Is the UK pricing itself out of the tourism market?

15 pounds to enter Westminster Abbey, 17 pounds to ride the London Eye, 20 pence to use the toilet and that’s all just before the 22 pound sandwich lunch.

We have all heard of hour expensive it is to visit the UK, but to me it really is starting to get out of control and I wonder if people will start to not visit, or it will only be a place to visit for the rich and famous. We just got back from a week trip and I was, for some reason, even more surprised than usual at the cost.

So going back to my opening, we came up the stairs from Westminster Tube Station to the grandeur of the Westminster Tower, yes the tower the houses the bell called Big Ben. Snapped a few epicures just as the rain started, and boy did it rain. We need some shelter and where better to heard for shelter when in a storm than into a church – ding 60 pounds or in good old Canadian dollars $53.95, but oh well the rain was heavy and Westminster Abbey in an iconic building both in size, age, and shrouded in history. So now we try to wander around, not an easy feat, there are so many people in there it was almost claustrophobic, seems that really did not care how many people where in the building as long as they got their 15 pounds per person, unlike the natural history museum a few days later that did a count in/count out so that the building was not so full as to be a a waste of a visit.  - plus it was free!!! Yes all the museums in England, not sure about the other 3 countries, are free. The government feels that these places of history should be a available to all, yes even foreign tourists and for that I can only commend the government and maybe Canada could take note… cough cough… entry free into our national parks!!!

It is really heard to estimate how many people were in the building but if I had to low guess I would say 2,000 and there was a constant line up outside of people entering all paying their 15 pounds I would say  one very couple of minutes - Now that’s a chunk of change in any currency.

Now I totally understand that a place such as this costs money to upkeep, but if this place is part of a nations history surely it would fall under of funding just like the museums in the UK, seems logical to me. So time after time we found ourselves converting back to Canadian dollars, something you should not really do, but we did, from just a snack, to a meal, to a entry fee.

So with all these costs, the UK is really starting to make it unaffordable to the average person, it really makes places like Poland, Cuba and even the US the place to spend your tourism dollars. I wonder if place like Westminster Abbey really think it through when they charge these crazy fees.

So my advice if you want to go to the UK. Save up, start saving now for the trip in 5 years, then when you get there don’t even bother trying to convert back to your home currency, just enjoy the place.