Three exciting days offered by the Italian Bike Festival to two-wheel enthusiasts
The fifth edition of IBF attracted more than 42,000 visitors and 500 brands to the Misano World Circuit location, establishing itself as a landmark moment for the bicycle and mobility-related industries. Thus the transition from Rimini (where the first four editions were held) to Misano took place without trauma, indeed…
The above data indicate how IBF has become not only an exhibition event, but a time for segment operators to meet with an increasingly large and different audience. This is also thanks to a packed schedule of events and activities.
“IBF 2022 fully met the expectations of the eve and, from a certain point of view, even exceeded them,” say the Organizers. “The event was an excellent opportunity for exposure for the B2B channel, as much as for entertainment for amateurs and fans of the bike world. The event was certainly enriched by the choice of location: the Misano facility provided the opportunity to host several thousand visitors, who were able to test bikes directly on the iconic circuit.”
The strength of the event is that it has put together a recipe with several successful ingredients: in addition to the outstanding presence of industry brands, visitors took part in numerous side events in the La Gialla Cycling program, tested a fleet of bicycles estimated at more than 1,000 models, and met personalities who have written the recent history of cycling such as Sonny Colbrelli, Ivan Basso, Gianni Bugno, Damiano Cunego, Claudio Chiappucci, Cadel Evans, and Mario Cipollini.
But one of the most important focuses was on bicycle tourism with the support of APT Servizi Emilia-Romagna and Visit Romagna, and the presence of an offer related to alternative mobility in our cities. Two sectors, especially tourism, that are on the rise, as confirmed by the numbers in the report presented by Banca Ifis: 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; 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 over 18 years old.
For this reason, an area, Expo Bici Turismo, has been set up dedicated to destinations, APTs and tourism consortia that have their own offerings related to cycling 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.
Also noteworthy is the expansion of the world of gravel and e-bikes, sometimes combined, i.e., pedal-assisted gravel bikes. Models that many, as we mentioned above, were able to test inthis fair, so much so that the track, which was open to bikes for the first time, seemed to have been turned into a huge one-way bike lane. The mound inside the circuit was also a great success for off-road enthusiasts.
