MITT Digital – MITT conference dedicated to business development in tourism and hospitality using IT technologies
As part of the business program of the MITT 2025 exhibition, a conference on IT technologies in the tourism industry "MITT Digital Tourism" was held . The conference was organized by the Russian Union of Travel Industry and the Travel Startups community with the support of the TravelHub conference.
The conference program consisted of several sessions and panel discussions, during which invited experts covered current issues in digital tourism.
The first session was devoted to trends and the state of the tourism market. Speakers discussed trends and analytics in the tourism industry in 2025.
Thus, the general director of RZD-Digital Passenger Solutions Evgeniya Chukhnova noted that the generations of millennials and zoomers are changing the travel industry. According to statistics, millennials and zoomers travel more often than other generations today.
Here's what Evgeniya said about how railway passengers from different generations travel today:
// Baby Boomers (17%): Women travel more (~20%)
// Generation X (30%): Men travel slightly more (~6%), except in the summer.
// Generation Y (34%): Men travel more (~17%)
// Generation Z (19%): Women travel more (~4%).
According to the expert, multimodality and ecosystem are a global trend in the tourism market. Director of the analytical center Profi.travel Nadezhda Ebel shared information about the trends observed in the Russian tourism business in 2025.
Citing statistics, the speaker emphasized that in travel agents' plans for the summer, Russia has given way to mass beach resorts. A year ago, Russia was in second place. Currently, Russia has given way to Turkey, the UAE, and Egypt. Demand for travel to China has also grown significantly. The following were highlighted among the trends for 2025:
// Against the backdrop of the expansion of the range of foreign destinations in travel agencies, the share of sales in Russia is growing (37% of travel agencies).
// In most travel agencies, client segments are shifting. Mainly towards increasing the check.
// This year, twice fewer travel agencies say that tourists have become less likely to go on holiday. Among the changes in tourist demand, people are more often interested in new and unusual destinations (+11%).
// In search of ways to expand the range: travel agents are increasingly working with DMCs, including abroad (growth x2 compared to last year).
// The key factors for cooperation are still non-financial. The first place went to the story of prompt support and response to questions (30%).
// Independent booking remains a challenge for travel agent market participants, with 36% considering it a major problem.
// Competition with aggregators worries 70% of travel agencies.
// At the same time, 70% of travel agents use aggregators when booking services for tourists.
// Most work with aggregators that have b2b departments and special conditions for travel agent partners (59%).
"We see that from 2021 to 2024, the audience of users making monthly online purchases has doubled. And if we look at all our users, we understand that a person first of all goes to the site that he knows and is used to. There is still a pattern of "trust, but verify," added Ozon Travel Commercial Director Maria Kolesnichenko .
// People use 1-2 platforms for shopping,
// Demand for high-priced product categories is growing, but spending is being done more thoughtfully,
// Personalization and quality recommendations increase conversion,
// Growing demand for quality content and video content
// Key factors besides price are the breadth of the product range, complete and up-to-date information about the product, and the usability of the service.
The second session included a panel discussion on “Prospects for the Development of the Travel Agency Business in 2025” .
// What is the real situation in the travel agency market and how is it transforming in the current conditions?
// How can travel agencies remain competitive in the face of pressure from ecosystems and online platforms?
// What role does a manager's personal brand play in the success of a modern travel agency?
// What is the potential of the premium segment in the tourism market and how to work effectively with premium clients?
// How has the portrait of the modern tourist and his needs changed in recent years?
Alexey Pustovalov, executive director of the tour operator division Travelata.ru, answered the question of how to formulate the main request and need of travel agents and how to close them: “We first made dynamic packages on our website and saw high demand. And we decided that since there is demand, we need to give them this product. It all starts with the fact that this is a wider range. As a technology operator, we make a broad review of all content on the market, find some interesting offers, something exclusive in general. And so this product is in demand - both in franchising and in independent retail. Our dynamic packages have a 95% confirmation rate.”
Development Director at the Russian Express holding, CEO of the SEQUOIA Russian Express travel school Daria Loseva : “The question of how many agents are present on the market has been of interest to us for a long time. We assume that there are about 20 thousand. Last year, 12 thousand agents worked with us. We do not have a franchise, but we have a bonus program called “Precious Agents”, the sales purity is high, the check is high, we are working to increase loyalty. And indeed, agents lack training. There is a serious need to teach business skills. Over the past year, we trained 500 agents, and now we see that about 30% come to us by word of mouth. We have different target audiences, last year we had four programs. The most popular program is “Heavy Lux”, it is aimed at owners and solo entrepreneurs. There are programs for beginners as well.”
Ozon Travel Commercial Director Maria Kolesnichenko added about how a travel agent can survive among the existing difficulties : “When we talk to you about the price that we give to the end user, this price is formed from something. When you calculate how much money you spend, you will think about how to give a discount to this specific client. In order to give discounts, there must be a savings effect. Therefore, when we start talking about ecosystems here, they become less scary. We can make business promotion easier. Therefore, I suggest perceiving the ecosystem not as a competitor.”
"As for the complexity of entering the luxury segment market, here the agent must have the necessary competencies. We work with many agents in the luxury sector, these are agents who have a high level of expertise and experience. There, everything is not as simple as in package tours," noted Daria Loseva .
Vladimir Rubtsov, CEO of FUN&SUN, also commented on the specifics of working in the luxury segment: "If you do not have a well-built infrastructure and the right contacts, because there are partners at every stage, then you will not be able to solve the client's problem. If you do not solve the client's problem, you have lost your luxury, and this client will not return to you. Tour operators who can instantly solve all these problems will be able to exist in this segment. It is not at all cheap to ensure control over all processes."
A session entitled “Digitalization in the hotel business: process optimization and revenue increase” was also held .
Head of Guest Management Tools Development at TravelLine Yuri Kostin shared advice on how to choose an OTA to host in:
// Connect more OTAs and be sure that the guest will find you;
// Work with the top 7 channels and use aggregators to avoid creating multiple contracts;
// Look at the guest profile from the channel. If it doesn't suit you, don't use this channel;
// Look for data. This could be a dashboard and information in your TravelLine personal account, as well as other open sources;
// Manage availability across sales channels;
// Study the audience of guests with OTA (family, business alone, youth with friends, adventure alone, cultural alone/with partner);
// Keep an eye on the hotel's rating. According to Booking.com research (these are averages and may vary depending on specific conditions).
“OTA will help find a guest, and the site will help return him profitably,” Yuri concluded.
Timofey Kryshka , Development Director at TeamJet, spoke about digitalization as a tool for developing Russian hotel brands .
// Inconsistency in team work
// Lack of experienced specialists and time to train them
// High staff turnover with limited training opportunities
// Long turnaround time for guest requests, which affects guest satisfaction and feedback
He highlighted several digital technologies that can help hotels stay competitive:
// The personnel management system is a single space for exchanging information and monitoring tasks, allowing you to quickly make decisions “on the go”.
// Checklists and standards – 47% of guests are disappointed if their requests are not met within 10 minutes.
// Analytics and data processing - numbers that work for you, as data analysis helps manage workload and influence profitability.
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.
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