Heathrow retail row an angry reminder that the customer is king
With tourist dollars being highly sought after around the globe, World Duty Free now risks a backlash with sales promotion that required Chinese visitors to spend more
That foreigners have to pay more than locals for admission to attractions in some countries is a phenomenon many tourists find hard to accept. Perhaps more irritating is the common practice of shops charging them higher prices for goods and services. Sales promotions that target those from a particular country are even more scandalous. That is why Chinese were outraged when retail chain World Duty Free at London’s Heathrow Airport held one requiring them to spend 12 times more than other nationalities to qualify for discount vouchers.
The disparity was exposed in an online post by a part-time Chinese salesman earlier this month. The Swiss global retail outlet later apologised and rectified the problem in the wake of a social media uproar.
Exactly why shoppers from China were imposed with a higher spending threshold remains unclear. But it makes no sense that others got the 20 per cent discount with purchases of no less than £79 (HK$867), while Chinese had to spend more than £1,000 for the same concession. This was blatant discrimination.
With the travel industry being one of the fastest growing sectors, tourist dollars are highly sought after around the world. Those in the business are trying hard to get the most of out of tourists, offering attractions and discounts of all sorts to loosen their purse strings. But preferential discounts on the grounds of nationality should not one of them.