The reservation is strong: how Russian tourists' plans, routes, and habits change
In the summer, many Russians chose to stay in sanatoriums and travel to major cities. At the same time, the average check increased by 10-15% compared to last year and amounted to 100-120 thousand rubles. Abkhazia and neighboring countries were still the leaders among foreign destinations, but in the autumn demand is shifting towards trips around the country. How the preferences of tourists changed during the season is in the "Izvestia" article.
Main summer destinations
In the summer of 2026, the resorts of the Krasnodar Territory became the leaders in the number of bookings in Russia and neighboring countries — they accounted for 40% of the total volume. ""Izvestia" was told about this in the press service of the national tour operator "Alean". Abkhazia came in second place with a share of 26%, and Caucasian Mineral Waters came in third (8%).
Beach holidays continued to be the most popular format: seaside resorts accounted for 64% of all applications. Another 22% were trips to sanatoriums. Caucasian Mineral Waters were in the lead, accounting for 31% of the total number of wellness tours. Krasnodar Territory and Crimea accounted for another 23%. The top ten also includes health resorts in the Urals and Siberia (13%), Belarus (12%), the Moscow region and central Russia (11%).
6.5% of travelers chose city tours. St. Petersburg became the leader, accounting for 27% of such trips. Kaliningrad accounted for 11% and Moscow for 10%. Other notable destinations include Kazan, Minsk and the cities of the Golden Ring.
According to "Avito Travel", houses were rented mainly in the Moscow and Leningrad regions, as well as in Bashkiria, for recreation outside the city. The house was usually rented for two nights, it accommodated about five people. The average rental price in the most sought-after regions was 10,5 thousand rubles per night.
The top 10 places for such holidays include Karelia, Tatarstan, Dagestan, Chelyabinsk region, Altai Republic, Samara and Orenburg regions. The cheapest place to stay was in the Orenburg region — about 6.7 thousand rubles per night. In the Altai Republic, a night in a house cost about 8 thousand rubles, in Dagestan — 8.5 thousand.
— In the summer, the accommodation was chosen for a specific travel scenario. Country houses were more often booked for company or family vacations, while apartments were reserved for city trips for two or three people. At the same time, trips in the southern regions, the Kaliningrad Region and the Far East on average lasted longer," said Vladislav Sakina, Commercial Director of "Avito Travel".
According to OneTwoTrip, Moscow remained the most popular city (19.6%). Then — St. Petersburg (15.2%), Adler (3.4%) and Kazan (3.0%). Krasnodar returned to the top 5 (2.3%), displacing Nizhny Novgorod.
"Dagestan's Izberbash became the record holder for the growth of interest (+256%), Russians also actively discovered Valdai (+90%) and Konakovo (+82%). But interest in such locations as Boguchar (-78%), Losevo (-75%) and Abrau-Durso (-61%), on the contrary, has cooled," the press service added.
In summer, accommodation in Russian hotels on average cost 90-120 thousand rubles, excluding the road, experts noted. The average check increased by 10-15% over the year.
Where did you fly abroad
During the summer, interest in neighboring countries also increased. The number of bookings to Uzbekistan increased by about a third compared to the previous year, "Alean" said. Georgia increased 1.5 times, Armenia — a quarter, Kyrgyzstan — 12%. The dynamics in Abkhazia has changed the most: the number of orders there has increased by 51%.
"Russians chose these destinations due to the visa-free regime, the absence of a language barrier and the variety of tourist opportunities. Among the formats are cultural and educational routes, beach holidays in Batumi and Abkhazia, concerts by foreign performers in Tbilisi, wellness programs on Lake Issyk—Kul and acquaintance with the eastern culture of Uzbekistan," the press service noted.
According to "Fly.<url>", sales of tours with arrivals from June 1 to August 31, 2026 inclusive turned out to be 15% higher than a year earlier. Vietnam showed a 3.6—fold increase in the number of applications, Montenegro - 3.5-fold, and Tanzania — threefold. China has doubled, Indonesia has almost doubled. Georgia accounted for 70% more applications, Egypt — by 43%, Belarus — by 41%, Maldives — by 35%, Turkey — by 20%. Abkhazia and Thailand added 15.5% each.
The average cost of a tour to Turkey increased by 3% and reached 216.5 thousand rubles. In Egypt, it rose by 6%, to 183 thousand rubles. Trips to Abkhazia increased in price by 3.5%, to 115.8 thousand rubles, to China — by 7.5%, to 159.5 thousand rubles. The average bill grew the most in the Maldives — by 21.6%, to 287 thousand rubles.
Where will they go in the velvet season
In September 2026, tourist demand shifted towards home destinations: 60% of all bookings were made to hotels in Russia (compared to 51% a year earlier). The share of foreign trips, respectively, fell to 40%, OneTwoTrip added.
Within the country, the average check per night decreased slightly to 8.9 thousand rubles. The main surprise of the velvet season by regional breakdown was that Moscow (20.2%) displaced Krasnodar Krai (16.0%) from the first place. St. Petersburg (18%) retained the second place, the Kaliningrad region and Tatarstan also entered the top. The leaders in terms of share growth were Moscow (+2.1 percentage points) and Primorsky Krai (+0.8 percentage points).
"The absolute hit in September was Turkey, whose share doubled from 9.9% to 21.0%. China, Italy, Belarus and Greece are also among the top five," they added.
The most economical option in the velvet season is Makhachkala. Abkhazia's Sukhum and Sochi remain accessible. Georgian Batumi looks attractive abroad, and in Turkey, besides Antalya and Alanya, it is worth considering Dalaman and Mersin. Aktau, Kazakhstan, offers affordable housing on the Caspian coast.
How tourists' habits change
The summer season of 2026 has shown interesting paradoxes in the behavior of Russian tourists, said Elena Shelekhova, head of the press service of the OneTwoTrip travel planning service.
"We see two completely different patterns when planning domestic and foreign trips," she noted. — When traveling abroad, Russians began to act as spontaneously as possible: the booking horizon was almost halved — from 55 to 30 days before the holiday. This indicates a restructuring of habits: people try to avoid long-term risks in a dynamically changing transport environment. But inside Russia, on the contrary, they began to plan more carefully — the booking depth increased to 23.3 days.
The second global trend is towards comfort at home and a shift in priorities abroad. There is a growing demand for premium holidays and the "all inclusive" format within the country. Abroad, on the contrary, interest is shifting from Europe to Asia and neighboring countries. Russians are increasingly staying in apartments and traveling with their children. In the fall, foreign destinations become the choice for short "city breaks".
Anapa demonstrated the most noticeable dynamics of summer bookings among Russian destinations, "Alean" added. The number of orders increased by 15% compared to the same dates last year, and in some periods the increase reached 45%. Bookings of facilities in the Tver region increased by 29%. Nizhny Novgorod region and North Ossetia added 18% each, the resorts of Karachay-Cherkessia — Arkhyz and Dombai — 12% each, Manzherok — 10%.
"The increase in the number of bookings in Anapa is explained by the opening of the bathing season and affordable prices. The Tver region "grew" thanks to convenient logistics for residents of the Central Federal District and a variety of travel formats — holidays on the Volga, interesting excursions to small towns, and gastronomic tourism. The Nizhny Novgorod Region remains a sought-after destination for short summer trips, partly due to its eventful calendar. The growth in Manzherok and the North Caucasus is a continuation of the trend towards cool and active summers in the mountains: the number of tourists choosing this format is increasing annually," the press service noted.
Commercial Director of "Fly.<url>" and Anton Lavrukhin, managing director of the Let's Fly tour operator, noted that the sales results were lower than expected.
— At the same time, we are still recording growth, and this growth is in double digits, which is not bad, — he said.
According to him, the dynamics were primarily affected by the March crisis in the United Arab Emirates, the tense economic situation in our country and falling demand. In such conditions, tourists began to save money: some chose cheaper tours, while others reduced the number of trips and the length of their holidays.
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