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.
![An aerial view taken on Oct. 2, 2021, shows people swimming and paddling off the coast of the northern Lebanese city of Batroun.](/sites/default/files/styles/article_hero_medium/public/2022-06/GettyImages-1235646556.jpeg?h=efb3fb8f&itok=iGI5mOEj)
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.”