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Seoul's DSAR stands at US$366, which is higher than New York's $347 and Tokyo's $280, according to the Bank of Korea on Tuesday. Seoul's rate is lower than that of India's Bangalore at $425, London at $415 and Moscow at $410. However, Seoul still ranks among the highest in the world.

According to the 2007 Corporate Travel Index by Business Travel News magazine, Korea ranks eighth in the world in terms of accommodation expenses, which come out to $396 a day. The index is calculated by adding daily expenses such as accommodation, food, and taxi fares spent by a U.S businessman staying in a first class hotel.

Seoul's index value is much higher than Tokyo's $336, Hong Kong's $335, Singapore's $296 and Beijing's $247. Seoul ranks second after Moscow when it comes to living expenses for multinational companies' resident workers in 144 international cities, according to international consulting firm MERCER.

Regarding Seoul's high travel and accommodation expenses, Lee Seung-yong, manager of Bank of Korea's price analysis team, said, "The index mostly reflects high-end consumption activities. Foreigners might feel the price increase more than the actual increase since the Korean won has appreciated by 42 percent over the last five years."

He added, "For ordinary spending, Korea ranked 23rd among the 30 member nations of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in terms of prices of commodities."