Pancake vendors charge foreigners 4 times as much  

北京景区煎饼售价中外有别：国人15元 老外65元(图)

“景区15元的煎饼，卖给外国人变65元。”前天，慕田峪长城脚下的煎饼摊位上，市民林女士的外国朋友遇到一场天价煎饼纠纷。记者探访发现，该景区部分摊位商品定价存在“中外有别”现象。[查看全文]

(ECNS) -- Pancake stands at the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall have a two-price system, charging foreign visitors much more than local people, according to a Beijing Times report.

A visitor surnamed Liu said she and her German friends got into a dispute Wednesday with a pancake vendor over selective pricing.

"We ordered a banana chocolate pancake without asking its price, since we thought pancakes are a cheap snack," said Liu.

"After learning the pancake would cost 65 yuan (about US$10), we said we didn't want it and refused to pay for it. Then the stall holder took a tough attitude and demanded money from us."

"It's unacceptable for a pancake that normally costs three yuan to be sold for 65 yuan," said Liu. "The stall owner also didn't let us know the price before we ordered it."

One of the other stall holders at the scenic spot also had two prices for the same pancake: "We normally charge Chinese visitors 15 yuan, but 65 yuan from foreign visitors."

The reporter also noticed that prices at the stands were posted in English, but were so small they could barely be seen.

"Such a two-price system represents a kind of discrimination -- an illegal strategy where identical goods or services are transacted at different prices from the same provider in different markets or territories," said a lawyer surnamed Guo.

"Such a practice has long plagued market order here," said an official surnamed Lin, who works for the administrative committee of the scenic spot. "We have been trying to improve the situation," he added.

We are ordering the stall owners at the scenic spot to display prices in a prominent position, the official added.