The innovation of double pricing began in museums

The tourism activist and hotel manager said that the innovation of double pricing for domestic and foreign tourists started a few years before museums.

According to the IRNA Tourism Reporter, the price per night for a hotel stay for a domestic tourist is one-half or one-third of the amount paid by a foreign tourist. He visits the hotel in person and the hotelier calculates and receives the accommodation in dollars or euros.

Some tourism industry experts believe that the price of hotel accommodation for a foreign tourist should be calculated close to the global price. Is not to pay the equivalent of the world price. On the other hand, some tourism activists evaluate the two pricing as a result of lack of transparency and supervision, and believe that this disorder will affect the attraction of foreign tourists in the country.

Siamak Shiroudi, a tourism activist and manager of a hotel in Tehran, believes that tourism and the hotel industry are as valuable to the country as exporters of goods, with the difference that the hotelier offers hospitality services to the applicant at the destination. By implementing incentive policies, the government can persuade hotel owners and managers not to differentiate between the cost of accommodation for domestic and foreign tourists and to base it on a single rate to offset their costs.

The hotelier has to make two pricing to reimburse costs / Double pricing started from museums

In an interview with IRNA, Shiroodi said: “The biggest opponents of the two pricing by hotels are service offices, hotels calculate the cost of accommodation in service offices in rials, but the offices sell to foreign tourists in euros or dollars, maybe it makes sense.” Because the heavy burden of marketing is on them. They are the ones who advertise and negotiate in foreign exhibitions in order to attract tourists.

The tourism industry activist stated: The reality of the tourism and hotel industry in Iran is different, prices and costs in Iran are increasing intermittently and the hotelier must keep the hotel rate for domestic tourists with fixed tariffs, fixed and low so that rooms He sells the hotel and tries to compensate his losses by selling it to the tourist at a higher price.

He said that the two hotel accommodation rates started when the exchange rate rose sharply, meetings were held and some hotels decided to charge foreign tourists for accommodation in dollars and euros at prices close to the world average hotel prices. To receive.

Shiroodi said: the innovation of double pricing for foreign tourists started a few years ago, when the ticket prices were doubled to visit museums, and then spread to hotels. The important point is that a personal tourist (backpacker) who travels outside the tour of service offices, will face this problem, but travelers who close their plans to travel service offices, according to the contract all their work from the beginning at a certain rate and on a currency basis with the manager It is a tour, although the agency buys accommodation from the hotel in Rials, but calculates and receives it with a foreign tourist at the price of dollars and close to the usual price in the hotels of the region.

The tourist season in Iran is limited to three or four months, and the stay of a domestic tourist is only in these few months, which does not cover the costs of a hotel during the year. This is while the hotelier is only allowed to increase the rate by 25% per year. Therefore, in order to reimburse part of his expenses, he has to charge the foreign tourist, who travels to Iran in person and out of tour, more accommodation expenses in dollars or euros.

Direct flights to cities are the reason for the decrease in foreign tourists in Tehran

Shiroodi pointed out: The destination of most foreign tourists who travel in person is usually Isfahan, Shiraz, Kashan, Yazd and Tabriz and it is rarely seen that they come to Tehran, but mostly through service offices, they are guests of Tehran hotels, at least we who We are in Tehran. In the last three years, we have not had any foreign passengers with backpacks.

He said: “Usually, the hotel rate for a foreign tourist who travels to Iran in person is close to the hotel rate in Istanbul, Turkey or Dubai and is around $ 50 to $ 100 per night, but most of these tourists go to Iran through service offices.” They travel and have a tour manager and according to their contracts, a room is booked at a rate of about 700 to 800 thousand tomans, which is more economical for the tourist and is about 20 to 25 dollars. But if they come in person, they have to pay several times ($ 50 to $ 100).

The manager of the hotel, referring to the relationship between direct flights to the destination and the increase and decrease of tourists in the capital, said: Since direct flights to the cities of Isfahan, Shiraz, Mashhad and… were established, tourists no longer wait and stay in Tehran. In Tehran, most domestic tourists come to the hotel for accommodation, which does not cover the cost of hotel management.

The two rates of accommodation for foreign tourists will definitely have a negative effect on attracting tourists to Iran. Rates in hotels and boutiques of hotels in other tourist cities are higher than these prices.

He continued: “If the cost of a hotel is double-digit, it is usually compared and calculated with the rates of hotels in tourist countries of Turkey and the UAE; Rates for three-star hotels in Taksim Square in Istanbul, Turkey, range from $ 25 to $ 70, while in Paris, between Hostel and Hotel are around € 60 to € 70; Unless it is very luxurious or a suite with special services that increases up to 500 euros, but you can not find any resemblance to them in Iranian hotels that these prices in Iran are taken from foreign tourists.

The foreign tourist assesses the economic and social situation of the destination

The tourism activist explained: The two rates of accommodation of foreign tourists will definitely have a negative effect on attracting tourists to Iran. All tourists study the economic, social and cultural conditions of the destination before traveling, even the currency and the cost of converting the currency and even inflation They compare and evaluate which destination and travel route is economically viable for them, then they study the cultural map of the destination and even research the types of food and prices of restaurants, this spirit is common all over the world among all tourists.

The guest list of accommodation centers and hotels is quite transparent; The distinction between domestic and foreign travelers is also quite clear, meaning that the exchange rate of a hotel with the number of foreign tourist stays is transparent; The best way to prevent duplication is to implement incentive policies and support for hoteliers, such as tax breaks.

“Turkey provides hoteliers with free land and exempts them from paying taxes for up to five years,” he said. Which services they provide, so that they too can calculate hotel accommodation rates for domestic and foreign tourists at a fixed price.