Italian rip-off

-

Japanese tourist turns down free holiday offered by Italy as apology

Italian government offers Yasuyuki Yamada and his fiancee a trip to Italy to make amends for €700 restaurant bill

It is the sort of offer that most tourists would jump at: an all-expenses paid return visit to a dream destination, as amends for a *sleight by an unscrupulous host.

But not Yasuyuki Yamada, who yesterday *turned down an offer of a free holiday in Italy as guests of the country's government after he and his fiancee were presented with an enormous bill at a restaurant in Rome earlier this month.

Yamada, 35, thanked Italy's tourism minister, Michela Brambilla, for the offer but said the trip would be a "useless way to spend Italian taxpayers' money," according to the Ansa news agency.

The couple complained to the police after they were charged €700 – including €207 for a pasta dish and a €115 service charge – for lunch at Il Passetto, a 150-year-old restaurant that counts Grace Kelly, Leonardo DiCaprio and Harrison Ford among its regulars, according to Ansa.

The restaurant attempted to blame the couple, saying they had ordered the priciest items on the menu, including oysters and lobster.

Speaking from his home in Tsukuba, near Tokyo, Yamada said: "I offer my thanks, but I have no intention of accepting it, even if a formal invitation arrives."

The restaurant debacle aside, he said he and his fiancee had enjoyed a terrific holiday and planned to return to Italy, but at their own expense.

A few weeks earlier another Japanese couple had complained about Il Passetto after being given a bill for €352 for a modest meal that included a shared main course.

Health inspectors ordered the restaurant to close after Yamada's complaint but it is expected to reopen soon.

Italian authorities were stung into action amid evidence that their country is falling out of favour among Japan's free-spending tourists.

Many have been *put off by reports of poor service and inflated prices. About 1 million Japanese are expected to visit Italy this year, less than half the 2.17 million recorded in 1997.In an open letter published last week, Brambilla apologised for the incidents and urged Japanese tourists to give her country a second chance.


Spotlight on Vocabulary:

... an all-expenses paid return visit to a dream destination, as amends for a sleight by an unscrupulous host.
This incident is described as a *sleight which suggests that it was a sort of clever trick.

Two other words that can be applied (and have more common usage) are con and rip-off.

A con is a dishonest trick, usually in order to get money. A rip-off isn't necessarily dishonest but suggests that you paid too much.

Tourists can be conned or ripped off wherever they go as they are easier targets. However I think the chances of it happening in Italy are much higher. In the near eight years that I lived there, I observed countless cons and rip-offs. It is a fact of life there and in the end I got tired of it. Most people admire others who are able to con well.


Have you ever been conned or ripped off as a tourist? Where were you? What happened?

Phrasal Verbs:

"Yasuyuki Yamada  turned down an offer of a free holiday in Italy."

turn sth/sb down - when you reject an offer or an invitation

Examples:
  • Kate's boss offered her a promotion to a post with a higher salary but she turned him down because she didn't want to work longer hours.
  • I don't understand why she turned down my invitation; I thought she would have liked to go to Paris for the weekend.

"Many have been put off by reports of poor service and inflated prices."

put sb off sth - to make someone dislike something

Examples:
  • The scenes in the film were so disgusting that they put me off my dinner.
  • After hearing your terrible experience, you have put me off going there on holiday.

Comments

Post a Comment