2' min read
2' min read
The summer season started with the Giro d' Italia stage, then there was the Formula 1 GP at Imola, the historic Grand Departure of the Tour de France, which alone attracted 150,000 visitors, 'we started well and so we will continue in the autumn, with the world dragon boat championships, figure skating championships, the Moto Gp at Misano, the Iron Man, and the Davis Cup semifinal. Sport confirms itself as the great attractor of tourists to this region, and even if the weather until April did not help us, and it will always be the weather that will condition the success of the Riviera this summer, the data from May and the exploit of foreign tourism make us very optimistic," anticipates Davide Cassani, president of Apt Servizi, the Emilia-Romagna tourism promotion company.
May was a truly remarkable month for the Via Emilia, with a 50% increase in arrivals and a 60% increase in foreign presences, dynamics to be interpreted in the light of the disaster caused by the flood the year before and the extraordinary nature of international sporting events, "but the 16% of GDP from tourism that we had set as our target, starting from 9% five years ago, is a goal already surpassed in the region," assure the technicians of Viale Aldo Moro. They calculate that sport now accounts for 5% of GDP, against the national average of 3.7%. It is no coincidence that the sports delegation has remained in the hands of the presidency and the 'sport valley' has been institutionalised, a district ecosystem along the lines of that of motors, packaging, and food.
Deciding the final success of the 2024 vintage will in any case be the performance on the Riviera, which accounts for 70% of the tourist movements in Emilia-Romagna and is currently running well above pre-Covid levels. But in the first five months there has also been double-digit growth in the cities of art, spas, and the Apennines, thanks to the teamwork between institutions and tourism operators.
And it is the synergy between the public and private sectors that has guaranteed yet another success of the Pink Night, which in its 19th edition, on the first weekend of July, transformed Romagna into an immense open-air dance floor with almost 150 events and over 30 live concerts, attracting tourists from all over Italy. "A format hinged on the concept of dance as a universal language, capable of uniting a heterogeneous public in terms of age and tastes in a festive atmosphere, which is the spirit of our year-round tourist offer," comments Jamil Sadegholvaad, president of Visit Romagna.
