Marketplaces Are Turning Into Travel Platforms – and That Could Reshape Tourism in Russia
Wildberries & Russ has introduced a new service on its platform – the “marketplace of experiences.” It allows users to book trips and activities across different regions of the country. This expansion of WB Travel could help drive the growth of regional tourism.
Beyond tours, hotels, and flights, Wildberries users can now browse and pay for excursions, outdoor activity programs, workshops, theater tickets, and more. The service already covers major destinations including Moscow, St. Petersburg, Krasnodar Krai, and the Kaliningrad and Murmansk regions. Over time, both the geographic reach and the range of services are expected to expand.
Promoting Local Brands
The new digital “experiences” service is designed to promote local tourism and certified tour guides. That is why the project has received backing from Russia’s Ministry of Economic Development.
Travel providers – companies, individual entrepreneurs, and self-employed providers – can now offer services to millions of users on a major e-commerce platform. Reaching that audience should drive growth for local brands and deliver measurable economic impact.
More Than Just Retail
Marketplaces are no longer just online stores. They are becoming hybrid platforms where e-commerce, travel tech, recommendation algorithms, payment infrastructure, and promotion tools work together. In practice, this integrated stack puts businesses in front of a paying audience.
Russia’s national project Turizm i gostepriimstvo (Tourism and Hospitality) aims to increase domestic travel to 140 million trips annually by 2030. Hitting that target without modern technology will be difficult. That is why companies are experimenting with new ways to attract travelers. Building a travel service on a high-traffic marketplace is one of the more scalable approaches.
For users, these services offer a more streamlined experience – easier discovery and booking of activities on a familiar platform. For small businesses and local tour operators, they open up new distribution channels and access to a nationwide audience. Early participants are offered preferential terms, including a reduced commission of 10 percent for the first 12 months.
Selling Experiences
Since 2023, the Russian government has prioritized domestic tourism growth and digital promotion of travel products. Much of that effort focuses on local brands and regional initiatives, as outlined in the Turizm i gostepriimstvo national project.
The national tourism portal Puteshestvuem.rf (Travel Russia) serves as a digital assistant for trip planning and a tool to boost domestic travel. Its traffic grew by 40 percent in 2025. At the same time, the broader trend is clear: commercial platforms like Wildberries are becoming additional channels for promoting tourism services.
A large e-commerce platform is now turning into a marketplace for experiences. The regional focus matters. It changes the economics: small tourism businesses gain access to a federal-scale audience and built-in payment infrastructure. Regional tourism organizations are already viewing the platform as a direct sales channel with national reach and a tool to increase destination visibility.
The Future Is Multi-Service Platforms
Another major shift is how Russian marketplaces are evolving. They are becoming multi-service platforms that sell not only goods but also services and experiences. Analysts expect the “experiences marketplace” to grow by adding new leisure categories, improving personalization, and integrating more tightly with WB Travel. The market could shift if platforms start competing not just for product sales but for a share of the entire travel journey – from tickets and hotels to excursions. That would expand competition beyond retail into travel tech and adjacent sectors.
For now, the service is focused on developing tourism within Russia. But the underlying model – turning a marketplace into a platform for local services – could be replicated in other countries where Wildberries operates.
