The IBF Italian Bike Festival
The IBF Italian Bike Festival, staged at Misano World Circuit Sept. 9-11, is now The trade show benchmark for the bike market with previews, tests, shows, performances, meetups, experiences and entertainment, all necessary ingredients for an all-around bike festival.
The event is dedicated to enthusiasts and the general public who will be able to find all the novelties in the bike world. This year the Romagna festival will give pride of place to the current tourism trend: traveling by bicycle.
In the wake of this rapidly rising trend, IBF 2022 will have a space, placed not surprisingly in the center of the exhibition area, named Expo Bici Turismo dedicated to destinations, APTs and tourism consortia that have their own offerings related to bicycle tourism. And to underscore the importance of the theme, IBF’s organizing company, Taking Off, will repropose the initiative dedicated to bike tourism in Rome on March 3 and 4, 2023 under the same name Expo Bici Turismo.
IBF numbers
The numbers in the report presented by Banca Ifis speak for themselves: as many as 4,900 ideal routes to travel on two wheels for a total length of more than 90,000 kilometers; a bouquet of 4,940 tour operators with a bicycle tourism offer and 4,450 hotels that provide dedicated bicycle services, to which is added the estimated 8 million Italians interested in bicycle tourism, or 16 percent of the population of age.
IBF and bicycle tourism
While the entire expo highlights the hardware of the bicycle, i.e., the technological and design offerings of the “bike” product, with this space we want to emphasize the importance of cycling software, which we could trace back to the services offered by tourist destinations: from bicycle rentals to guided tours, from organized hospitality to insurance coverage.
With Expo Bici Turismo, a fair within a fair, territorial districts, regional councils, pro loco and APTs as well as hotel associations, will have the opportunity to present their bicycle tourism offerings to the public of enthusiasts.
“We have believed,” emphasized Francesco Ferrario of Taking Off, “in the sector since 2019, when we began dedicating part of the exhibition area to cycling tourism and soft mobility. Now the time is ripe for an entire area to be dedicated to the theme, with the hope that it will gain more and more space. And as a confirmation of our focus on these sectors, we plan to bring Expo Bici Turismo to Rome, as an autonomous and independent event, which we will propose in the capital on March 3 and 4, 2023.”
Spending vacations cycling or choosing outdoor excursions are activities that espouse principles such as sustainability, safety and health, themes capable of activating virtuous circles that can enhance the territory. In addition, the increased accessibility of e-bikes in price, performance and comfort make them an “object of desire” even to those less familiar with the world of two wheels. Bicycle-related tourism is not just cycle tourism: events such as gran fondo and non-competitive events generate a follow up that has positive spillover effects on the tourist destination.
Festival Program
