What the SIFT analytical cycle hides: a look at Russian tourism 2026

What SIFT is

At the end of 2025, the company SOUD – Sochi Exhibitions announced the launch of its own analytical project called SIFT (Strategic Insight For Tourism). It’s a series of publications where experts gather data from industry associations, booking services and major market players, then compare it with observations from individual companies. The aim isn’t just to collect numbers; it’s to figure out which ones actually reflect what’s happening in the business.

How the International Tourism Forum program was shaped

The International Tourism Forum in Sochi is slated for December 2026, but the preparation runs all year long. Organisers keep tabs on demand shifts, talk them over with hoteliers, tour operators and industry groups. In the past those talks stayed inside the organising committee; now the research results are published through SIFT, making the process more open and transparent.

Key takeaways from the first issue “Equator of the 2026 season”

The first piece, titled “Equator of the 2026 season: what’s clear and what conclusions are still premature?”, brought together views from tour‑operator and hotel sectors, plus data from the Russian Tourism Union. The main topics raised were:

• More trips don’t guarantee higher hotel revenues. Some regions see higher occupancy, yet the average check drops because prices are lower and stays are shorter.
• Shifts in how tourists decide. An increasing share of travelers rely on online reviews and mobile apps, while traditional sales channels lose ground.
• Price swings and booking depth. Seasonal fluctuations have become less predictable, and the number of advance bookings has fallen, making hotel planning harder.
• Heightened competition from abroad. Russian resorts now benchmark themselves against popular overseas options, pushing them to raise service levels and broaden program variety.
• High occupancy ≠ financial success. Even when rooms are full, hotels can face rising operating costs that squeeze profitability.

These takeaways show that raw visitor counts alone no longer suffice to gauge the sector’s health.

How analytics will evolve within SIFT

Organisers intend each new issue to test how well the first report’s conclusions hold up in practice. To do that they gather feedback from hotels, sanatoriums, tour operators and tech firms. Going forward the analytics will revolve around three questions:

1. Which of the original hypotheses are backed by real market data?
2. What changes are already showing up in individual companies and regions?
3. Which topics need deeper discussion at the SIFT‑2026 forum?

This approach lets you not only collect numbers but also see how they line up with day‑to‑day business operations.

Why this matters to market players

For tour operators and hoteliers, SIFT analytics act as a kind of “mirror” that shows how their own metrics stack up against nationwide trends. If, for instance, occupancy climbs in their region while the average check falls, that’s a cue to rethink pricing or roll out extra services.

Moreover, SIFT publications shape the forum agenda, letting experts debate real‑world problems instead of just theoretical scenarios. As SOUD’s CEO Inna Zakharchenko puts it, that dialogue helps craft practical solutions that can be trialled at season’s end.

What to expect from the next issue

The next issue will pit the first report’s conclusions against the actual practice of specific companies and bring in new topics that surfaced during the discussions. By December, when the forum rolls around, we should have updated data, success‑case examples and recommendations to help market players adapt to rapidly shifting conditions.

In short, SIFT becomes a living tool that blends statistics, expert insight and on‑the‑ground observations, letting Russian tourism react more nimbly to today’s challenges.

Based on materials from: trn-news.ru.