St. Petersburg hotels are ready to welcome more guests
The head of the Association of Small Hotels of St. Petersburg, Vladimir Vasiliev, stated that in the New Year season of 2009-2010, hotel occupancy was significantly worse than in 2008-2009. According to Turist.ru, the average annual losses of hoteliers are 30-37%. The number of tourists coming to St. Petersburg was affected not only by the crisis – the railway disaster, the fire in the Perm club, and the uncleaned streets of the city did their dirty work.
However, a representative of the Russian Union of Travel Industry, on the contrary, believes that St. Petersburg has finally become a tourist center and enjoyed great interest from Russian travelers during these New Year holidays. True, 70% of tourists came to the city on their own and preferred to stay with friends and relatives or rent an apartment for a short period.
Prices at well-known hotel chains also played a role – for example, a night at Corinthia in St. Petersburg will cost a traveler 10,019 rubles, while in Lisbon it is 5,375 rubles, that is, twice as cheap. Sokos in St. Petersburg is 40% more expensive than in Helsinki, and a room at Novotel costs 19% more than in Amsterdam. Meanwhile, you can rent a one-room apartment in the northern capital for 1,800 rubles per day, and a three-room apartment in the center will cost tourists only 5,000 rubles. Moreover, apartment owners offer guests to use all necessary household appliances, unlimited Internet, and even whirlpool baths and exercise equipment.
Given such a difference in cost, tourists, of course, prefer to stay in the private sector. The authorities of St. Petersburg intend to increase the profits of the tourism sector through foreign tourists arriving in the city on ferries. In 2009, a law was adopted that such travelers can walk around the city for three days without a visa, but only if they use group tours and stay in hotels specified by tour operators. These include, for example, mini-hotels on Vasilievsky Island in St. Petersburg. Independent tourists, as before, will have to pay for a visa.
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