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.

    • Airazz@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      1 year ago

      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.

  • simple@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    2
    ·
    1 year ago

    Welcome to Egypt. You were being scammed and people will often try to do that to you. Research local prices before buying anything

    • EndOfLine@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      1 year ago

      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?

  • Marruk@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    2
    ·
    edit-2
    1 year ago

    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