MILANO (ITALPRESS) – Al via, in the pavilions of Rho Fiera Milano, BIT 2026, the main fair of the tourist sector in Italy. The inauguration ceremony of the event, which will last until 12 February, saw the presence of the Minister of Tourism Daniela Santanchè, the president of the Lombardy Region, Attilio Fontana, and the president of the City Council of Milan, Elena Buscemi. The Vice Director General of Fiera Milano Roberto Foresti and the President of Fondazione Fiera Milano Giovanni Bozzetti have been honored.
“Beyond doing a great networking job, this Bit puts people at the centre,” said Santanchè, “for a tourism that focuses on man in his sustainability: not only the environmental one, which is certainly important, but also the economic and social one. For this reason we want to pay attention to “undertourism”: to that 96% of our territory still to be discovered, from the smaller islands to the internal areas and the villages. We are Italy of the eight thousand bell towers, which can become eight thousand tourist destinations.”.
“In a framework where tourism is increasingly a lasting development lever for the territories,” added Foresti, “BIT 2026 is a platform for comparison, inspiration and growth. This is demonstrated by the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games of Milan Cortina, with which we share in these days a location, which generate an estimated economic impact of more than 5.3 billion euros, with 2,5 million expected tourists and a direct tourist expense of 1,1 billion euros”.
The vision of this new edition of Bit translates in particular into the rich palimpsest of the Travel Makers Fest, the new format of content and relationships, the real nervous system of the event: six thematic arenas with hundreds of appointments in three days, between talk, panel and workshops. In particular, the contribution of Simon Anholt, the creator of the Nation Brands Index (NBI), which premiered his most recent data. Among others, the Index reports a correlation of more than 60% between the image of a country and the combined revenue of trade, tourism and foreign direct investment. In this framework, in the last 17 years Italy has always placed itself in the Top Ten, surpassing for growth rhythms at least three of its peers, placing itself this year in fourth place. In the Sovereign Profile Ratings 2025, which combines the NBI score with the level of familiarity with the country among the respondents, is located in the highest range, the A+ features both high scores and familiarities. The complete Travel Makers Fest programme and the complete catalogue of exhibitors can be consulted on the BIT 2026 website.
This year, to enrich the experience of BIT is the contemporary with the Olympic Games and Winter Paralympics of Milan Cortina 2026, which sees to play some of the main competitions on ice at the Milano Ice Park, the Olympic venue realized within the exhibition district. In particular, today the Milano Rho Ice Hockey Arena hosted the Italy-Germany meeting in the preliminary round of ice hockey women, while tomorrow evening at the Milano Speed Skating Stadium will be held the final of the thousand-metre male speed skating. BIT 2026 was born as a response to a central question for a constantly evolving tourism sector: what the travel industry needs today to create value. The event is a professional platform where the industry meets not only to do business, but to build quality content and relationships and interpret the changes in place. BIT integrates networking, content and exhibition in a strategic vision, with the aim of generating value along the whole chain of tourism by connecting operators, destinations, institutions and new professionals. In a word, the Travel Makers community: all those who, with different roles and contributions along the chain, design, tell, develop and live the journey through skills, ideas, experiences and narratives.
Fest represents the cultural heart of the event: a format of meetings and talks that explores tourism as a complex ecosystem, where sustainability, mobility, culture, technology and events intertwine. The Fest puts experts, academics and industry protagonists in dialogue on trends and concrete cases, contributing to build shared value before, during and after the event.
– Photo xm4/Italpress –
(ITALPRESS).
