On the final day of the exhibition, one of the most memorable events of MITT 2025 was the final of MITT Travel Start , a competition dedicated to the best startups in the Russian tourism industry. As part of the MITT exhibition, the competition is being held for the fifth time, bringing together new Russian projects with great potential. MITT Travel Start is held with the support of the Russian Union of Travel Industry (RUTI), with the assistance of the Travel Startups community and the TravelHub conference.
The goal of the initiative is the digitalization of the tourism industry and support for technologies and services that help meet the growing demands of customers, the development of domestic tourism and the hospitality market. Companies no older than five years, developing an innovative project using IT technologies in one of the areas of the tourism business and having at least a product prototype could take part in the competition.
Based on the results of 2025, 12 projects in three key areas made it to the competition finals:
// TravelTech: from smart travel guides to yacht tour marketplaces;
// HotelTech: innovative solutions for the hotel business;
// MICE technologies: platforms for organizing events.
At the exhibition site, the finalists defended their functional prototypes and implemented products before the Jury, which included key experts in the tourism and hospitality industry. Afterwards, a grand awards ceremony was held for the winners.
// 1st place - Qmodule
// 2nd place - TOUCHH
// 3rd place - ImSkipper
The winners of the competition received prizes from the organizers and partners: the opportunity to announce their project, a presentation at MITT information platforms with a reach of more than 100,000 representatives of the tourism industry, a free participation package at the MITT 2026 exhibition with a stand, the opportunity to partner with member companies of the Russian Union of Travel Industry and other options.
As Leonid Pustov, Chairman of the Competition Jury, founder of the Travel Startups community, head of the RST Startup Commission, said, 48 projects took part in the semi-finals, the best of which were invited to perform at the MITT site. "In just five years, 493 applications were submitted to the MITT Travel Start startup competition, 212 projects passed the online audition, 62 startups performed in the finals, of which 15 became winners ," Leonid Pustov added.
According to the organizers, the competition allowed the creation of a unique database of digital projects and provided an opportunity to present them to a wide audience of market professionals, ensuring interaction between the authors of young projects and leaders of the tourism and hospitality industry.
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