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I'm on vacation in India right now, and the impact on tourism has been ridiculous. We've had to spend our time being driven to dozens of ATMs in search of one t
by alexhutcheson 10y ago
I'm on vacation in India right now, and the impact on tourism has been ridiculous. We've had to spend our time being driven to dozens of ATMs in search of one that's open, and even when we find one we can only withdraw ~$100 worth of notes (even using 2 different debit cards). That might be enough for a typical Indian's cash needs, but it's clearly not enough for us to be able to pay for meals, activities, lodging, and transportation for the day.
It's frustrating because it also forces me to be more tight-fisted with my money than I would like to be. The amounts aren't consequential to me, so I would ordinarily tip very generously. In this situation, I've had to be somewhat stingy with tips in order to have enough money to eat and pay my bills.
It's a stressful experience for tourists, and it's almost certainly costing workers in the tourism industry a significant amount of money.
- alexhutcheson 10y agoTo put the values in perspective: I paid a driver to drive me 5 hours to an airport today. The drive cost 4,900 rupees. When I include a tip, that becomes 3x the daily per-card ATM withdrawal limit.
- appreneur 10y agoTourists where only cash is accepted are the most effected. They didn't come to India to stand in queue to pay fo meals.... They came to travel freely. I can see every minute it will become nightmare because nobody wants to spend because they don't have change. In matter month the tourism which relies on cash will be dead.