Outrageous prices keep Lebanese from swimming
Many Lebanese have been complaining about high entrance fees to swimming pools and water resorts amid low salaries due to the local currency depreciation.
BEIRUT — With the advent of summer 2022, the Lebanese are complaining about the high entrance fees to private resorts and swimming pools in Lebanon. Low-income employees can no longer afford to go to these resorts, which have seemingly become limited to well-off families.
Joe Hnein, 50, a father of three and an employee at the National Social Security Fund, told Al-Monitor, “As a family provider, I am no longer able to spend a day at the beach with my family due to high prices. The entry fee ranges from 200,000 Lebanese pounds ($133 at the official rate, $6 at the black market rate) to 350,000 Lebanese pounds ($233 at the official rate, about $12 at the black market rate as of the time of this writing) per person. That is not to mention the prices of food and drinks.”
“This recreational activity was essential to every family to chill, but it has become out of reach now after the local currency’s collapse and our efforts to adapt to the economic hardships. We are following an austere way of living, and this is exhausting for me and my children.”
Hnein, similar to many other people, has not been able to spend a day by the pool or swim this summer given the elevated cost compared to his income.
