ST. PETERSBURG, April 1 (Xinhua) -- St. Petersburg, Russia's second largest city, started collecting resort fees from domestic and foreign tourists on Monday.
According to information provided by the city government, adult guests staying in hotels, sanatoriums and other accommodation facilities for more than 24 hours have to pay a resort fee of 100 rubles (about 1.1 U.S. dollars) per day.
Twenty-one preferential categories of citizens, including veterans of the Great Patriotic War, disabled people and multiple-child families, are exempt from paying resort fees.
Fees are collected upon check-in.
A decree on the introduction of resort fees on the territory of St. Petersburg was adopted in June 2023, and local authorities estimate that some 310 million rubles (3.4 million U.S. dollars) in resort fees will be collected this year. The funds will be used for the protection, restoration and development of tourism infrastructure. ■
