Russian President Vladimir Putin approved the introduction of a tourist tax on foreign visitors in St. Petersburg, Russia.
The head of state made a statement at a meeting with the acting mayor of St. Petersburg, Alexander Beglov.
According to the Acting Head of St. Petersburg, the tax on foreign visitors will be 100 rubles per tourist per day. The hotels, said Alexander Beglov, will collect it for each day of their stay.
It is expected that the money, received from foreigners who wish to visit St. Petersburg, will be used for the reconstruction and repair of the historical center of the city, as well as the development of tourist infrastructure.
Thus, Alexander Beglov emphasized, in the center of present-day St. Petersburg alone there are about fifteen hundred buildings with historical heritage. Several hundred of them are residential buildings with a complex facade configuration, the Acting Mayor of the city noted. All of them require repair, he said. Repair, Beglov stressed, requires about 17 billion rubles.
The tourist tax, the acting mayor of St. Petersburg, is a great way to collect some of this money. Thus, Alexander Beglov summed up, thanks to the collection from the foreign tourists, the city budget of the Northern capital will be replenished by a whole billion rubles.
