FOSSACESIA - Tourism runs fast and sustainable even on the wheels of a bicycle and, a few hours before the departure of the Giro d'Italia which begins on Saturday in Abruzzo, the most recent data confirm that the sporting heart of Italians beats not only for football but also for the pink jersey challenge.
In the two-year period 2021-2022 over 22 million compatriots used the bicycle on vacation, especially in seaside destinations and places surrounded by nature and the data is growing as emerges from the Confcommercio-Swg research presented in Fossacesia, from where the first stage of the Race takes place rosa, on the occasion of the Cyclist tourists conference: soft mobility in the experience of Italian travelers organized in collaboration with Isnart, Gal Costa dei Trabocchi and the patronage of Enit.
In the next summer holidays, in fact, a population of 9 and a half million Italians will have their own or rented bicycle as a travel companion.
Tourism cannot fail to take into account the enormous development opportunity given that 17 million families have a bicycle, 3 million use it every day and thanks to the boost of purchase incentives, which have exploded the diffusion of two wheels very more comfortable and in any case with zero environmental impact, today 1 out of 10 families own an e-bike.
But the sprint to tourism is the Giro d'Italia itself which is followed - albeit with different nuances of interest - by almost two thirds of the population, especially the highest spending bracket and with more free time available for 55-74 year olds .
The physical relationship between the interest in the event and the interest in its itinerary is significant, where the places become tourist protagonists.
For the 17 million Italians who have seen the Giro at least once, when it passed through their city, there are another 4.6 million who went specifically to where they knew it would pass, as well as 3.3 million who remember the experience of the passage of the pink caravan in a place where they were on vacation.
Half of the compatriots also declare that they would like to attend a stage live and,
of these, 6.3 million connect this experience with getting to know a new place.
And moving from hypotheses to concreteness is, in this case, far from improbable, given that around 30% of the interviewees - worth over 12 million - have already visited, in the past, a location known thanks to the news on the Giro d' Italy, especially those of the start and finish of the stage, but also the places of heroic two-wheeled climbs in the mountains.
"Capturing the profound changes in demand - says the president of Confcommercio Carlo Sangalli - is fundamental for economic activities, but it is even more so for tourism, one of the sectors that drives the country's economic recovery after years of great difficulties. This is the objective of the Confcommercio initiative and study, with which today we contribute to an even more attractive and sustainable tourist offer, in the context of a renewed attention of Italians for cycling tourism. 106th edition of the Giro d'Italia, a historical yet always young event, and closely related to the promotion of sport and territories, together with that lifestyle which is our distinctive trait"
