Foreign travel for Russians is becoming less and less affordable due to rising prices and restrictions. At the same time, domestic tourism is gaining popularity, offering new vacation formats.
Travel, which was recently an everyday part of life, is now becoming an unaffordable luxury for many people. Only wealthy people are increasingly going abroad, while the rest of us have to look for more affordable vacation options.
Since the early 2020s, the situation in the Russian travel market has changed dramatically. Political and economic events, as well as the COVID-19 pandemic, have noticeably affected the availability of foreign travel. While earlier Russians could easily travel around Europe and Asia with minimal expenses for visas and tickets, now traveling abroad has become much more expensive.
The cost of flights has risen, and cheap tours are a thing of the past. The closure of popular destinations, such as Egypt, EU countries and the USA, forced Russians to look for new routes for vacation. The main factors behind the rise in prices were economic sanctions, rising fuel prices and the weakening of the ruble. These changes affected both international and domestic tourism. At the same time, the fall of the ruble made travel to Russia more profitable for foreigners, which supported the development of domestic tourism.
Logistical difficulties also played their role: problems with the supply of spare parts for airplanes, changes in routes, reduction in the number of airlines and sanctions restrictions caused delays and price increases. The consequences of the cessation of direct flights with some countries were particularly noticeable.
The tourism market has become polarized: travel is becoming more affordable for the wealthy, while for the general public foreign travel is almost out of reach. Rising airfares, the restriction of visa-free entry and the reduction in tourist flows have made vacations abroad the domain of those who are ready to cover serious expenses.
At the same time, domestic tourism in Russia is experiencing a real boom. More and more people choose to vacation on the Black Sea coast, in the mountains, lakes and cultural centers of the country. Altai, Karelia, Crimea, Krasnodar Territory and Dagestan are popular. Preferences are also changing: mass tours are giving way to individual trips and small groups, interest in ecological and active vacations, bicycle trips, ecotourism, extreme travel, agritourism and author's routes is growing.
The biggest price increase occurred in the segment of premium vacations and long-haul destinations - for example, Maldives, Seychelles, USA, Australia, South Africa or Cuba. Now, when planning a trip, the main focus is on the cost of tickets, the number of connections and accommodation between flights. It has become much more difficult to find convenient connections, and tickets themselves have become much more expensive. Visa costs also put an additional strain on the budget.
This is especially noticeable when traveling to Europe. Previously, residents of, for example, the North-West could get there via Finland or the Baltic States, but now they have to fly through transit countries such as Turkey, Kazakhstan, Armenia, Georgia or Azerbaijan, which makes the trip longer and more expensive. Despite these changes, Russians do not refuse from vacation, increasingly choosing domestic and more affordable destinations, which allows tourism in the country to maintain active development.
It should be recalled that a record number of Russian tourists visited Uzbekistan in the first five months of 2025.
We would like to point out that in Guyana the place of death of 900 members of the Jonestown sect was turned into a tourist route.