BRITISH holiday makers have been left unimpressed after learning they pay up to 40 per cent more for tickets to Disneyland Paris than the French.
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The European Commission is concerned that Disneyland Paris is stopping consumers in a few member states from shopping around for the best deals,
EC spokeswoman {
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The newspaper reported that in some cases French shoppers were paying €1,346 (£952) for a top ticket deal, while British visitors were charged €1,870 (£1,323) and Germans €2,447 (£1,732).
About 15 million people visit the theme park every year, making it the 16th most popular tourist destination in the world.
The firm runs different promotions at specific times of year based around, for example, seasonal events and school holidays.
Disneyland Paris said any price differential was due to anti-fraud measures that limit certain promotions to customers whose credit or debit cards are registered to a particular country.
“I am interested in answers and explanations”, she said in a statement.
The Commission is engaged in a what it calls a broad probe into “geoblocking”, or the practice of charging different amounts to consumers in different countries for the same product or service.
This is mostly achieved through residence-based payment and delivery rules, selective offers, or by redirecting consumers to more expensive prices on their national websites.
Elzbieta Bienkowska, EU commissioner for the single market, told the FT there had been a number of complaints which were “very significant, particularly in one or two instances”. “Anyone aware of a promotion running in a market not local to them, can contact the Central Reservations Office and request to make that specific booking”.
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Last week the EU also launched an antitrust investigation into six Hollywood studios who have been accused of breaking EU laws by blocking access to content in separate European regions – Disney was one of those studios. “It might be that it wasn’t deliberate and they didn’t purposefully set out to offer a few people cheaper tickets”.
