Cycle tourism is confirmed as an important driving force for territorial development, a concrete benefit for small rural communities and for the tourism industry in general. Because traveling by bicycle is not only an alternative way of conceiving tourism in a green and slow way, but it is a virtuous mechanism that moves territorial development with an estimated economic impact of about 338 thousand euros per km of cycle path, thanks to new entrepreneurial forms and the job opportunities created by the sector (cycling guides, rentals and dedicated services).
An unstoppable annual increase confirmed by the 3rd National Report on Cycle Tourism in Italy created by Isnart for the Observatory on the Economy of Tourism of the Chambers of Commerce in collaboration with Legambiente. Based on the most recent data elaborated by the report, for 2022 it is possible to estimate approximately 31 million presences attributable to cycle tourists, equal to 4% of the total number registered in Italy up to now.
These are partial but encouraging data, because they indicate a recovery also in this particular segment of Italian tourism, in which the contribution made by international flows is not secondary.
An opportunity to enhance the territory that local authorities are increasingly taking into consideration with structured projects and dedicated infrastructures. As happened in Abruzzo, on the Trabocchi coast, where the construction of the bike path of the same name contributed to the revitalization of the localities involved, as confirmed by a local analysis conducted by Isnart during the summer season 2022: 90% of exhibitors report the presence of cycle tourists within its own structures, “with 64% of the local structures expecting further growth in the clientele linked to cycle tourism”, as stated by Carlo Ricci, Director of Gal Costa dei Trabocchi.
An economic impact, the one generated by the cycle tourism phenomenon, is far from negligible: the expenditure for tourist consumption in holiday places generated by cycle tourists is estimated for 2022 to be almost 4 billion and 2022 has marked, in particular, a progress of the so-called “pure” cycle tourists, ie those tourists for whom the bicycle is one of the main reasons for choosing the destination, with an estimated 8.5 million tourist presences for this year.