Currently in Egypt and they just asked us to pay in USD cash for an added activity but, not being American, we don’t have USD. We have the local currency and the ability to get that out at ATMs, but no way to access foreign currency. So annoying but they accepted local in the end.
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I think you were being scammed.
No, it’s fairly common in many countries. Foreign currencies (namely USD and EUR) are a lot more stable and people prefer that. USD was the unofficial main currency for any large purchases (like a car or a house) in the Soviet union and for several years after its collapse.
See also this map:
Welcome to Egypt. You were being scammed and people will often try to do that to you. Research local prices before buying anything
In this case I don’t necessarily think it was a scam because the conversion matched up with what was shown online. However, they clearly wanted both a more stable currency and to not have to convert it themselves. I understand this but there is no way for me to physically attain another currency since I did not bring any into the country and especially wouldn’t have USD. They accepted Egyptian pounds in the end.
How does this scam work? Is it based on the assumption that tourist won’t know the exchange rate and can be easily (and presumably grossly) overcharged?
Yeah, and it happens all the time. Gift shops and local shops will often charge more to outsiders because a lot of tourists don’t realize how much cheaper everything is supposed to be here. Like they’d sell you a water bottle for $1 when its real price is well below 40 cents when calculating the local currency. This isn’t even adding the fact that the USD is worth more than its official price here because the Egyptian Pound is constantly crashing.
Someone in the comments said that asking for foreign currencies is common, but it absolutely isn’t. Everyone trades with EGP and if they tell you otherwise, then they’re jacking up the price so much because you look like a clueless tourist.
As for how many people fall for this, I’d say… A lot.
I don’t think its too uncommon for tourist areas to try to pressure tourists to pay with foreign currency that has a favorable exchange rate to the local currency. That way they can make extra money by quoting a figure in USD (or other currency) that they know they can exchange for much more than the regular cost in local currency. If pressured with “I don’t have USD, so its either local currency or I go elsewhere” they’ll usually give in and accept local currency.
Edit: More likely it is simply because Egypt’s local currency is in a terrible state, so USD is much less likely to lose value: https://www.cnbc.com/2023/04/05/the-egyptian-pound-is-amongst-the-worst-performing-currencies-in-2023.html
It’s funny that I see people saying that they do this to make ekstra money by giving bad exchange rates, while my personal experience in Burma/Myanmar (maaany years ago) was that you got a better price in USD, because the local currency was less stable. So people would charge more if you payed in local, because of the increased risk in holding local currency vs. USD.
Given this article saying Egypt’s currency is doing terrible and is very unstable, I think you’re much more likely to be right about this than my explanation: https://www.cnbc.com/2023/04/05/the-egyptian-pound-is-amongst-the-worst-performing-currencies-in-2023.html
If you’re in Cairo, go to the American Express office inside the Nile Hilton. You’ll be able to get USD there.
