Petersburg Wants Money from Tourists

A small tax for tourist stay in Saint Petersburg is planned to be established in the city; the assets will be used mainly for protection of the historical centre and restoration of architecture monuments of Saint Petersburg. The Governor of Petersburg Valentina Matvienko assigned officials at the sitting of the city government to consider the possibility of imposing such a tax. The point at issue is about an amount not more than 2 euro per person – it is already practiced in some European cities, however the Russian law has never had such norms before. As the governor says, “for St. Petersburg, which can receive up to 5 million tourists a year, the amount of, let’s say, 10 million euro is quite substantial, whereas for tourist such a tax will not be burdensome”.