Italian Bike Festival: the area dedicated to the hottest tourist trend of moment

To further underscore the importance of the theme, Taking Off, the company that organises the IBF, will be restaging the bike tourism-dedicated Expo Bici Turismo as a standalone event in Rome between March 3rd and 4th 2023.

A good 4,900 bike trails and routes totalling over 90,000 kilometres, a choice of 4,940 tourist operators offering cycling tours, 4,450 hotels with specialist bike services, and an estimated eight million Italians - or 16% of over-18s - with an interest in cycling holidays.

These figures from the report presented by Banca Ifis demonstrate the value of cycling tourism in Italy. Impressive statistics indeed – particularly if flanked by economic data supporting the industrial and contracting sides of the segment.

In short, this is a proper business segment of the bike sector in its own right. So to highlight bike touring and soft mobility, the Italian Bike Festival will be dedicating an entire section of its exhibition space at the Misano World Circuit to the subject under the Expo Bici Turismo (Bike Touring Expo) moniker. While the entire expo will be shining a light on bike hardware i.e. bike technology and design, this space will be underscoring the importance of cycling software that can be traced back to services offered by tourist destinations: everything from bike hire to guided excursions, organised hospitality and insurance cover. Expo Bici Turismo is essentially a fair within a fair where districts, regional departments, local tourist offices, tourist boards (APTs) and hotel associations will have the opportunity to present their bike tourism offerings to cycling fans.

"We have had huge faith in the bike sector since 2019, when we first devoted a section of the exhibition space to bike tourism and soft mobility. Now the time is right to dedicate an entire area to the subject and we are hoping that area will grow still further in the future - declared Francesco Ferrario of Taking Off. To underscore our focus on these sectors, we are planning to take the Expo Bici Turismo to Rome as an independent standalone event, between March 3rd and 4th 2023."

Cycling holidays and outdoor excursions both combine the likes of sustainability, safety, and healthy living, all of which can spark a virtuous circle that will enhance the value of local areas. This particular type of tourism has deep roots in Emilia-Romagna, the region hosting the IBF which is also supporting the Festival through its Emilia-Romagna APT Tourist Board Services and Visit Romagna. Finally, e-bikes are becoming more and more accessible in terms of price, performance and comfort, making them objects of desire even amongst people that normally wouldn’t be very interested in the cycling world. But bike - related tourism isn’t just about cycling tours as the likes of granfondos and non-competitive events also generate great follow-up that has very positive impacts on tourist destinations: "So we’re also promoting alternative and more sustainable tourism options, including cycling tourism and soft mobility," concluded Francesco Ferrario of Taking Off.

The Bici Expo Turismo has turned the IBF 2022 into the benchmark event for the bike tourism sector thanks to a long list of exhibitors and associated initiatives including factory talks and conferences.

INFO: Italian Bike Festival

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