According to a report by Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko, the 2025-2026 winter season has consolidated the growth of domestic tourism and the expansion of the winter product line. According to forecasts, the number of trips across Russia per season will reach 33.7 million, which is a 9% year-on-year increase.
Ski holidays and early booking. Russian ski resorts received over 8 million tourists in the 2024/25 season, which is a 25% increase over the previous season, and further growth of at least 10% is projected for the winter of 2025/26. Tour operators note that already three months before the New Year, about 75% of ski tours were purchased. Against the background of demand, the infrastructure is expanding and new locations are appearing.
Active winter trips, including Arctic destinations. Active trips mean trips where the main goal is not an excursion program, but physical activity and nature. The top destinations of active winter tourism in 2025 include Baikal, Altai, the North Caucasus, the Murmansk Region and Karelia. At the same time, sales of organized asset tours from large operators decreased by about 15% year-on-year, and independent trips increased: large aggregators record an increase in bookings for active recreation by about 14%. The planning depth has increased to 60-80 days.
Event tourism and New Year's rush. In 2025, New Year's trips became record-breaking in terms of early bookings, and the top destinations included Krasnodar Krai, Stavropol Krai, Moscow, St. Petersburg, and Crimea. Additionally, gambling tourism clusters support demand during the holidays: according to AIRIS, 95,566 guests visited them from December 31, 2025 to January 11, 2026, and in individual clusters the cumulative increase compared to last year was almost 23%. The growth is largely due to non-gaming formats and a rich event program, including concerts, gastronomic offers, shows and special New Year's events.
Health tourism. The demand for winter trips to sanatoriums increased by 10-15% compared to the previous year, and the load for the New Year holidays in many health resorts was approaching 100%. In the distribution of winter sanatorium bookings, 71% fell on the Caucasian Mineral Waters, followed by the Urals and Siberia with a share of about 12% and the Krasnodar Territory with 7%. During the New Year holidays, the concentration is even higher: about 80% of bookings are made in Kavminvody. At the same time, volumes and prices are growing: in the second half of 2025, sanatorium bookings increased by 79% year-on-year, and the average cost of a night increased from 6.3 thousand rubles in 2024 to 8.6 thousand rubles in 2025.
Gastronomy as a route selection factor. The geography of “delicious” destinations has significantly expanded in the winter season: Dagestan, Altai and Kamchatka have entered the top 10 sightseeing routes for the first time, while the Kaliningrad region has shown one of the highest growth rates, in February the volume of bookings there increased by 120% compared to last year. Winter events further increase demand: Carnival and the long February weekend form the peaks of short trips, while the depth of planning is growing, up to 73% of winter tours were purchased in the fall.
Winter city-break and the “city plus countryside" format. Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kazan and Sochi, as well as Sevastopol and Yalta, stand out in winter urban tourism. The format is growing, when the cultural program is complemented by short trips to the nearest locations, and railway routes remain one of the most convenient ways to travel in winter.
New niches: retreats, digital detox and bleisure. There is a growing demand on the market for “quiet” recovery formats and for combining remote work with leisure. The share of such products is still small, but the segments are growing and are gradually becoming part of the regular tourist choice.
Winter 2025 shows two parallel movements at once: Demand goes into earlier planning and more complex vacation scenarios. Tourists either choose “vivid impressions” through the mountains, activity and events, or they go for restoration and high-quality service. That is why destinations that give not just one reason to come, but a whole set of understandable reasons to stay longer, win.