What are they doing to the tourists in Lisbon? Charging them a lot of money for food. They do that to tourists everywhere. Not quite: Lisbon restaurants are offering lower prices , but only to local people, according to the Portuguese newspaper Expresso. How do the tourists feel about that? Even the hospitality industry association claims to be unaware of the practice.
Why are the restaurants doing it? They want to charge tourists high prices without alienating local customers, so they have quietly instituted a two-tier system.
Surge pricing is varying the cost of a product according to demand. Secretly charging one class of people more than another is discriminatory. I guess when you put it that way it sounds bad.
At the same time, it is perhaps an inevitable result of overtourism. A post-pandemic rise in visitors to European destinations that has led to overcrowding, despoliation and price increases, spawning a local backlash against tourists. Where else is the backlash being felt? Barcelona was always too touristy. Local people have occupied beaches in Menorca. Venice is charging day-trippers an entrance fee in an effort to suppress numbers.
Lisbon itself is trying to regulate the tuk-tuks, beloved by tourists, that cause traffic chaos. Those all sound like legitimate protests or measures aimed at better tourist management.
