Today, the International Tourism and Hospitality Industry Exhibition MITT 2025, one of the main industry events of this year, concluded its work in Moscow.
1000+ participants from 34 countries demonstrated current offers for various types of recreation. The international exposition was presented, among others, by the CIS and Middle East countries, India, Nepal, China, Hungary, Cuba, Kenya, Madagascar and others. Among the exhibitors, 30 companies took part in MITT for the first time.
This year, 16,427 industry specialists visited the MITT 2025 exhibition, which consisted of 17 sections!
The final day of the exhibition was accompanied by a rich business program on several content platforms.
The seminar "Sustainable Tourism Development: National and International Experience" was part of the business program of the third day of MITT 2025. At the event, speakers discussed the best practices of sustainable tourism development in the regions of the Russian Federation and tourism industry enterprises, presented educational programs and methodological recommendations for the implementation of sustainable development mechanisms.
The moderator of the seminar was Christophor Konstantinidi , Doctor of Economics, expert of the Russian Academy of Sciences, head of the International Analytical Center for Sustainable Tourism Development of RUDN, Chairman of the Sustainable Tourism Committee of the CIS Business Center.
...
Maria Zhukova , Advisor to the Rector, Director of the RUDN Sustainable Development Center, gave a welcoming speech : “RUDN pays comprehensive attention to the direction of sustainable development in tourism and occupies one of the first positions in the ranking of the greenest universities in the world, as well as other industry rankings. I wish the participants of the seminar fruitful work!”
Natalia Belyakova , Director of the Department of Expeditionary Activities and Tourism of the Russian Geographical Society, spoke about the possibilities and prospects for the development of sustainable tourism within the RGS. The speaker emphasized: it is important to improve the overall level of services and only then increase the average bill for services. Today, as the audience learned, the RGS has 400+ expeditions at the federal, regional and international level, annually organizes popular science, ethnotours, expeditionary travels, complex and scientific expeditions. The society also recommends 30+ tourist routes and objects of display, organizes 10+ of its own tours, search and memorial events, ecological trails and hikes, excursions, geographical research and other formats.
Afterwards, Natalia Belyakova presented the results of the 2024 expedition and tourism season, including:
// ecological expedition to clean up the Arctic zone of the Russian Federation from man-made pollution "Arctic. General cleaning";
// a series of the Russian Geographical Society’s own popular science travels around Kamchatka;
// a comprehensive research expedition to assess the tourism and recreational resource potential of the coast of the Sea of Azov;
Yulia Maksutova , Deputy Director General, Center for Strategic Research, highlighted the main areas of sustainable tourism:
// ecological
// ethnographic
// nautical
// rural
// cultural trips.
Among the trends today:
// the popularity of sustainable and ecotourism
// interest in digital detox
// interest in "silent retreats".
According to the expert, 75% of tourists in the world want to focus on sustainability principles; the global ecotourism market amounted to $2.75 trillion in 2024; 12-14% is the annual growth of the global ecotourism market. The TOP regions focusing on sustainable tourism include:
// ATR
// UAE
// Saudi Arabia
// Mexico
// Ecuador
// Uruguay
// United Kingdom
// Spain
// Portugal
// Scandinavian Peninsula.
Yulia Maksutova added that there are 305 federal sites in Russia today, 12 sites are on the UNESCO list. According to the statistics presented, 18 million people in Russia visited national parks and reserves last year (+8% compared to 2023).
The main regions of ecotourism are:
// Stavropol Krai
// Krasnodar region
// North Caucasus
// Krasnoyarsk region
// Kaliningrad region
// Pskov region
// Arkhangelsk region
// Republic of Buryatia
// Altai
// Transbaikalia.
The expert presented a survey of foreign tourists: more than 72% of travelers from India, China, KSA, UAE, Oman believe that there are many unique natural places to visit in the Russian Federation, and more than 80% of travelers are interested in ecotourism.
Obstacles to sustainable tourism development:
// infrastructure deficit
// inaccessibility of attractions
// high transport costs
// lack of a legislatively established definition of UT
The following were identified as recommendations for the implementation of sustainable tourism practices in Russia:
// enshrining the concept of sustainable tourism in legislation and creating a regulatory framework;
// development of regional development strategies;
// integration of sustainable development principles into regional socio-economic strategies;
// creation of a specialized agency;
// formation of tourism products taking into account the “green agenda” and based on the requests of foreign audiences.
Denis Wolf , Deputy Director, Roszapovedtsentr, spoke about the Russian Federation's protected area system . As the speaker stated, there are 72 national parks in the country, 70 of which are under the jurisdiction of the Russian Ministry of Natural Resources; 108 reserves, of which 105 are under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Natural Resources. The area of federal protected areas is 75.5 million hectares, 20.5 million hectares is the area of marine waters of protected areas, and 6 million hectares is the area of recreational zones.
Afterwards, Denis Wolf described the general algorithm of Federal Law No. 77 of March 18, 2023.
 |  |  |
The most important event of the final day was the award ceremony for the participants of the MITT 2025 exhibition at Sber Arena.
// "Best National Stand" - Oman
// "Best New Member" - HEAL IN TÜRKIYE
// "Best Country Presentation" - PRC
// "The most welcoming stand" - Cuba
// "For long-term cooperation" - Malaysia
// "A Loud Return to MITT" - Goa and Tour Operator Al-Rafidain Travel & Tourism (Iraq)
Among the representatives of the Russian exposition:
// "The most striking debut in the exhibition" - Mobitrak
// “The most active participant of the year” - Ostrovok
// "The most creative stand" - Kavkaz.RF
// "The most hospitable stand" - Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug - Yugra
// "The most visited stand" - Ivanovo
// "The most colorful stand" - Ryazan
// “The most active stand” - Republic of Tatarstan
// "For long-term cooperation" - St. Petersburg.
The award was presented by Konstantin Georgievich Markov , Executive Director of the Center for Industry Expertise "Tourism" of Sberbank PJSC: "The MITT exhibition is an intellectual show in tourism. The term "long-term cooperation" is especially important for us, since we have been side by side since 1841. Our prize reflects the following idea: how well you work is how well you should relax. Therefore, the prize consists of three parts: a book about the unique cultural code of the Russian Federation, a smart device with AI elements, and accommodation in one of our Mriya resorts . "
// "Best representation of a region of Russia" - Republic of Dagestan
The nomination was presented by Maria Nikolaevna Masenko , Head of the Tourism Department of the Sberbank PJSC Industry Expertise Center.
// 1st place - Udmurtia
// 2nd place - Khabarovsk Krai
// 3rd place - Sakhalin region
Also at the event, prizes were awarded to the most active participants of the MITT Connect business community:
// Donintourflot
// "Nevsky Seasons"
// MICE Excellence
Sponsors and partners : Sber (Title partner), Mantera Group (General partner of the business program), Travelline (Partner of the Travel Tech section), Ostrovok (Partner of the business program), Monchegorsk (Partner of the business program), Altai Republic (Mountain partner), Sevastopol (Partner of the plenary session), Tbau (Partner of drinking water), Chuvashia (Region-partner of the plenary session) and others.
The session took place in the Figurin conference hall. The speakers discussed how to scale up their activities, create a sustainable tourism product and manage it effectively – be it city tours, active tours or multi-day expeditions.
Growth points for industry representatives, according to speakers:
// There are no group excursions in 150 cities of Russia
// Development of formats: ecotourism, photo walks, excursions for children, industrial tourism, rebooting activities, boat trips
// Expanding the team of guides
// Development of new proposals
Where to start, according to the speakers:
// Showcase Analysis
// Finding niches where you can create something
// The best price on the market
// Profile design
// Description of the excursion
// Memorable moments
// Story about yourself
The experts also noted: it is important to look at the niche through the eyes of a traveler, promptly respond to orders, monitor statistics, keep a calendar, work with reviews, and set a flexible price depending on demand. Recommendations for guides and excursion organizers were presented separately:
// The guide's deep knowledge and keen interest in his topic
// Desire to share your discoveries
// Understanding your purpose as a guide
// Ability to convey the key ideas of the excursion to the traveler in a structured manner
// Personal attitude and interest in the traveler
// Wow effect, traveler's inspiration, personal discoveries
// Come up with new types of excursions, expand the range of topics covered by excursions
// Attract a new audience to excursions, increase the wow effect and word of mouth, and increase the reach of activities
// With the help of new means and techniques, it is more effective to achieve the goals: cognitive and recreational, educational and ideological, moral and patriotic, and communicative.
The session was conducted by Tamara Chernykh , PhD, CEO of UPRO GROUP.
The key issues for discussion were legislative changes, defining the financial and legal structure of the project, creating a highly profitable project, expectations of multiple owners and the format of resort apartments.
Here are the important points made by the speakers:
// Today, in Russian cities, the format for settling families with children is poorly developed.
// One of the differences between hotels and aparthotels is that if both formats have a critical size of the facility (200-300 rooms), apartments can be placed on 1 ha. The format is convenient due to the small size of the unit, which is physically easier to “pack” on the territory. This is advantageous for a large number of housing developers, since the internal economy is more similar to a residential project.
// The preponderance of serviced apartments in Russia is explained by the peculiarities of the market, which differ from the UAE and other markets.
// The difference between resort apartments and regular ones is that in the first format, the balance of areas is important. The developer needs to sell units, but at the same time provide high-quality service in them, which will satisfy the guest and will play into the developer's hands in the future.
// Today, developers of housing complexes increasingly turn to management companies at the design stage in order to jointly form a product that can be managed and operated.
The MITT team thanks the guests, participants and partners of the exhibition for their contribution to the organization and holding of the central event of the tourism and hospitality industry. See you on March 11-13, 2026!