Moscow hotels 75% booked for 2018 FIFA World Cup

Moscow, Dec 20 (IANS) Up to three-quarters of Moscow hotel rooms have already been reserved for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, whereas only three weeks ago, this figure was 10 per cent lower, Nikolay Gulyaev, Head of the Moscow City Department of Sport and Tourism, said.

"I would not try to predict how this amount is divided up between foreign and Russian fans, however (I could suggest) that the majority are Russians. Up to 75 per cent of hotels have been booked for these dates (2018 FIFA World Cup), but three weeks ago, before the World Cup draw, it was 10 per cent lower. The price levels are as follows: a one-star hotel room would cost about 5,000 rubles ($85), while a five star accommodation would run for 50,000 rubles ($850)," the public official said.

"Currently, Moscow has 1,183 hotels available for booking, at different rating levels. Next year, we'll have even more hotels on offer and will open new accommodation sites. We are monitoring the prices and have already revealed 33 cases of price gouging, specifically for the dates of the championship. We registered similar cases of price spikes during the recent FIFA Confederations Cup, then we were able to convince the hotels to scale down the prices. However, the temptation still remains high," Gulyaev noted.

The 2018 Russia-hosted FIFA World Cup will take place in 11 Russian cities from June 14 to July 15 next year.

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