Experts noted the growing demand for travel to the Far East

The growth in the number of early bookings of hotels and apartments in the Far East for the May holidays is rapidly gaining popularity among Russian travelers, analysts of the online hotel and apartment booking service Ostrovok told Izvestia on April 15.

"The growth in the number of early bookings of hotels and apartments in the region for the coming summer is reaching 40% compared to last year. Demand has increased by 20% for the upcoming May holidays," the analysts noted.

In addition, there is a particularly high demand for hotels and apartments in the Khabarovsk Territory. The number of bookings in the region for the May weekend exceeds last year's figures by 63%, and for the summer season — by 40%

According to the service, Buryatia also demonstrates a high growth rate of bookings — demand for May weekends increased by 46% year—on-year, and for summer - by 21%.

For the upcoming May holidays, Russian tourists have also planned more trips to Primorsky Krai, in particular to Vladivostok, where there is a 25% increase in bookings. Bookings for the summer show a 5% year-on-year increase.

Abkhazia was taken off pause: Russian tourists have increased demand for holidays in the republic

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Energy canceled the recommendations not to visit it and not to sell tours there.

The demand for bookings to Sakhalin for the summer increased by 13% compared to last year.

The average cost of a booked night for the May holidays in hotels and apartments in the regions of the Far East is 5.7 thousand rubles, which is 19% higher than a year earlier (4.8 thousand rubles). For the summer, the figure is 6.5 thousand rubles (+7% compared to last year, in the summer of 2024 — 6.1 thousand rubles).

"Traveling to such distant destinations has long since ceased to require the participation of tour operators — more and more tourists are planning trips here on their own," says Daria Kochetkova, Managing Director of the Ostrovok service.

Earlier, on April 10, OneTwoTrip, a travel planning service, conducted a survey on which destinations were the most popular among tourists. The results were reviewed by Izvestia. Italy turned out to be the most popular tourist destination, with 31.4% of Russians surveyed planning to go there this year. France (19.5%), Spain (13.0%), Germany (5.4%) and Greece (4.9%) are also of interest.