Media Outcry Over Price Gouging in Marrakech
In a striking display of social media engagement, Moroccan media personality Rashid Al-Alali has taken to his Facebook account, which boasts nearly seven million followers, to voice his strong discontent regarding the exorbitant prices charged by certain restaurants and cafes in Marrakech. In a video shared on Saturday, he provocatively titled his post with a colloquial phrase that translates to "That's just too greedy!" Al-Alali recounted an incident where he purchased five small bottles of drinking water from a well-known café, only to be shocked by the price of 20 dirhams per bottle, amounting to a staggering total of 100 dirhams. This unexpected expense prompted him to confront the café's worker, who dismissed his complaints by stating that he was just an employee and that the actual responsibility lay with the owner. Al-Alali expressed that such practices are detrimental to the country's reputation and deemed the pricing as excessively high. He pointed out that the cost of a single bottle should reasonably be between 4 to 12 dirhams, especially considering that he simply ordered the bottles to go, without any additional service.
Furthermore, Al-Alali recounted another experience with a parking attendant near a tourist resort in Marrakech, where he was asked to pay 100 dirhams for parking or 50 dirhams if he parked the car himself. He vehemently criticized this as being "ridiculously high". Through his video, he called on relevant authorities to take action against such practices and to regulate prices in the city, highlighting the need for accountability in the face of rising costs that affect both locals and tourists alike.
As reported by akhbarona.com.
