The Kommersant has reviewed a new study by the Gaidar Institute, "Domestic Tourism: Accommodation Search and Booking Channels", in which experts found that in 2025, direct sales were the primary hotel booking channel in Russia, accounting for 2/3 of total bookings.
According to a survey involving 2.000 tourists and 600 hoteliers conducted by the Gaidar Institute, direct sales without participation of aggregators and tour operators reached 66% by the end of 2025.
36% of bookings were made through official hotel websites, another 17% involved the front desk (phone or email reservations), and 13% were made through hotels' own social media accounts. The online travel agencies (OTA), tour operators and classifieds shared the remaining 34%.
Experts from the Gaidar Institute highlighted an important behavioral nuance among tourists: despite high share of direct sales, travelers still actively use aggregators and search engines as a "shopping window" for comparing options (47% and 51%, respectively).
However, analysts note that booking is often made directly on the hotel's website. Thus, the aggregators are becoming a crucial marketing tool for hotels for attracting attention of their target audience.