St Petersburg is ranked among the ten most expensive cities in the world

Tuesday, March 9, 2021

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Mercer Human Resource Consulting, an international company conducting research in the sphere of tourism, has issued its latest survey results. St Petersburg is ranked among the ten most expensive cities in the world, writes Noviye Izvestia. Petersburg overdid even New York in terms of prices of services for foreign tourists. Tokyo is still in the lead, then come London and Moscow. Petersburg is taking tenth place after it has made several attempts to approach the leaders. The survey covered 144 cities. The cost of living was estimated according to 200 positions - from food and clothes prices to entertainment and transport fees. An apartment on Vasilyevsky Ostrov (city centre) cost $500-$600 per square metre six months ago. Today, one square metre in a new apartment building in that area costs 1,000 to 1,500 euros, not dollars. Real estate agents say housing prices are growing faster in Petersburg than in Moscow. Petrol is also more expensive in St Pete than in Moscow. Petersburg lacks four-star hotel that offer European-class services for reasonable prices, while business-class and luxury hotels have already raised prices. "We have thereby lost the American market and to a certain extent the French market, while today we may lose the Spanish market as well," said Valery Fridman who heads a major tourist company. The minimum set of food products for one Petersburg resident was worth 1,282.56 roubles ($1 dollar is equal 29.22 roubles) in August. The figure for Moscow is higher, 1,440.84, because of chains of expensive supermarkets in Moscow where prices are higher than in overpriced London, for example. However, there is a great number of restaurants and cafes in St Pete today where prices are very reasonable compared to the general appreciation trend. A dinner for two in a close to luxury restaurant with expensive fish dishes and good wine, for example, will cost you no more than $60.

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