Kolkata most expensive city for travellers, says survey

NEW DELHI: Kolkata, better known as the City of Joy, has been ranked as the most expensive destination for travellers, followed by Mumbai and New Delhi, according to a survey.

The country's financial hub Mumbai, which is at the second position among eight metro cities, was ranked the most expensive 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 metro cities. Various factors including cost of accommodation, drinks and dinner were taken into account.

New Delhi is at the third spot, followed by Hyderabad (4th), Bangalore (5th), Chennai (6th) and Pune (7th).

The "most budget friendly city", as per the survey, is Ahmedabad.

Going by TripAdvisor, while it costs Rs 10,115 for a night's stay for two travellers 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.