Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko held a meeting on the organization of the 5th Let’s Travel! Russian Tourism Forum, which will be held at the All-Russian Exhibition Centre on 10–15 June 2025. The Roscongress Foundation will manage the Forum. In 2025, the events of the business programme will be united under the general theme of ‘Discover Russia’, which has the dual meaning of both introducing Russians to the potential and opportunities of their own country, as well as cooperation in inbound tourism.

Opening the meeting, Dmitry Chernyshenko noted the excellent level of organization of the 4th Let’s Travel! Russian Tourism Forum and the importance of such events in the current conditions. “After holding the Let’s Travel! Forum in June of this year, we received a lot of positive feedback, which points to the relevance and significance of the event. A good site was chosen: the territory of RUSSIA EXPO created great conditions for the guests and organizers. Today, interest in the Forum is growing both from Russian and foreign participants. A key theme of the upcoming fifth Let’s Travel! Forum in the year of the 80th anniversary of victory in Great Patriotic War will be patriotic routes that will be presented by the regions of our country,” Dmitry Chernyshenko said.

The deputy prime minister noted that the federal and regional authorities, tour operators, and companies working in the tourism sector should be broadly represented at the Forum’s exhibition. Dmitry Chernyshenko proposed holding an exhibition of manufacturers of domestic equipment for the tourism industry during the Forum, as well as setting up a platform for representatives of various industries to present their investment projects, including projects that are to be implemented with support from the ‘Tourism and Hospitality Industry’ national project, noting that this will help businesspeople find potential partners.

Adviser to the Russian President and Executive Secretary of the Forum’s Organizing Committee Anton Kobyakov said that the Forum reaffirmed its social significance and high status as an anchor event of the industry that provided a platform for a broad discussion of modern trends in the tourism and hospitality industry. He spoke about the new concept of the event. “The new comprehensive approach to creating the concept and space of the Forum for its guests will help to demonstrate the tourism potential of all 89 regions of the Russian Federation and expand the international part of the exhibition. The visitors will see the wide variety of travel around Russia and learn information about new resorts, tourism sites, and travel formats. Travelling around the country and getting to know the sights and cultural features of a particular region contribute to the study of the country’s culture and history. This is why the national goal ‘Opportunities for the Self-Realization and Development of Talent’ underlies the ‘Tourism and Hospitality Industry’ national project. I firmly believe that in order for more Russians to have the opportunity to study the cultures of the Russian people and history, it is essential to make travel around the country convenient, safe, and interesting. This is one of the priority tasks of the entire tourism industry,” Anton Kobyakov said.

Next year, the Let’s Travel! Forum will address medical tourism, which is popular both within Russia and as a tool for attracting foreign guests. A large block of the programme will be devoted to inbound tourism. The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Economic Development have been instructed to work on expanding the geography of foreign participants from friendly countries in 2025.

“The goals of any tourism forum are to promote a tourism product and attract investment. We are making preparations based on this philosophy to give regions the opportunity to showcase themselves and present their achievements and products to foreign guests, and for foreign participants to demonstrate the tourism potential of their countries. This is exactly why we go to international exhibitions now. People should come to us for this too. The festival programme of the regions will occupy an important place this year. In addition, we have tentatively come up with six tracks of the business programme architecture: digital, transport, government regulation, personnel, development of tourism areas, and a comprehensive tourism product,” Russian Deputy Minister of Economic Development Dmitry Vakhrukov said.

Roscongress Foundation Deputy CEO and Director of the Let’s Travel! Russian Tourism Forum Vladimir Zatynayko spoke about the foundation’s year-round ecosystem of projects, which includes network events on tourism in the Russian regions. “Congress, exhibition, and business events dedicated to tourism are actively intensifying. Examples of such events include the Let’s Travel! Sustainable Tourism Forum in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, ‘Discover the Far East’ in Khabarovsk, and the International St. Petersburg Tourism Forum TRAVEL HUB. Travel!, which will be held in the Northern capital on 4–6 December and will provide a recap of the results of the tourism sector in 2024. In this regard, the Let’s Travel! Russian Tourism Forum is the key central event of the year that outlines the main focuses of the industry’s development,” Vladimir Zatynayko said.

This year, a programme was launched for the first time to promote Russia at the national level as part of the Discover Russia brand. The priority countries in 2024 are China, India, Bahrain, and Saudi Arabia. Next year, Russia plans to promote its tourism potential in Southeast Asia and expand its presence in the Persian Gulf countries.

During the event, Russian Minister of Economic Development Maxim Reshetnikov will chair a national meeting with the regions, as well as a meeting with the industry community in a business dialogue format.