It now appears that Australia has taken a step closer to becoming one of the most expensive countries to ski in. As people can easily guess, this is not a good thing for Australia’s tourism industry. Although there is not much that locals in Australia can do about this, unless they want to hop on a flight to another area, tourists can avoid this by not choosing Australia as their skiing destination.

Apparently Australia’s biggest ski resorts are now charging almost double the price of premier European destinations for a standard adult lift ticket. This winter, a lot of local skiers and snowboarders are being charged up to $105 for a day on the NSW ski fields. They are also being charged as much as $99 for the right to ski in Victoria.

Travelers bound for the European Alps could be getting a pretty good deal. Lift tickets at the elite Italian resorts of Cortina d’Ampezzo, and many others, are going for less than $60 a day. These are great resorts that are allowing people to ski for less.

Over in France, it gets even cheaper. People are able to go to the former winter Olympics host town of Chamonix and ski there for just $56. At these prices it almost makes it a better idea to travel to Europe and ski for a few days than it does to ski in Australia, even for locals.

This great value in Europe comes as the dollar remains high in value against the euro and the pound. Just this past Wednesday the $1 was buying more than 71 euro cents and 58 pence.