[Tango-L] Abuse of tourists for rentals

[Ecsedy Áron]

Dear Carol,

I 100% agree.

But as many people apparently misunderstood me (I received some mails in private), I must emphasize:

I simply made an observation, that with the excessive boom of the market, prices will soar and people with less money won't be able to afford these places, so the the article (published in Clarín) should have concentrated more on that part. From the point of view of a local (who is not renting out apartments for tourists), this should be something to contemplate about. 

I don't think it is a rip-off, I don't think that the difference means anything wrong. It find it somewhat ridiculous that I receive first class food and service in a restaurant for the price of a McDonalds meal (as in Hungary, which is approx. half as much as in London). Nevertheless, as I run a business myself, I do understand if something can be sold for twice as much, it will be. If there are enough people to pay twice as much for the same thing, those who can only afford half will be in trouble. 

Of course it is off-topic, but is it? The same problem exists in the rates of tango teachers who travel. Some of them live outside Argentina, charging a 100€+ for a private lesson, or 20€ for a group class. I know a few who started to tailor their rates to the countries they are travelling to: Argentine prices in Argentina, US prices in the US. Very sensible move - even if it does mean substantially less for them...of course, better "reach" means better overall recognition for them, so the difference can be considered "marketing expenses", but I my guess is that, the motives are also quite personal.

Cheers,
Aron





Wednesday, May 2, 2007, 1:27:17 PM, you wrote:

Shepherd> Not that I think this thread is really on-topic for tango (neither is 
Shepherd> banking in Argentina, etc), but isn't this just market economics?  BA is
Shepherd> no different than any other big city tourist destination -- prices can
Shepherd> vary by 1000% and several businesses make a living by taking advantage
Shepherd> of the tourist's lack of information.  (That sounds like a business 
Shepherd> opportunity for someone enterprising to make that information more 
Shepherd> available so prices can be more competitive--and the Internet would be a
Shepherd> great place to make the information available to tourists planning to go
Shepherd> overseas).

Shepherd> If people in Argentina have figured out how to make good money off tango
Shepherd> tourists, kudos for them--Argentina desperately needs industries like 
Shepherd> tourism to bring decent revenue into their economy.

Shepherd> Is this list about tango dancing, or is it about whinging that the world
Shepherd> is not fair?  Nobody in BA owes anyone on this list a cheap place to 
Shepherd> stay so they can study tango.


Shepherd> Ecsedy Áron wrote:
>> I guess the biggest problem with the overcharging and the phenomenon Alberto described is not the general "ripped off" feeling of tourists, but the local economics of the situation.

>> If prices are pushed into the sky by tourists, and if they still feel that going to BsAs is a good deal for them, slowly certain BsAs real estate prices will reflect this extra value, which will essentially make the locals unable to buy or rent them. 

>> Cheers,
>> Aron

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-- 
Cheers,
 Ecsedy                            mailto:aron at milonga.hu