BIT 2025, taking place at Fiera Milano Rho from 9 to 11 February, will explore trends in regenerative tourism and digitalisation, focusing on recovery and innovation in the sector.
MILAN – With the high season fast approaching, the BIT International Tourism Exchange, organised by Fiera Milano (next time to be held from 9 to 11 February 2025 at Fiera Milano in Rho), as always, is examining the trends that are of most interest to traders, while the teams continue their work to strengthen the exhibitor concentration, which has increased by 7% since the last edition.
The event confirms itself as a true observatory on the sector and an unmissable moment for knowledge sharing, both in its exhibition area and conference program, as well as in-depth discussions. From regenerative tourism to the key role played by events to the impact of digitalization, the expectations of previous events have become trends for this year.
Towards BIT 2025: Recovery scenarios
The number of international tourists worldwide will end 2023 at 1.29 billion, a significant increase compared to 2022’s 960 million. Europe will be the top destination, receiving around 700 million tourists, more than half of the total (54%). Tourism spending is also noteworthy, at $1.7 trillion (source: United Nations Tourism Office), the same level as before the pandemic. As for Italy, 2023 will end with 133.6 million tourists (+12.8% compared to 2022) and 447.1 million stays (+8.5%) (source: ISTAT).
Meanwhile, what does this year have in store? The tourism industry will face challenges such as overtourism and rising costs, but the overall outlook is positive. The United Nations Tourism Office also predicts a further increase in international travel to 285 million people (19% more than in 2023) in the first three months of the year. Meanwhile, a May 2024 survey by the European Travel Commission shows that 75% of Europeans plan to travel at least once this summer, up 3% from last year. Italy is sure to be the most attractive destination (8.4% of travel intentions), followed by Spain (8.1%), France (7.1%) and Greece (6.3%), with almost half of the travelers expected to be repeat visitors.
According to ETC, the target group most interested in travelling are those over 55 (81%), with solo travellers (61%) and those with friends (58%) most interested in multiple holidays. The importance of the sun and beach segment is confirmed, but there are also an increasing number of tourists seeking natural beauty (19%), local cuisine (17%) and culture and monuments (15%).
Air traffic data from Italian airports bears this out: in May alone there were 20.1 million passengers (+13.2% vs. 2023) and more than 159,000 trips (+10.3%) (source: Assaeroporti). Analyst Forward Keys predicts a further 12% increase in international arrivals, with growth expected in long-haul routes, led by the United States (+14% vs. 2023), and also in neighbouring markets such as Spain (+44%), Denmark (+43%) and Austria (+30%).
Looking abroad, a survey by the Welcome Travel Group shows that for short and medium distances, Egypt, Greece and the Balearic Islands are particularly popular, while for long distances, North America is the queen of the summer, followed by Japan, the Caribbean, Thailand, Madagascar, Kenya and Zanzibar. It is also worth mentioning cruises: in 2024, Italy will again be the main European destination, with an estimated number of passengers of 14 million (13.8 million in 2023) and more than 5,200 berths in more than 60 ports.
Trend-based business development insights
Beyond the figures, thanks to the continuous dialogue between Fiera Milano and all actors in the supply chain, the BIT 2025 Observatory has identified some of the trends most likely to be transformed into business opportunities.
On the one hand, emotional travel, embracing environmental awareness and the pursuit of space and time for well-being, has become a buzzword, while observing lifestyle trends, we see a growing interest in combining vacation and work on the same trip. The terms workcation, bleisure, team bonding and digital nomadism are increasingly used, and these forms of “tourism” are becoming more and more popular. 12% of Italians intend to practice at least one of these in 2024 (double the proportion in 2023), and 50% say they are generally interested in doing so in the future, including millennials and Gen Z (source: EY).
And these are not the only ones: one of the most notable innovations for 2024 will be Coolcations, the search for “cool” places to go on holiday as a response to climate change and global warming, but the whole world of outdoor, active and nature holidays is growing overall, from spiritual walks to cycling tourism (which generated 56.8 million participants in Italy in 2023 and generated revenues of 5.5 billion euros (source: Isnart)) to real adventure holidays, which amount to more than 100 million international trips per year in Europe alone (source: Adventure Travel Trade Association).
Major events such as the G7 and the Summer and Winter Olympic Games are also on the agenda. In just five years, Italy has risen from 6th in Europe to 1st and 2nd in the world for conference tourism, with seven cities ranked in the top 100 worldwide, according to the latest ICCA report. Milan’s role stands out in Italy: Allianz Mico, one of the largest conference centres in Europe, is run by Fiera Milano Congressi and hosts major international conferences.
Always an effective method for new challenges
In response to these themes and challenges, BIT 2025 is constantly evolving its exhibition format: a new venue will be created at Fiera Milano on Rho, where the areas dedicated to Leisure, Italy and World will benefit from a more linear layout and smoother access, especially when they open to travellers on Sunday, 9 February, and there will also be new hospitality areas and events with greater social potential to attract younger travellers, especially Gen Z.
As always, the “Bringing Innovation to Travel” conference programme will be very rich: the role of continuing education in the industry will be discussed, the focus will be on the digital sector and customer experience, and the growing demand for qualified personnel will be addressed, to name just a few.
There will also be a spotlight on next-generation technologies such as AI that will have an impact on personalizing journeys, optimizing operations and improving customer interactions.
Sustainability and emotion-driven tourism will also come to the fore: the former fulfills the need to spread good practices, the latter born out of growing traveller awareness.
Macro themes such as aviation, luxury goods, travel risk management and even exploring new destinations to prepare the tourism product of the future will also be on the agenda.
BIT 2025 will take place from 9 to 11 February 2025 at Fiera Milano in Rho.
Vicky is co-founder and Editor-in-Chief of TravelDailyNews Media Network and is responsible for the day to day operations and financial direction. Vicky holds a BA in Tourism Business Management from the Athens Technical University and a Masters in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Wales.
She has many years of experience in the travel industry, both academically and industrially, and has written/edited numerous articles for various tourism magazines.
