16:20, 01 December 2025

What Russians Are Really Booking: The First “TravelTech Index 2025” Reveals the Country’s Real Digital Travel Trends

Russia has unveiled its first data-driven industry rating of digital travel services. The results highlight how quickly the country’s travel-tech ecosystem is expanding — and which platforms are shaping the experience of millions of travelers.

A Data Map of Russia’s Travel Market

On November 27, Moscow hosted the presentation of the inaugural TravelTech Index 2025, the first industry ranking based entirely on actual user demand — ticket searches, bookings, and platform interactions. The index was developed by RZD Digital Passenger Solutions, with support from Russia’s Ministry of Transport and the Digital Transport and Logistics Association.

Polina Davydova, director of the association, said the project reflects a turning point for the industry: “We’re excited to support the idea of the TravelTech Index. It’s important to remember that our sector cannot grow without collaboration. When we combine our efforts, we create solutions that genuinely improve people’s lives. Our main task is to make travel products convenient for passengers. When we listen to their experience, we build services they truly need. Congratulations to all the winners — they aren’t just building digital tools, they’re shaping a new standard of convenience for millions of travelers across the country.”

Unlike traditional awards, the TravelTech Index doesn’t rely on expert voting. It uses independent data from the Innovative Mobility platform, a multimodal system aggregating content from more than 5,000 transport providers across rail, air, bus, river, and other categories.

Evgeniya Chukhnova, CEO of RZD Digital Passenger Solutions, emphasized that the ranking is intentionally objective: “As a content consolidator, our goal is to show the sector’s development through numbers, without subjective factors. There’s no jury and no voting — only real-world data showing which technologies and services people actually use. The TravelTech Index offers an honest snapshot of the market and helps the industry focus on solutions that truly work.”

What the Numbers Reveal

The companies that made the TravelTech Index collectively facilitated:

- 1.26 million train departures

- Bus tickets to 1,800 unique destinations

- Flight bookings for 14,000 routes

Photo - What Russians Are Really Booking: The First “TravelTech Index 2025” Reveals the Country’s Real Digital Travel Trends

This volume underscores the rapid growth of Russia’s digital travel market — and the rising expectations of users who increasingly rely on online platforms for planning and booking.

Crucially, the index also illustrates how Russia’s travel-tech infrastructure has shifted toward multimodality and end-to-end digital services, aligning with global trends while leveraging the country’s vast transport network.

Category Leaders: Where Russians Book in 2025

Online Travel Agencies (OTAs)

Mass-market booking platforms:

- Top Rail Sales: Tutu.ru

- Top Air Sales: Wildberries Travel

- Top Bus Sales: OneTwoTrip

- Top Newcomer in Rail: T-Travel

Business Travel

Corporate mobility solutions:

- Top Rail Sales: Smartway

- Top Air Sales: FUN&SUN

- Top Bus Sales: TRIVIO

Sports Travel

Organizations supporting mobility for professional athletes:

- Top Rail Sales: Russian National Teams Training Center

- Top Newcomer in Rail: Russian Gymnastics Federation

Special Categories

Highlighting regional and multimodal strengths:

- Top Suburban Sales: Yandex Travel

- Top Regional Sales: DA Group

- Top Multimodal Provider: IBC

- Top Tourist Train Sales: Tutu.ru

Why This Matters: Real Use Cases for Millions of Travelers

At its core, the TravelTech Index is an analytics tool — one positioned to influence product development across Russia’s travel-tech sector.

Clearer data → better user experience

Because the ranking is based solely on real behavior, it gives platforms and developers precise feedback on what travelers need: faster booking flows, multimodal routes, broader coverage, and integrated payment options.

Standardization for the industry

With independent metrics, companies can benchmark themselves not against marketing budgets but against real performance.

Better mobility for people

Ultimately, these analytics help optimize routes, simplify digital ticketing, and make travel more accessible — from long-distance railway journeys to suburban commutes and regional tourism.

For a country where mobility spans eleven time zones, such infrastructure is not just technological progress — it’s a quality-of-life upgrade.

The Organizations Behind the Initiative

Organizer:

RZD Digital Passenger Solutions (center of competence for digital products in the passenger division of Russian Railways)

Strategic Partners:

- Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation

- Federal Passenger Company

- Digital Transport and Logistics Association

- RZD Technologies

- Rostelecom

Key Partners:

- Agency for Creative Industries

- National award “Mountains of Russia”

- Gate Line online payment platform

Background

RZD Digital Passenger Solutions leads the development of digital services within Russian Railways’ passenger ecosystem.

Innovative Mobility, the multimodal platform powering the index, enables booking across all major transport modes — plus additional travel services — in a unified door-to-door format.

Digital economy