IluvSQ

Including refund of GST on purchases made for goods taken out of the country...

lsquare

What qualifies?

IluvSQ

see here:
https://www.visitsingapore.com/trave...st-tax-refund/

TA

If you're looking to criticize a country (either government, public services, or the people) for preying on tourists in a scammy way, Singapore is far from where I'd begin...

flyingbubbles

There was a time when PRs and citizens paid the same rates for healthcare. Can't really remember exactly when it all changed - probably some time within the last 15+ years?

stef315

When I was in Russia, the prices were for Russians, Foreigners, and Americans in order of cheapest to most expensive.

Patricia Jane Moores Cliff

Many states/cities in the US have similar pricing. Here in Maine, Baxter State Park is "forever free to the people of Maine, " but anyone else pays a fee. Similarly, Florida residents pay less for Disney. Sure, it's "discrimination," but that's not always a bad thing. It helps the "locals," wherever they may be.

Loren Pechtel

Yup. Here in Nevada the state parks have a resident price that's lower than non-resident.

The national parks also have it in a sense--if you're visiting more than a few parks in a year an annual pass is well worth it. If you're a citizen or permanent resident, a tourist can't buy one.

uxb

When I was in India, there were prices for Indian nationals and prices for everyone else. I was annoyed at the time, but came to realise that it was tourists who used those facilities more than local visitors. It was only natural to charge non-locals more to maintain and improve the attractions because their visits were one-offs.

behuman

National parks in Chile (CONAF), double price for foreign residents who on the other hand do not pay VAT on hotel rooms paid in USD - a big saving.

NotSoFrequentColorado

Presumably, locals help support these attractions with their taxes. Seems very reasonable to me that they would get a discount.

jpmcdonough

Kama'aina discounts are common in Hawaii. It means "child of the land". Most of those people are working two or three jobs to survive, so I don't begrudge them.

ficam88

used to travel to China several times a year and there it was that locals had one price people from overseas who spoke Chinese or lived there got slightly different better price and tourists or visitors in general higher prices.But in China, local people just did not earn what we visitors earn.
Also Running conferences. We always had a lower price for those coming from less d e developed countries because they just couldn’t afford. They were subsidised by the regular price of conference people. You see this at lots of conferences worldwide. Just the same too as breaks for student prices or senior prices. If a venue or activity is something you would pay that much for in your own hometown, and your own cost of living, then it seems to me to be equitable that those same type of activities, but in a country where people are so much less well off, that those residents would get a break equal to their own cost of living.

LETTERBOY

Don't think we'll have to worry about that one for a while.

RealHJ

Yes, but it's almost exclusively "third world countries" where the residents are too poor to pay the admission price (e.g. India, Cambodia, and such). Singaporean residents are not that poor that they can't afford to pay the normal/standard price.

This practice certainly leaves an impression of Singapore as a distinctly third world country in a visitor's eyes.