suggest this should be done in a very careful way in order to reduce its potential negative consequences.