The Gaidar Institute conducted a study of the Russian domestic tourism market and analyzed travelers' booking channels.
The Russia’s tourism market presents currently a rapidly growing sector, dominated by domestic tourism and rapidly digitizing booking channels for both individuals and businesses.
The Russia’s tourism market comprises several main types of sales channels. Firstly, there are the accommodation facilities (hotels, inns, glampings), which sell rooms directly through their websites, reception desks, telephone or social media, and other channels, as well as to corporate clients. Secondly, there are tour operators (such as Biblio Globus, Anex Tour, Alean, etc.), which compile and sell package tours. Other channels include travel agents (e.g., Sletat.ru, Travelata.ru, etc.), which sell ready-made tours from tour operators; classifieds (Avito, CIAN, etc.); online travel aggregators (OTA) such as Ostrovok, Yandex Travel, Avito Travel, Sutochno.ru, etc., which act as intermediaries; and TMC agencies (for example, Aeroclub), which specialize in organizing business trips.
A key feature of the tourism market is its multifaceted structure, which presents a complex ecosystem comprising government agencies, businesses and consumers. Its multi-layered nature and rapid pace of change make it difficult to construct a unified structural model of the tourism market.
The total number of tourist trips in 2025 increased by 5% to 94.5 million. Moreover, the average annual growth rate of domestic tourism in Russia over the past five years was 15%. While Moscow (14%), Krasnodar Krai (11%), and St. Petersburg (8%) were absolute leaders, growth across regions is uneven. This dynamic directly correlates with the infrastructure development of the regions. Thus, leaders in terms of dynamics of trips figures in 2025 were: the Karachay-Cherkess Republic (+135%), the Republic of Adygea (+67%), and the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug (+52%).
However, clear seasonality is typical for the Russian tourism market: the average annual occupancy rate of the accommodation facilities that took part in the study is at 50%, and in the summer, occupancy reaches 70%.
When searching for accommodation (hotels, hostels, resorts, etc.), tourists use several sources simultaneously, often combining them. The main channels for finding accommodations are search engines (Yandex, Google, etc.), which are used in 51% of cases, and OTA, which were mentioned by 47% of respondents. Classifieds and accommodation website sites are used by 32% of surveyed travelers each.
Direct bookings are a key channel for hoteliers to attract tourists. In 2025, sales through direct hotelier channels accounted for two-thirds (66%) of total bookings. The remaining 34% of bookings were generated through intermediary services: 19% through OTA, 7% through tour operators, 5% through business travel agencies, and 3% through classifieds.
Most hoteliers (57%) employ a mixed sales strategy, attracting guests both directly and through intermediaries. However, 35% of hotels have completely abandoned partner services and operate exclusively through direct channels. Only 8% of market participants rely entirely on aggregators and other intermediaries to attract customers.
Comparing data collected from tourists and market participants allowed us to comprehensively examine the structure of customer acquisition channels, identify differences in the perception of their importance, and identify key points of interaction between supply and demand in the domestic tourism market.
Thus, the Gaidar Institute's study confirms that the domestic tourism market is at a critical stage. Digital transformation and withdrawal of international actors have not resulted in the monopolization of online aggregators; on the contrary, they have strengthened the position of direct channels and made the landscape more diverse and competitive. Tourists, having gained greater choice and access to information, have become key beneficiaries of this transformation, gaining the ability to compare and select the best deals.
Search engines and online aggregators remain the primary channels for finding hotel information. However, the role of OTA (on-line travel agency) in the final accommodation sales is significantly lower than during the search process. It turns out that almost half of tourists (47%) search for hotels through aggregators, but only 19% actually book them, according to a hotelier survey. This shows that OTAs act more like shop windows where guests browse options and prices, but often end up booking directly. Therefore, aggregators are primarily a means of attracting attention for hotels, rather than a primary sales channel. That is why managing content on OTA is becoming especially important for accommodation providers. In particular, travelers value both basic hotel information posted on aggregators (accommodation facilities’ photos, prices) and specific personalized information (reviews, ratings).
In the long term, it is likely to expect further ecosystem complexity and an increased emphasis on service quality. Competition will shift from price and visibility to creating a seamless customer experience, i.e. from searching to the end of a trip. For hotels, this means investing not only in direct channel functionality but also in data, analytics, and flexible revenue management systems that enable optimal balancing between different channels in real time. The ability to build direct, trusting relationships with guests will become a key competitive advantage in an increasingly digitally mature market.
The study's methodological basis was an analysis of quantitative data obtained through an online survey of two target audiences. The first included 2000 tourists who had traveled within Russia over the past 12 months and used accommodation services. The second was an online panel of 600 representatives of collective accommodation providers operating in Russia.
Study “Domestic tourism: accommodation searching and booking channels”