The domestic tourist flow in Russia last year increased by almost 5% compared to the same period last year and reached 76.2 million trips. Russians began to choose more carefully locations for vacation, trying to combine not only outdoor recreation (beach or mountains), but also cultural leisure.
Leading regions
Moscow, Krasnodar Territory and St. Petersburg traditionally remain the main magnets for tourists, maintaining leadership in the number of trips from January to October 2025 (11.3 million, 9 million and 6.5 million, respectively). The popularity of the capital and the Northern capital is explained by their status as world-class cultural and historical centers, rich event schedule and developed infrastructure. Krasnodar Territory attracts tourists as a leading resort region of the country with a unique combination of sea, mountain and natural recreation. At the same time, Primorsky Region is gaining popularity among foreign guests, along with Moscow and St. Petersburg, due to its economic potential, interest in exotic nature and cultural exchange, including the actively developing sphere of entertainment hospitality. As the practice of our Shambhala complex in Primorye shows, a modern tourist is looking not just for rest, but also for a complex of impressions, where the world-class entertainment infrastructure becomes a key factor in choosing a destination, stimulating the demand for air travel and hotels.
In addition, the national project “Tourism and Hospitality Industry” has been launched in Russia since 2021. Since January of this year, it has been updated to solve such problems as the creation of federal resorts “Five Seas and Lake Baikal,” support for national producers, as well as the further implementation of measures that are in demand among regions and businesses.
At the same time, the regional authorities acted as key conductors of state support for tourism, directing federal resources to create and modernize the hospitality infrastructure. They selected and distributed federal subsidies and grants for private business, which covered up to 50% of the cost of building modular hotels (up to 1.5 million rubles per room) and allocated up to 10 million rubles for the development of agritourism. Within the framework of such ambitious federal projects as “Five Seas and Lake Baikal” (aimed at creating 120 thousand new rooms by 2030), the regions were tasked with developing documentation, providing engineering communications and attracting private investment in the construction of specific commercial infrastructure facilities – hotels, restaurants and entertainment complexes. In addition, the regions provided local tax incentives (for example, tax holidays for new individual entrepreneurs and preferential terms for renting land plots), and also directly invested in transport accessibility, reconstructing access roads to popular natural attractions, directly influencing the growth of tourist flow.
In addition, in 2025, the main factor in the growth of domestic tourist flow was a powerful structural redistribution of tourist demand, initiated by an environmental disaster in the resorts of the Krasnodar Territory. This led to a massive redirection of the flow of vacationers to alternative, often less traditional regions: Crimea became the absolute leader (+66.8%), the indicators of St. Petersburg (+7.1%), Moscow and the Moscow region (+4.4%), as well as regions actively developing infrastructure and event tourism, such as Karachay-Cherkessia (+135%) and Adygea (+67%). This shift was supported and strengthened by the entrenched trends in auto tourism, recreation in small towns and short trips, as well as ongoing government support within the framework of the national project, which together determined a new geography of domestic travel in 2025.
Reasons for popularity
The main trends in the preferences of Russian tourists in 2025 show a noticeable shift from passive recreation to more conscious, experienced and diverse travel formats. At the heart of these changes there is the desire for new impressions, the discovery of our country and attention to environmental issues. Here are the specific types of recreation where demand is growing the most:
- cultural and educational tourism (41% of respondents);
- beach holidays (40% of respondents);
- ecotourism (26% of respondents).
The key trend in 2025 was the request of tourists for deep authenticity and unique impressions. Standard routes have been replaced by growing interest in historical small towns and remote regions that open up true “Russianness.” At the same time, the popularity of independent car travel (32 million car trips and +7% by 2024) and agritourism has increased, allowing in one format to combine proximity to nature, route flexibility and immersion in local life. This shift is also clearly manifested in planning trips “to get the impression” – like to see the aurora, whales or places of cinematic filming, as well as in the trend for health and SPA programs that turn recreation into conscious self-care. In my opinion, non-standard types of leisure became the main trend last year in domestic tourism, and this trend will remain on the market in 2026.
How much it costs
In 2025, the average check of one tourist trip in Russia increased, but the pace of this growth was moderate and strongly depended on the market segment and the region. If we talk about total daily expenses, then the average daily expenses of a tourist increased by about 6.9%, amounting to 2356 rubles a day. At the same time, the cost of one night in a hotel on average in the country increased by about 8%, reaching 5700 rubles.
However, analysis of larger tourism products shows that price increases have been more tangible. Thus, the average check for a summer vacation with a flight increased in the range from 15% to 21% compared to 2024. This significant jump is explained by the general increase in prices for air tickets and accommodation. For example, the average cost of an air ticket increased by 7%, to 20,500 rubles.
What is interesting for tourists in Russia
Despite the rise in prices, in 2025 the main drivers of event tourism were major festivals and gastronomic holidays, as well as large-scale entertainment events held by modern gambling and entertainment resorts, which, in addition to gaming halls, offer concert venues, restaurants and SPA, successfully form event calendar and extend the tourist season in the regions. Moscow set a record for attracting domestic tourists: the Summer in Moscow festival, which included more than 122 thousand events, was attended by 64 million guests. In parallel, a powerful trend towards gastronomic tourism has formed in the regions: during the days of festivals, the demand for hotels increased sharply, for example, in Suzdal during the “Cucumber Day” it was 33% higher than on a regular weekend, demonstrating how local gastronomic brands are becoming new points of attraction for travelers.
2026 outlook
The prospects for domestic tourism in Russia in the coming years look positive, despite the slowdown in growth in 2025, and will be determined by both global state policies and qualitative changes within the industry. The main goal remains to achieve 140 million tourist trips per year by 2030. The sustainability of this trend will depend on the successful creation of the concept of complex, year-round resorts, where hotel service, gastronomy, SPA, concert venues and other forms of leisure are combined into a single ecosystem, are already successfully implementing modern entertainment clusters in different parts of the country, becoming drivers of development for entire regions. The experience of legal gambling zones, such as Krasnaya Polyana in Sochi or Primorye in Vladivostok, has already proven the effectiveness of this model: they have become year-round points of attraction that generate a steady flow of tourists and investments in the development of entire macro-regions, creating jobs and stimulating related industries.
The entertainment industry, including through the development of event tourism, is becoming an important driver for diversifying the tourism offer and attracting new audience segments, helping to smooth the seasonality. Further growth will depend on the ability of the regions to create competitive, demanded products, expand the number of rooms and transport accessibility, while overcoming infrastructure and personnel challenges.
In recent years, there has been a direct relationship between a decrease in outbound and an increase in domestic tourism, but by 2025, this connection has weakened and gave way to a situation of active competition, which experts compare with “communicating vessels.” The strengthening of the ruble, the restoration of flights with a number of countries and the emergence of new accessible foreign destinations (such as Egypt and the UAE) made outbound vacations more attractive, while key domestic resorts, primarily the Krasnodar Territory, faced environmental and weather problems that led to a decrease in demand. As a result, tourists who refused to rest in the Russian south massively switched to foreign trips, which led to stagnation in the growth of domestic tourist flow by the end of the summer season of 2025 and a reduction in sales in hotels, demonstrating that the domestic market is no longer uncontested and must directly compete in price and quality with foreign offers.
How long will the trend of growth in demand for domestic tourism be? The analysis shows that the current trend has serious potential for consolidation, but its stability is not automatic and will directly depend on overcoming a number of system challenges. On the one hand, powerful structural factors speak in favor of long-term: this is unprecedented state support within the framework of the national project “Tourism and Hospitality” with clear goals until 2030 and billions in investments in infrastructure, as well as a noticeable change in the preferences of Russians themselves in favor of conscious, active and research recreation (auto and ecotourism) within the country. However, on the other hand, there are significant obstacles to turning this boom into a sustainable new reality. The key ones are the growing price competition with reviving outbound tourism amid the strengthening of the ruble, the continuing shortage of high-quality infrastructure and qualified personnel, as well as the remaining administrative and legal barriers. Thus, the current growth is more of a window of opportunity for the industry. Long-term success will be determined by how quickly and efficiently the state and business can not only build new facilities, but also radically improve the quality, diversity and availability of a tourist product throughout Russia.
By Nikita Smolentsev, director of the branch of the hotel and entertainment complex “Shambhala”