MOSCOW, December 9. /TASS/. Russians' domestic travel spending in autumn of 2025 increased by 30% compared to the same period last year, totaling 154 billion rubles ($1.9 bln), according to a joint study by VTB and OneTwoTrip. The copy of the study results was available to TASS.
"Russians are increasingly traveling in autumn, their spending on hotels, transportation, and entertainment has increased by almost a third compared to last year," Alexey Okhorzin, Senior Vice President and Head of Retail Products at VTB said. In particular, this was thanks to the fact that more affordable accommodation options can be found in popular tourist destinations.
"Travelers prefer not only neighboring regions but also more distant destinations, expanding their vacation geography," he noted.
According to OneTwoTrip, the leading cities by number of bookings were Moscow (22.5% of all bookings), St. Petersburg (14.6%), and Adler (4.4%). Kazan (3.2%) and Yekaterinburg (2.7%) also made the top five. The average nightly hotel rate was 8,400 rubles ($108). Apartments, guest houses, and hostels were the most popular, accounting for 30.5% of bookings. Four-star hotels accounted for 30.1% of bookings, three-star hotels accounted for 25.8%, and five-star hotels accounted for 10%.
The city of Tver saw a particular increase in interest - demand for accommodation in the city increased by 53%. Demand for hotels in Kaluga (+35%) and Orenburg (+34%) also increased significantly.
"Analyzing Russians' travel patterns across the country this autumn, we found that Tver has become significantly more popular - demand for hotels in the city has increased by 53%. Travelers' interest in vacationing in Kaluga has also increased significantly (+35%), while Orenburg rounds out the top three travel hotspots, with hotel bookings there 34% more often than last fall," said Elena Shelekhova, head of the press service for the travel planning service OneTwoTrip.
Among travel expenses, rail travel showed the largest increase: spending on long-distance tickets increased by a third to 8.8 billion rubles ($113 mln), with an average ticket of 3,500 rubles ($45.32). VTB clients spent 12 billion rubles ($155 mln) on airfare (+18%), with an average ticket of 20,500 rubles ($265.4) (+7%). Accommodation expenses reached 10.2 billion rubles ($132 mln), with an average ticket of 7,400 rubles ($95.82). The total number of transactions in tourism industry exceeded 200 million.