How to avoid the free city tour scam and overpriced leather/fur shops in Hurghada?

From messages by 3 participants in 1 source · Last activity: 74 days ago

TL;DR

Touts on hotel beaches and even hotel-arranged guides offer a 'free Hurghada city tour' that actually takes tourists to a 'Leather and Fur World' mall and souvenir shops with inflated prices and poor-quality goods — politely decline and ask to be driven back to your hotel.

What the community said

Touts (described as from Azerbaijan) walk hotel beaches inviting guests to the 'Leather and Fur World' mall. It's a money scam — poor quality, cheaply made goods sold at very inflated prices.

'Leather and Fur World' mall

A hotel guide may offer a 'free Hurghada city tour' that actually ends up at the same leather and fur mall. A Russian-speaking saleswoman greets guests and insists there's no pressure to buy.

After the leather shop, tourists are driven to a souvenir shop with very inflated prices — goods there cost more than at shops near the Sheraton hotel area.

near Sheraton hotel is cheaper

Tea is offered at the entrance of these shops — avoid drinking it, it's part of the pressure tactics to make you buy something.

If you end up on such a trip, insist on stopping and refusing to buy anything — this worked to cut the tour short and get back to the hotel, though it still wasted 2-3 hours.

2-3 hours wasted

The only genuinely useful stop on such a forced tour is a pharmacy, where basic medicine (e.g. ibuprofen for a headache) costs around $1.

ibuprofen ~$1