The City of Joy, the famous moniker for the now deadwood Kolkata is, is not a place for travelers when it comes to cost, as the Easter metropolis has been ranked by a survey as the most expensive destination for travellers, followed by Mumbai and New Delhi. The financial hub Mumbai, which is at the second slot among eight metros, was ranked the most expensive city last year in a survey conducted by travel portal TripAdvisor.
The rankings under TripIndex are based on expenses that two people would have to incur for staying one night in a metro city. Various factors including cost of accommodation, drinks and dinner were taken into account. New Delhi is at the third spot, followed by Hyderabad, Bangalore, Chennai and Pune at the seventh slot. The "most budget friendly city", as per the survey, is Ahmedabad. Going by the findings of the survey, while it costs Rs 10,115 for a night's stay for two in Kolkata, the same was just Rs 6,406 in Ahmedabad.
In Mumbai, it would cost about Rs 10,074 and in Delhi, the expense would be Rs 9,728 per night, it added. The estimates have taken into account the cost of a room for two at a four-star hotel. "The TripIndex 2013 total costs have shown a decline across all cities with Chennai seeing the highest percentage of fall of 35 per cent from Rs 12,530 last year to Rs 8,122 this year," TripAdvisor said in a statement.
In terms of regions, East has emerged as the most expensive region — with TripIndex showing a cost of Rs 10,115 — followed by North (Rs 9,728), South (Rs 8,449) and West (Rs 8,076), it added. "Hotel room rate prices have declined across the board in all cities with an average 17 per cent drop from last year," TripAdvisor noted.
