Mumbai is among the 10 most affordable destinations, according to a cost comparison study on common incidental items and services that travellers purchase while staying at a hotel. The study was done by travel review Web site TripAdvisor.
The study, which covered four-star hotels in 46 destinations, found Africa as the most pocket-friendly for Indian travellers.
TripAdvisor’s TripIndex Room Service tracked against the rupee the combined cost of a club sandwich ordered on room service, a bottle of water, peanuts from mini bar, a mini bottle of vodka, a can of coke from the mini bar, and the dry cleaning of one shirt.
Nikhil Ganju, Country Manager, TripAdvisor (India), said, “While we bear in mind the cost of a room night when planning our travel, we often forget to account for incidentals such as in-room dining and laundry. Mumbai has emerged as the third-most affordable destination on the TripIndex Room Service. As the focus on in-bound tourism grows, this works in our favour since affordability has been an important factor in drawing leisure travellers to India.”
Ordering a club sandwich in Zurich can cost you as much as Rs 1,551.69 while in Sofia (Bulgaria) about Rs 294. A bottle of water can cost you Rs 435.15 in Oslo while Hong Kong and Kuala Lumpur offer free bottled water at the hotels. Peanuts from mini bar in Moscow could burn a hole in your pocket of about Rs 662.56 while you can get it for just about Rs 85.21 in Puerto Vallarta (Mexico). A can of coke from the hotel mini-bar will cost you a bomb in Oslo at Rs 421.61, while it is available nearly four times cheaper in Cape Town (Africa). A mini-bottle of vodka will cost you a little less than Rs 1,000 in Stockholm, while it is the cheapest at Rs 165.15 in Cape Town.
Just based on the price of the incidental costs, African cities such as Cape Town, Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt and Marrakech (Morocco) emerged as the most affordable destination for Indian travellers.
In Asia, Jakarata and Taiwan are among the least expensive for Indian travellers. Meanwhile, European cities such as Paris, Stockholm, Oslo, Zurich and Helsinki emerged as the key expensive cities, while Istanbul, Budapest and Sofia (Bulgaria) emerged as relatively more affordable.