Moscow is the world’s most expensive city for business

A new survey compiled by Hogg Robinson, a business travel company, has shown that the city of Moscow is once again the most expensive city for business travellers.

Despite a massive drop of 14 per cent on the city’s average room rate it still holds the top spot. The average cost of a room in the Russian capital for the first half of this year was £268.11 down from the same period last year which was closer to £312.

The survey went on to suggest that the decline in room rates was largely due to the decrease in travel from the banking and finance sectors and because of a large number of new hotels opening up in the city forcing others to slash prices to stay competitive.

Moscow could well see their crown disappear next year as the emergence of one Middle Eastern country that has joined the party. Abu Dhabi made it to the list for the first time and the six months leading up to end of June 2009 saw an increase of 38 per cent on the average cost of a room bringing their price up to £253.36. This is thought to be attributed to the demand for rooms currently out weighing the supply, as in many Middle East countries.