Travel Notes

Five Star Price Check

Moscow’s exorbitant hotel prices could not withstand the economic crisis and are falling for the first time in six years, Kommersant reported. Jones Lang LaSalle said prices fell 18% in November and another 15% in December. Prior to these price drops, Moscow had the most expensive hotels in the world, according to the Hotel Price Index 2008, followed by New York and Dubai.

Occupancy in December 2008 was only 52 percent, 14 percent lower than a year previous. In past years, Moscow had a deficit of 8000+ hotel rooms, and Mayor Yury Luzhkov pushed for a program that would add over 60 thousand rooms to the Moscow hotel market.

According to Rosstat, there are 34 thousand rooms in the capital, of which only 10 thousand can be called “modern” and in the three-star category or above. Due to tight credit in the construction market, at least nine large hotel openings have been delayed.

Metro Expansion

The Moscow Metro will add another dozen stations by 2015, Moscow City’s chief architect, Alexander Kuzmin said in January. In addition to four stations to be opened this year – Dostoyevskaya, Maryina Roshcha, Volokolamskaya and Mitino – a new station, Seligerskaya, will appear near busy Dmitrovskoye Shosse.

Seligerskaya will be a depot and is due to be commissioned sometime between 2013 and 2015 and will become a northward extension of the Lyublino line. The Zamoskvorechye line will be extended in 2011 and 2012, and, in 2013-15, work will begin on a “transition contour” that will start at the Moskva City business center and skirt the downtown to the northwest, north and northeast towards Nizhegorodskaya street.

The Circle Line will get Suvorovskaya station, near the huge Russian Army Theater and Catherine’s Park. Tekhnopark station will appear on the Zamoskvorechye line and Spartak Stadium will be built on the Taganka line in the northwest.

Hermitage West

The State Hermitage museum is planning to open a branch in Amsterdam this summer with the exhibition “Russian Imperial Court.” The Amstelhof building, where the branch is to be located, previously housed a retirement home. The city and private benefactors contributed €40 million to restore the 17th century building. The museum plans to hold two exhibitions a year, importing collections from the Hermitage as well as other Russian museums.

Hungarian Connection

Russia’s Bank for Reconstruction and Development (Vneshekonombank) became the new owner of the Hungarian airline Malev. As part of the partnership agreement, Russia’s state-controlled company Aeroflot will operate Malev. The Hungarian airline has not been doing well and the Hungarian government sold a 99.95 percent stake in 2007 to the ex-owner of AirUnion Boris Abramovich, but that stake has since come under the control of VEB, which financed the purchase.  First Deputy Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov said more Russian routes will be added to Malev’s flight schedule.

Together in Avtodor

United Russia deputies have proposed new legislation that would create a company to oversee and manage Russia’s most important roads. The company Avtodor will receive federal highways in concession, and will be able to make repairs, build new roads, charge tolls, and rent out roadside land. While the measure is being advertised as a solution for modernizing Russia’s road network (to this day, it is virtually impossible to drive from Moscow to Vladivostok by a car), critics said the company is just another bureaucracy that will lead to corruption schemes and charge people money without solving any real problems. Ironically, Avtodor was also the name of the road authority skillfully swindled by Ostap Bender in Ilf & Petrov’s novel, The Golden Calf. By pretending his car was the leader of an international rally, he used Avtodor’s supplies and funds for his own needs.

Cruise Discount

Value World Tours is offering a 10% discount on all their 2009 river cruises to new passengers paid in full by March 31, 2009. In addition, all fuel surcharges have been removed for 2009 river cruises. VWT offers cruises between Moscow and  St. Petersburg and in Ukraine.

valuecruises.net

Wooden Skyscraper Demolished

Arkhangelsk authorities have demolished the unique 13-story wooden terem (above), which was in the Guinness Book of World Records as the tallest structure of its kind. The building was constructed by a local businessman in the 1990s, but had since fallen into disrepair. 

An Arkhangelsk court ruled that the tower was built with no regard for fire safety rules and had to be razed, despite its unofficial status as a regional landmark.  

The demolition cost R2.6 million, Novaya Gazeta reported. “The whole situation is remarkable,” said former Arkhangelsk Mayor Alexander Donskoy, “instead of spending money on helping halted industries and people, the city spends it destroying a terem that made many people happy.”