Picture taken from NowLebanon
I just finished reading an article on NowLebanon stating that “higher ski ticket prices may keep the slopes in Lebanon quieter this season” and that the ski season so far has been “marred by pricier pistes”.
I honestly have to disagree with both statements for the following reasons:
1- I’ve been to Faraya for the past 3 weekends now and one time during a week day and I can easily say it’s the best season we’ve had in years. Even when the slopes were not open yet, people were there to enjoy the snow and the great weather.
2- Ski ticket prices are relatively cheap and very affordable when compared to resorts abroad (Based on what some friends who fly to Europe to ski tell me). Paying 47$ on a weekend to ski on very well-maintained slopes like the Faraya-Mzaar ones or 40$ for a full weekend day at the Cedars are very reasonable prices. The 63$ fee to access the additional “Refuge” slope is usually paid by professionals/good skiers to enjoy tougher slopes and avoid the overcrowded easy slopes and I highly doubt that they’d be complaining about any price hikes.
3- Mzaar is no longer the same it was 5-10 years ago as chalet prices have skyrocketed in the past few years. When you have a 5-star Intercontinental hotel and chalets and villas worthy tens of millions of dollars, and when it costs on average between 1000 and 1500$ to rent a 50m2 chalet in Mzaar just for New Year’s eve only, one can anticipate an increase in ticket prices at the Mzaar slope. However, other slopes have maintained low prices and are very decent ski destinations. I am talking about the Cedars (Which I prefer to Mzaar honestly), Laqlouq, Qanat Bekish, Zaarour and Faqra.
4- Political instability has kept tourists away from Lebanon all year long but from what I know, a small number of Arab tourists, which form the overwhelming majority of tourists to Lebanon, come during the winter to ski. Most of them just go up to enjoy the snow.
Ski has always been an expensive sport in Lebanon and if my memory doesn’t fail me, its prices dropped at some point during the past 15 years in order to give more people access to this sport. However, taking into consideration the inflation of prices in Lebanon for the past 2-3 years, whereas a movie ticket costs 10$ and a dinner on average between 20 and 30$, Skiing is very cheap and hopefully will only be marred by a bad weather.
If you wish to plan a ski trip anytime soon, check out Skileb’s website [Here].
Please never compare our third world country to europe. This is not the right way to judge if the prices are high or not.
We live in a shitty country so 47$ is extremly expensive.
Yup Najib…What’s the average income in Lebanon compared to France or Switzerland? You are comparing dollar figures only which is like comparing oranges to apples.
Gianni,
My whole point is that Ski prices have always been the same in Lebanon and an extra 10$ is not what will spoil the ski season.
Ski was never a sport for the poor.
Hehe ,right ,the prices are reasonable and there’s also the skiing society which offers discounts ,but when u said ski was never a sport for the poor Najib ,people like copy pasting here in Leb ,maybe the author felt that she’s on the other side of line and can’t afford it
But it’s also true for a third world country ,everything is expensive here ,veryyy indeed
ermmm… yeah… i will have to agree with your readers, you can’t compare, for someone that makes minimum salary even a weekday pass amounts to over 10% of his monthly income, so you’d want to convert that before you even start comparing.
i believe that if the prices were kept about 25% low, they’d get more visitors and still cover costs and make a bundle. plus, since the season is finite, sell low/sell more would help them hit their targets much sooner in the season in case the weather turns against them.