The 60th edition of Italy's most attended trade event closed after overing travel, transport, hospitality, supplies, furnishings, and surfaces, along with the design of outdoor and green spaces, TTG's 60th edition and InOut, in its debut, concluded at Rimini Fair, boasting a significant 19% increase in professional visitors compared to 2022.
This marks a consistent positive trend in attendance for the international and Italian tourist market. Attendance even surpassed 2019 figures. TTG Travel Experience and InOut - The Contract Community of the Italian Exhibition Group (IEG) have established themselves as the foremost B2B events in Italy for the international tourism industry, featuring 2,700 exhibiting brands.
This sentiment was echoed by the Minister of Tourism, Daniela Santanchè, who participated in the inaugural ceremony of the two trade fairs in Rimini last Wednesday. The media visibility was extraordinary, with over 270 million gross contacts reached.
The legacy and future of the longstanding SIA Hospitality Design and SUN Beach&Outdoor Style events are now complemented by the eagerly awaited newcomer of 2023 - InOut. This new format, designed by IEG and dedicated to the contract community, includes Superfaces and the new Greenscape for the design of both indoor and outdoor green spaces in the hospitality world.
They were joined by the B2B offer, featuring the swimming pool and wellness industry with the Poolwide pavilion, directed by Assopiscine. Assopiscine also organised discussion panels and perspectives for an industry that boasts 2,300 Italian companies with a total of more than 15 thousand employees, recording an average growth of more than 5% in the last ten years, jumping to +13% in the last two years. A thousand foreign buyers from 62 countries attended the fair over the three days, with 58% coming from Europe and 42% from the rest of the world.
This is a result of the partnership with the Italian Trade Agency, particularly for the new InOut format. Mostly coming from the USA, UK, Germany, Spain, France, and Switzerland, they confirmed Italy, with all its regions present at the fair, as one of the most desired destinations by travellers worldwide. Rimini became the attention grabber for the incoming sector.
TTG brought 55 international destinations to Rimini, from the return of Turkey to a greater presence from Portugal and Egypt. This is an important recognition of the event’s strategic role. A new feature this year was the reappearance of China on the Rimini marketplace to reinvent its tourism offer. The Kingdom of Jordan, on the other hand, was TTG's country partner for the second time in a row.
TTG Luxury Event and TTG Med had a successful start. Driven by international buyers, regulars at the Rimini marketplace, IEG created a B2B event to purchase tourist products not only in Italian destinations but also foreign-to-foreign in Mediterranean destinations, with very positive feedback from the operators. Furthermore, with the event dedicated to the luxury segment, TTG was the ideal showcase for Italian excellence in markets ranging from the United States to India, passing through France and Argentina.
TTG and InOut chose UTOPIA as their main theme: LIVE. BELIEVE, interpreting, developing, and amplifying the calls for renewal permeating the tourism industry in line with travellers’ new values. No longer a simple space for escape, tourism is preparing to welcome the challenges imposed by contemporary sentiment, with marked attention to sustainability, in the broadest possible sense. All is still to be defined and imagined but is very much a high priority.
The theme was explored in most of the events scheduled over the three days, with specific spotlights on travel, recovering our relationship with nature - from the outdoors to furnishings - and green spaces. IEG brought together the professional community, offering a cross-section of over 200 events with more than 250 speakers hosted in the nine arenas, covering topics from digital technologies and the metaverse to space travel and Vision +24, to learn about the new languages of the consumer market.
Alongside the most representative trade associations, as well as members from Federalberghi and all the industries represented by Confcommercio, ASTOI, FTO, FAITA Federcamping, SIB, Fiavet, Assoviaggi, CNA, Assopiscine, the National Tourist Board, all the Regions, and the world of research with ISNART, Milan Polytechnic, and the National Council of Research, ISMED, CISET, Legambiente, ISNART, and Unioncamere.
IEG looked forward to seeing the entire Italian and international tourism industry at the next edition, from 9-11 October 2024.
