How Russian Travelers Choose, Book, and Discover New Destinations in 2026

Booking.com and Airbnb left Russia in 2022, and the country's travel market has gone through several stages of change since then. By 2026, a new and stable pattern of consumer behavior had taken hold. Local services became firmly established, and demand grew for destinations that feel familiar and welcoming.

How Russians Plan and Book Trips in 2026

By 2024-2025, digital tools had become the main way to plan a trip. Up to 80% of travelers now prefer to book through online aggregators rather than going directly to hotel websites. More than half of all online hotel bookings run through two local services built directly into Russia's digital ecosystems. Yandex Travel (the travel booking service within Yandex, Russia's leading search engine and tech ecosystem) holds a share of up to 24.82%, while Ostrovok.ru (a leading Russian hotel booking service) holds up to 20.19%. Smaller booking sites have also gained ground, along with the Chinese service Trip.com, which reached a 3.3% share in 2026.

According to Russia's Association of Tour Operators and major industry players, Russians are booking fewer packaged tours. Sales of tours to Russia and nearby countries dropped 10-15% on average, and in some destinations, including Russian resorts, Abkhazia, and parts of the Caucasus, the decline reached 20-40%. Some of this outbound travel moved toward independent trip planning. Sales of international package tours fell 22-30% during the height of the Middle East conflict, yet demand for DIY travel, meaning trips booked directly through flights and hotels rather than tour operators, kept rising.

Turkey, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Thailand, China, and Vietnam make up most of Russia's mass outbound tourism in 2026. These six countries drive the bulk of travel volume and organized tours. Turkey and Egypt remain the default beach destinations, while the UAE serves as the top winter choice. Thailand and Vietnam continue to grow fast among Asian destinations, and China has gained ground thanks to visa-free travel and expanding flight routes. As visa rules tighten elsewhere, Europe is becoming a niche destination. Meanwhile, Asia, North Africa, and the Indian Ocean region are turning into the new standard for mass tourism.

Today's Russian traveler plans trips independently, relying on a mix of search engines, aggregators, and messaging apps. They choose more budget-friendly hotels and flexible rates, while traditional travel agencies now focus mainly on simple or niche routes.

Ad Formats Across Online Booking Services

In 2026, most search and payment activity, from trip planning to checkout, runs through local digital services. These include Yandex (its search engine plus Yandex Travel), hotel booking sites such as Ostrovok.ru and other Russian OTAs, flight metasearch engines like Aviasales, and marketplaces or apps with dedicated travel sections where users can pick flights, accommodation, and add-on services in one place.

Here's a closer look at what Russian users search for and the advertising opportunities this creates for brands.

Yandex Travel

Yandex's ecosystem remains one of the biggest digital hubs in Russia. Advertisers can reach Yandex Travel through Yandex's display advertising tools and Yandex Direct (Yandex's pay-per-click advertising system), since the service is part of the broader Yandex Advertising Network. Search, Maps, and the Yandex Plus loyalty program all work together within this ecosystem. Most ads here take the form of display banners placed on the service's home screen or below the hotel search bar. Algorithms help place these ads automatically based on audience characteristics.

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The Yandex Plus cashback program and other loyalty perks make Yandex Travel especially appealing for brands with a broad range of travel products. Customers can see discounts, bonuses, and special offers without leaving the ecosystem. They also get access to thousands of reviews, round-the-clock support, and the ability to pay for international hotels with a Russian bank card. The site guarantees check-in and lets users cancel bookings through their personal account if needed. This format works well for brands that are comfortable bidding in a competitive auction and want to run a sizable campaign.

Ostrovok.ru

Ostrovok.ru remains a top destination for travelers looking to book hotels. Users come here looking for accommodation, not sightseeing tours.

The site offers several advanced ad formats. These include display banners on the homepage and in search results, promotional pages with curated hotel selections by destination (such as a recent feature on hotels in Saudi Arabia), native placements in email newsletters and CRM communications, brand partnerships, branded landing pages, blog articles, and dedicated discovery pages for special projects.

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A curated selection of Saudi Arabia hotels on an Ostrovok.ru promotional page.

Ostrovok.ru works well for promoting hotels and stay-based tours, especially for destinations that are just gaining popularity. Dedicated pages and curated selections make it easy to explain the value of a new product and present it within a familiar, easy-to-use interface. The service also makes a good testing ground: brands can launch a campaign for a single destination, review the conversion rate, and then expand from there.

Ostrovok.ru regularly boosts demand through promo codes and special deals, which matters even more now that prices are rising and travelers are being more cautious in 2026. At the same time, the service runs its own nationwide campaigns, such as "Book the Sun" and "Oh, Moments," building brand awareness and trust.

Aviasales

Aviasales (Russia's largest flight metasearch engine for travel) remains where most journeys begin. This is where people choose destinations, search for flights, and weigh their options. For brands, this moment offers a unique chance to make an impression, because the audience is focused and no decisions have been made yet.

Aviasales users are used to planning trips on their own and comparing prices across options. Advertising tools here include banners within the checkout flow, native placements in travel guides, curated selections and special projects, email campaigns sent to segmented audiences, and custom formats built around specific destinations or brands.

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All of this appears right below the flight search bar, exactly when a user is reviewing their route. This creates a subtle but well-placed brand presence, improves conversion rates, and feels less like a separate ad and more like part of the product itself.

Ecosystem Connections and Partnership Formats

For brands, it matters that Aviasales operates within the same ecosystem as Ostrovok.ru and several other services, covering everything from flight search to hotel selection.

Main partnership formats in 2026 include:

• Native advertising, special projects, and co-branded content
• Personalized landing pages and branded pages
• Flexible payment models (CPC, CPA, and hybrid approaches)
• Retargeting support through Yandex Direct, VK, and Telegram Ads

Seasonal promotions also run regularly to boost sales. Ostrovok.ru drives bookings through promo codes and special campaigns, while Yandex and Aviasales team up with banks, e-commerce marketplaces, and subscription services such as Yandex Plus. Some advertising budget also goes toward connected TV (CTV) and outdoor digital advertising.

How to Advertise a Travel Brand in Russia in 2026

Russian users now start planning their trips with search engines and AI chatbots. The purchase decision increasingly happens within a single ecosystem that includes travel services, aggregators, social networks, and messaging apps. In 2026, a brand's job goes beyond simply appearing in search results. It needs to stay with the user through every key stage, from the first search and initial inspiration through to purchase and follow-up communication.

Search engines and social media serve as the primary entry points for trip planning. Findings from Tiburon Research and Tutu (a Russian travel booking service) show that Russians rely on recommendations from friends (37%), reviews from other travelers (33%), and curated route suggestions (28%) when planning a trip. They also actively browse booking sites, aggregators, and flight apps. A joint study by VK and Avito Travel (a classifieds and travel service) found that 56% of Russians choose destinations after seeing posts on social media. Meanwhile, 59% trust friends and acquaintances over any other source.

Paid search through Yandex Direct remains one of the core advertising tools. Campaigns run on a pay-per-click basis through the Yandex Advertising Network (YAN). Advertisers cannot simply select Yandex Travel as the only placement, though. Instead, the system places ads based on user behavior and automatically decides how to split impressions between search, Yandex Travel, and partner sites. Paid Yandex ads work well for tours, hotels, and flights, especially with precise geo-targeting and tailored offers, such as "visa-free winter breaks in Thailand" or "cashback tours to Vietnam."

Influencer partnerships, expert reviews, and embedded integrations also remain important, particularly when they lead to a Russian-language landing page where users can book or submit a request right away.

According to Yandex Travel and Ostrovok.ru, Russian interest in Asian destinations doubled between 2025 and the first half of 2026. Yandex reports that demand for trips to China doubled, while Thailand and Vietnam ranked among the fastest-growing destinations. Ostrovok.ru reports that bookings across Asia grew 46% year over year in spring and summer 2026, led by China (+89%), India (+82%), and Thailand (+43%). Searches for Asian routes now make up a major share of traffic across search engines and travel sites.

Interest in Latin America and the Caribbean persists but remains niche. Trade media note growing interest in Cuba, Mexico, and the Dominican Republic, though in terms of volume, these destinations still lag far behind Turkey, Egypt, and Asia.

Why Ecosystem Presence Is Now Essential

Brands achieve the widest reach and a stronger sales funnel when they show up across major travel ecosystems, including Yandex, Aviasales, and Ostrovok.ru, along with Ozon Travel, OneTwoTrip, Tutu, and MTS Travel. Sponsored placements and joint campaigns across these services catch users' attention at the exact moment they're planning a trip. The user is already searching for flights or hotels, and the brand appears right inside the interface they already know.

Curated Telegram channels and VK communities add further visibility. Travel channels featuring cheap flight deals, route recommendations, and hotel reviews attract audiences who are already in planning mode.

Effectiveness improves further with:

• UTM tracking and solid analytics
• Retargeting through Yandex Direct, VK, and Telegram Ads
• Russian-language landing pages with clear pricing and a simple user journey

The simpler the customer journey, the higher the conversion rate, especially in 2026, when many travelers have become more cautious and compare their options more carefully before booking.