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80% of events were held in halls up to 200 square meters. Last year, this figure was 64%. This means that corporate clients are holding fewer and fewer events, but it doesn't mean they're leaving the market. While some are dying out, others are beginning to operate in this segment more cautiously, holding targeted events. For example, IT businesses held large events in 2024 and began to scale back in 2025. They host the same number of events, perhaps even slightly more, but have fewer conference room rentals. However, for the venue, this is an operational burden: hosting an event, no matter the format, is more or less the same amount of work, and, of course, a huge congress or major event is desirable. This indicates the peak of competition – any venue with conference rooms is ready to compete for corporate clients, and practically everyone has conference rooms up to 200 square meters. For those who don't have them, there's an alternative: restaurants or presidential suites, which are becoming increasingly popular for intimate events.

Another metric that has become important, but wasn't as relevant in previous years, is the average event duration. No one really paid attention to it. The main thing is how many halls we sold. Our MICEsearch system provides many indicators on event cyclicality. This is what the service was designed for – to monitor the client's cyclical nature and help hoteliers select the players who have proven themselves repeatedly. The reduction in average duration is the secret behind our decline in average occupancy, and why occupancy fell by 1.5% across all regions. In Sochi, occupancy is down 7%, which is quite significant. Meanwhile, venues are growing. Last year, three venues opened in Moscow, and hotels are opening. Competition will increase. If we're talking about Moscow, it's not that hotels will starve and miss events, but it will be essential to monitor their proactive service.

In 2023-24, sales departments got used to incoming traffic, which kept growing. The peak was in 2024. In 2025, the situation began to change slightly. Competition in Moscow is already fierce. Hotels compete not only with newly opened properties and with each other, but also with independent venues. Independent venues aren't as numerous in other regions, but they're starting to open. Moreover, they're starting to cluster: opening their own sales departments, developing marketing, approaching corporate clients with solutions, and bringing their own food and catering services. This didn't happen before. Since 2019, hotels have been moving to independent venues. The pandemic has devastated everything—it was easier for independent venues to close. Now we're seeing a new trend. The reason is that corporate clients want something new: new designs, opportunities for certain types of events, pricing, operating costs. Moscow is also facing intense competition from the city spaces being developed by the Tourism Committee. These guys are making really cool products and working with corporate clients, which creates additional competition. They're a major player in their own right. They're a cluster, with marketing and government support. Yes, there are many challenges interacting with the government sector, but they're getting better and better at their work. The competition will only intensify. It's not a given that it will spread to other regions, but at least there's potential for a similar situation in St. Petersburg, where large independent venues can open and already exist for events like PetroCongress. Other government venues that can host events include museums, which are well-established worldwide.

We've found a powerful word: polarization. The market is completely split 50-50. There are 20 types of business that we use in our analysis: 10 have grown, 10 have declined. Agricultural business is especially important, as it has essentially ceased to exist in the MICE market—it currently doesn't even account for 1%. We're developing three approaches to studying business types: the number of events, the space sold, and the growth of new companies.

The drivers are the medical sector, which has begun to implement more and more standardized measures. Pharmaceuticals have freed themselves from international pressure and have begun to manage all processes themselves, and this has become increasingly successful.

Manufacturing is declining, but still remains in the top 10. Private businesses have dropped out of the top 10, as have services for B2B businesses, which used to host many events. Services now hold their events at independent venues; they've simply changed their segment of activity.

Event Management has grown both in terms of volume and space sold. We classify this category as companies that host events for profit, selling tickets for a general purpose, and hosting various corporate clients—for example, forums like Vedomosti and Kommersant. Their numbers are growing, and their events are becoming larger. We see potential: in 2026, a corporate client could abandon their own events in favor of industry-specific ones. That is, instead of holding their own event, they could exhibit at a venue or buy tickets to an industry-specific one. This is a partial replacement. Yes, this player isn't as lucrative for hoteliers. This business is still largely based on barter. But there's a certain appeal to this sector, especially in terms of guests, because a company's CEO might come and then tell their department to hold their next event there. For event management projects, we recommend improving service and engaging with guests on-site.

Social activities are also growing. They entered the top three, along with Medicine and Event Planning. These are associations representing industries that we don't consider separate business types. They are increasingly hosting their own events, meetings, business breakfasts, conferences, and forums. Yes, this segment is similar to event planning, but they are choosing slightly smaller venues and are willing to host events in more than just five-star hotels. While event planning is primarily a five-star segment, social activities encompass both four-star and independent venues.

GR (Government Relations) grew in size in 2025. It had never been in the top 10, but it did so in 2025. These include government events—military, federal, embassies hosting major events and celebrations. These events were absent for a long time, but have now returned.

We're growing and starting to conduct industry research. Previously, we only did this for our clients, primarily using the MICEsearch system. We didn't study many properties, but focused on competitive groups. Now, we've expanded our portfolio and are reviewing around 180 properties in three regions. Our analysis covers Moscow, St. Petersburg, and Sochi. This is a high-quality segment—properties with conference capacity exceeding 100 square meters.

In terms of key areas, the market has grown, increasing by a full percentage point (compared to 16% in 2024). Three regions saw growth of 0.9%. Sochi performed the worst, declining since May (due to political factors and corporate clients opting for regional and international locations). A large number of major events were unable to reach the region. However, typical events from the pharmaceutical industry and corporate clients are growing quite rapidly there.

The second half of the year presents a frightening picture. While the first half showed the growth we predicted (2-4%, with occasional increases of up to 5-6%), a sharp decline has occurred since June. In June and July, the sharp decline was due to the lack of private events, which were held en masse in Moscow and St. Petersburg in 2024. We couldn't determine whether this was due to the highly effective collaboration between venues and wedding agencies, or to demographics and the large number of wedding ceremonies in 2024. However, the number of wedding ceremonies is not that high, so it's hard to compare. Meanwhile, private business has grown significantly.

Food pricing and increased costs dampened hotel demand during the summer. Then came a decline—the major events ended and moved either to the regions or abroad. A decline began, peaking in November at -14%. This is how one month can ruin an entire year's analysis. One month, which accounts for nearly 18-20% of all events annually across all regions, saw a decline of almost 15%. The main sectors that did not host major events were primarily Manufacturing and Finance. They simply cancelled their events in November.

If we're talking about events, they're not "born" in November; they're planned in the summer. We need to go back to the economy and what happened in June 2025, when people suddenly started thinking about 2026, cutting budgets and canceling major events – companies began to consider potential losses. The first news about VAT increases has already been published. Therefore, the decline in events was more due to economic rather than political factors.

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