How much did you pay for St Petersburg Tour in 2014?

How much did you pay for a two day St. Petersburg Tour in Russian roubles in 2014?

This year the rouble has gone from 34 to "up to" 80 to the U.S dollar - it's pesently around 65 to the dollar.

The independent tour agents only want to quote in USD, although they will charge you in roubles.......

Should their charges be reduced by a third, given that their local costs are liable to have risen, if only slightly?

How much did you pay for a two day St. Petersburg Tour in Russian roubles in 2014?

 

This year the rouble has gone from 34 to "up to" 80 to the U.S dollar - it's pesently around 65 to the dollar.

 

The independent tour agents only want to quote in USD, although they will charge you in roubles.......

 

Should their charges be reduced by a third, given that their local costs are liable to have risen, if only slightly?

Former international banker here. Ruble was not in the free fall that it is now, but I noticed that prices were sticky even though there was a 15% drop USD/ruble.

That said, it seems that since the tours are marketed to westerners, that is your market. Supply and demand in USD terms will dictate prices ( remember they are competing against the cruise ship USD price.) I think we paid about $220 pp for a two day, small group 6 people, but I'll try and find a hard number for you.

Another idea ... you are a very seasoned cruiser...search the ship you are sailing roll calls for Baltic itineraries in 2014 and try to find messages for people looking to join them on tours with prices listed.

search the ship you are sailing roll calls for Baltic itineraries in 2014 and try to find messages for people looking to join them on tours with prices listed.

Yes, but they will all be quoting the dollar price.

I asked one tour operator to tell me the price in roubles, and she said it will be converted from $xxx on the day of the tour at the Russian State Bank rate...............

Yes, but they will all be quoting the dollar price.

 

I asked one tour operator to tell me the price in roubles, and she said it will be converted from $xxx on the day of the tour at the Russian State Bank rate...............

That's because it's a fixed US dollar price and floats in ruble terms. They will get the benefit of the currency going down in value. So a tour that cost $220 pp would have been about 7500 rubles. But. now is about 14300 rubles. They gain...in ruble terms. But, you must remember that inflation has also been very high in Russia after the currency tanked, so their Ruble costs have increased.

Remember, their market (the tour companies) is Western tourists and it's practically a captive market because of the high price of the visas and visa processing costs. They price in western currencies...and they will benefit from the gain in ruble terms. If the currency went the other way...they would still have to price it in western currency terms at a price westerners would be willing to pay.

That said, you might be able to find some better deals this year in $ terms than last. Because of the FX gains, the tour providers will might be willing to negotiate a bit more.

Inflation 9%. Currency devaluation 50%.

We will see if we can get a deal in roubles if only someone can tell me what that price is!

From what I have seen most companies are still at $300 for a full destination St Petersburg tour. Some are offering limited programs for $240 or so but I don't expect any of them to drop much. I know of one which is full featured(all the normal destinations plus Faberge Museum and free time) for $199 but they have the advantage of getting the tickets cheaper and supply the tickets to the other tour companies. The ruble will probably be 40-45:1 dollar in spring and will gain value pretty quickly when OPEC ends the shake out of more expensive to extract alternative supplies of oil.

Inflation has not really hit yet, maybe after the first of the year when current inventories need to be replaced with new imports. A lot less imports from the west will be expected but most trade is with Asia anyway and so consumer products are not going up that much. European food items are pretty much gone from the shelves but there are other sources brands have changed but not quantity or prices much. I did notice eggs were up yesterday 10-15%. Cheese has switched to Russian made cheese and prices are good. Finland and other Baltic dairy products are really hurting. Southern Finland is hurt by the sanctions much more than Russia, diary farmers are going bankrupt left and right. They used to export 4/5 of all they produced to Russia. Property values have dropped a lot. I was up in Lappeenranta 2 weeks ago and the normally healthy pleasant town had 30% of shops and stores vacant. Thousands of Russians used to go there for shopping every week with dozens of big discount retailers. The sanctions are a boon for Russian farmers, poultry and dairy production have soared and no chicken or milk needs to be imported now. There used to be billions of dollars in chicken from Arkansas imported each year but local production increases from substantial investment in facilities has eliminated that.

I expect the normal Russian owned tour operators with not lower prices unless desperate, it is something about how business works. They will just increase ads and hope to make for from fewer customers. I've seen that in so many industries here. They are used to a certain income, $300-350 for a 2 day tour and are going to be reluctant to lower it. If you see big drops by the popular companies look at the itineraries and see what was dropped.

To find out what is going on here, it is best to turn off TV, nothing on the ground fits what is being reported by the talking heads in the US. The economy is not collapsing, the fundamentals are just too good, with such low debt, every major city and the federal government will end the fiscal year with a surplus like every year since 2000. The city of SPb has a surplus of 1.6 $billion right now. The big drop of the stock market was a trader bubble and panic by Forex traders, not economic factors. The Ruble has gained back more in the last than it dropped in those 2 days when it "collapsed".