"In just 6 years of the competition, we have received 555 applications and 257 projects have passed the examination - these are projects that form the modern landscape of innovative services in tourism and hospitality in Russia. The competition allows us to find new projects, introduce them to companies in the tourism and hotel industry, which contributes to the digitalisation of the market," said Anna Yaroslavina, Head of Special Projects at ITE.
"This year, we received 62 applications for participation and 45 projects passed online pitches, and 10 were selected by an expert jury to participate in the finals. For the first time, projects were evaluated in two categories: TravelTech and HotelTech, and the project with the highest number of points won the GRAND PRIX," said Leonid Pustov, Chairman of the Competition Committee, Founder of the Travel Startups community, Head of the Startup Commission.
In the final of the competition, co-organized by the RST community with the support of the Travel Startups community, 10 innovative projects in two areas took part:
// TravelTech solutions are aimed at the development of the tourism industry: among them are a digital ecosystem for interaction between tourists and guides, a service for excursions and lectures, a platform for the sale of tours and activities, an application for finding unusual places in Russia and the world;
// HotelTech projects are focused on improving hotel services: this is an intelligent tool for booking accommodation, an electronic document management service, cloud PMS systems for managing accommodation facilities, and a system for self-check-in at a hotel.
The best finalist projects - AHHU, TELMINATOR, TRAVELDAY TM, WE ARE GUESTS, WOW ATLAS, ARENDAGO, E-REGCARD, HOTELPMS, VITAEM, WROOMIFY TM - all days of the MITT exhibition (from March 11 to March 13) worked in a content zone specially organized for them.
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Startups were preparing for the final of MITT Travel Start, a pitch session that took place on the final day of the exhibition at the Sber Arena. It also featured 2 out-of-competition projects - Wi-Fly, TM and Blissday. Based on the results of the performances and the accumulated points, the winning startups in the HotelTech and TravelTech nominations, as well as the winner of the GRAND PRIX, were determined. They are:
HOTELPMS is a free cloud-based PMS system for managing accommodation facilities. In HotelPMS, you can set up synchronization with sales channels using the channel manager, create direct bookings in the calendar in the cross-tab calendar, track statistics on income and other indicators, and use the booking module for direct sales from the site. The system works in the cloud and a mobile application for facility management. The key difference is that the System is completely free for hoteliers.
Tutu is the leading online travel service! Tutu helps millions of people plan their trips easily and conveniently - from buying tickets by bus, train and plane to booking hotels and renting cars. According to the leading analytical platform SimilarWeb, Tutu's website deservedly ranks first in the Russian segment of the Travel and Tourism category. For its customers, the service has created a smart AI assistant called Jarvel. With its help, you can plan a route broken down by days, find interesting locations, analyze maps, reviews, schedules, and much more. Tutu is not just a convenient service, but real travel fans! The company actively supports and develops independent tourism in Russia, implementing important industry projects - unusual press tours for journalists, bloggers and photographers "Tutu Media Intelligence", as well as carefully developed travel routes "Proven Tutu".
"We actively support the development of the travel-tech and hotel-tech markets in Russia. Events such as MITT Travel Start are always about the growth of the industry and the search for the best young projects that need the support of major players and investors. This year, it is especially noticeable that there were many truly strong and promising projects, and the best of them deservedly won in their categories. I am glad that technology is changing the travel industry more and more quickly — and this is no longer a trend, but a new normal," Roman Abramov, Director of Product Development at Tutu.
TELMINATOR is a service for the digitalization of excursions with an online radio guide for convenient demonstration of the guide's portfolio, gamification of excursions, receiving feedback and tips. The guide creates an event in his personal account, uploads materials (photos, text, adds quizzes and surveys) and starts the broadcast via a QR code. Participants connect from their devices: watch slides, answer quizzes, listen to the guide through the built-in radio guide and ask questions. After the tour, you can see the statistics and get a tip.
Tour operator FUN&SUN is one of the leading travel companies in Russia, including a tour operator and a network of travel agencies. It occupies a leading position in the tourism market of Russia and the CIS countries. In 2025, more than 2.7 million tourists entrusted FUN&SUN with their vacations. The plans for 2026 are to send 3.1 million people on vacation. The company offers beach, sightseeing and ski holidays in mass tourist destinations, including Turkey, Egypt, the UAE, Thailand, Vietnam, the Maldives, Sri Lanka, India and other countries. One of the company's priorities is the development of domestic and inbound tourism.
Vladimir Rubtsov, CEO of the tour operator FUN&SUN: "For FUN&SUN, the support of MITT Travel Start 2026 is a contribution to the development of technologies in the tourism industry. We see a high potential of young teams that offer applied solutions and new ideas for business. As a result of the competition, several projects attracted our attention, and we are interested in continuing the working dialogue. It is important for us that promising ideas have the opportunity to go from a pilot to full implementation and further scaling."
WE ARE GUESTS is an innovative AI-based solution for the hospitality industry that helps hotels, restaurants and other travel facilities recover up to 20% of lost bookings. The system instantly answers calls and works 24/7, supports more than 70 languages and is able to accept payments, advise guests and automate the booking process.
SDM BANK (PJSC) is a universal commercial bank, one of the TOP-100 largest banks in Russia in terms of all key indicators. Founded in 1991, it specializes in servicing SMEs and also offers a wide range of services to individuals. License of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation No1637.
Pavel Movenko, Managing Director of the Corporate Business Department of SDM-Bank: "This year the level of projects was especially high: the finalists demonstrated not only creativity, but also a deep understanding of market needs. We are confident that it is such projects that shape the future of the hospitality industry, making travel more comfortable, safe and technologically advanced. SDM-Bank traditionally pays special attention to supporting small and medium-sized businesses, especially in promising and dynamically developing sectors of the economy. SDM-Bank is ready to continue to support the best projects, providing not only financial instruments, but also expert support for their scaling and entering new markets."
The winners of the competition received a package of free participation in the International Tourism Exhibition MITT 2027 with a stand and information support for the project throughout the year, as well as incentive prizes from the organizers and partners of the competition.
Evgenia Chukhnova, General Director of Russian Railways — Digital Passenger Solutions:
"For us, participation in the MITT Travel Start jury is not only an opportunity to support promising travel tech projects, but also a way to stay in a live dialogue with the market. We see how quickly travelers' expectations change and what solutions really resonate. At Russian Railways – Digital Passenger Solutions, we work with complex user scenarios on a daily basis, so it is especially important for us to share this expertise and help startups better customize their products to the real needs of the industry. It's nice to be a part of this process for several years and watch how ideas turn into working services."
The jury of the competition included the heads of leading companies in the industry: RST, TravelLine, Cronwell Hospitality Group, Smartway Travel Group, Continent Express, Rostelecom, FRiO, Alliance Hotel Management Company, My Agent, Persona Grata Law Agency, RZD-Digital Passenger Solutions, RUSSPASS, Profi.travel, Tutu Travel Service, Bnovo, Hotel Advisors, AtomsTravel, Travel.stat, Viktor Eremeev Foundation, Skolkovo Foundation and FUN&SUN, etc.
The partners of the competition were also the following companies: RZD-Digital Passenger Solutions, Cronwell Hospitality Group, Persona Grata and Rostelecom X.Technologies. The information partners are Profi.travel, RATA, Tohology, Tourbusiness, Welcome Times, Hotelier.pro, ProHotel, Travel Russian News, Hotel Advisors and Big Tree.