Russians have been warned about the risk of ticket prices rising from March 1.

From March 1, 2026, the activities of most travel agents who independently combine air travel and accommodation for clients will be banned. Amendments to the law "On the basics of tourism activities", approved earlier, come into force and equate such "assembly" of travel to the formation of a tourist product, which is allowed only to official tour operators. This was reported by the Delovoy Peterburg newspaper on January 26.

According to market participants, this may lead not only to the withdrawal of small businesses into the shadows, but also to an increase in the cost of travel for end users.

The new rules definitively clarify the concept of a travel product, including at least two services: transportation and accommodation in the country or destination. However, even if the tickets and the hotel are sold under separate agreements, but for the same person and period, this will be classified as illegal tour operator activity. An administrative fine of up to 10 million rubles is provided for such violations.

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The bill is due to be submitted to the State Duma this week.

To work legally in the new field, companies need to obtain the status of a tour operator, which requires financial support of at least 50 million rubles, contributions to reserve funds and excludes the possibility of working as sole proprietors. At the same time, almost half (49%) of officially registered travel agents today are individual entrepreneurs. Thus, a significant part of the market, especially small businesses specializing in drawing up budget routes, is at risk of either ceasing operations or entering an illegal field.

The attitude of industry participants towards the upcoming changes remains ambiguous. On the one hand, representatives of large associations, such as Sergey Romashkin, Vice-president of the Association of Tour Operators (ATOR), believe that this will increase the security of tourists by removing companies that actually provide tour operator services from the shadows. On the other hand, many experts and travel agency owners predict a rise in prices.

"The law will complicate the activities of bona fide agencies and will not protect tourists in any way. If now, as a professional, I can take on the free work of "assembling" a budget trip, then from March 1, customers will have to do it themselves. Bearing the associated costs and risks. Or pay extra for much more expensive complex services (travel products)," says Svetlana Prusova, director of the 33 Pleasures travel agency.

Lawyers emphasize that the law creates a double standard. For outbound tourism, it partially simplifies regulation: travel agents can sell any range of services that do not include flights from Russia and back, for example, multi-day tours of foreign countries with local flights. However, the rules are being tightened in the domestic market: the combination of almost any tourist service with accommodation is now recognized as a travel product. Paradoxically, at the same time, expensive foreign cruises with additional services (except flights from Russia) can be sold by any commercial organization without providing customers with the guarantees required for buyers of classic travel products.

Analysts of the OneTwoTrip travel planning service named the most popular countries for seaside holidays in February to Izvestia on January 20. Thailand is the most in demand, where hotels have already been booked by 17.9% of tourists who have planned a beach holiday in February. A hotel room is chosen for 13.7 thousand rubles per day, and the average length of stay is 5.6 days. Vietnam came in second place with a share of 5.2%, where Russians will rest for about 6.4 days.

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