On Monday 14th September, in the Diotallevi room, a conference on “Mountain biking as a new means for the growth of local tourism”, held in collaboration with Tutto Mountain Bike magazine

On Monday 14th September, in the Diotallevi room, a conference on “Mountain biking as a new means for the growth of local tourism”, held in collaboration with Tutto Mountain Bike magazine.

 A.C.T. Italia Federazione (Tourist Campers Association) will bring the exhibition “Campeggiare nel tempo” (Camping through the years) to the expo: ten period motorhomes will enable visitors to see the origins of open-air tourism. Pioneering bodywork, carefully built by artisans round engines and chassis that were prestigious or even known only to motorhome buffs, will enable to understand how the taste of adventure and travelling free from all restrictions is inborn in man.

“Barbie Pink Family” on the other hand is an event realized for the doll of the same name in collaboration with Mattel Italia. Barbie, the Pink Family and their motorhome are waiting for the kiddies for a special contest and lots of enjoyable activities.

The Ardito Desio association will present the photographic exhibition-report “Dal Cile all’Alaska” (From Chile to Alaska) by Giuseppe Rivalta and Dario Brignole.

The “Pocket Mondo Natura” model exhibition, organized by Camperpress, will turn the spotlight on about sixty scale models built from the sixties to the present day. Hall B1 will host “Motorhomes with no barriers”, a demo area for recreational vehicles made to measure for the disabled.

On the evenings of Saturday 12th and Saturday 19th, the traditional campers’ Rustida is once again confirmed: succulent grilled fish, typical of the Rimini area, offered by Rimini Fiera to all visitors. Entertainment for the party on the 12^th will be by the Blues Gravity band, while that on the evening of the 19^th it will be by 10HP Band, which plays all singer-songwriter Lucio Battisti’s repertoire.

The demo areas will host the outstanding Funky Sport Area: an area realized in collaboration with the magazines Tutto Mountain Bike, Windusrf Italia, AC Autocaravan, the AMI Bike Association and Rimini Fiera. Numerous initiatives for attendees of all ages will include the mountain bike "baby school" with Ami Bike instructors, an artificial route recreating the natural difficulties normally found on mountain paths, performances by riders specialized in the various mountain bike disciplines and, lastly, a wall equipped for sports climbing.

There will be no lack of conferences and meetings.

Outstanding attractions include the Cerwood Adventure Park, the largest in Italy and located in the Tosco/Emiliano Apennine National Park, which will reproduce an indoor adventure park with practical routes for kiddies, who will be assisted by the park’s instructors.

 

Rimini Fiera general manager Piero Venturelli continues, "Now, more than ever, working as a team is fundamental. This is the only way we can create vacations that differ from others, during which it is possible to once again find the creative capacity that frees us from ready-made formats and stimulates curiosity for knowledge.”

APC-ANFIA chairman Stefano Campanelli comments, “In a complicated difficult setting like the current situation, we believe it’s important to give the market a strong sign of confidence. APC-ANFIA firmly believes in the sector’s reactive capacity, which can best be expressed precisely thanks to the Rimini Fiera exhibition, definitely the first and most important driving element to give the entire sector vigour and lymph.”

The number of motorhomes in circulation as of 31/12/2008 was 240,000 units. The decrease reported at national level is also to be found on the European market, even if with a lower percentage drop.

According to the European Caravan Federation (ECF), in 2008 registrations of recreational vehicles totalled 85,775 units, a 5.7% drop compared to 2007, whereas caravans, with a more significant drop (8.5% compared to 2007), fell to 191,250 units. If on the other hand we compare the trends of the two caravanning sectors in Italy, in 2008 there was a prevalence of motorhomes over caravans, with autocaravan registrations totalling over four times those of caravans.

The caravan market has continued its downward trend over the last five years, ending 2008 at 2,550 units with a drop of 12.2% compared to 2007. Lastly, looking at the performance of the leaders of the European market in the autocaravan sector during 2008, Italia came in third, behind Germany in second place (20,920 registrations) and France in first place (21,769), followed by the United Kingdom in fourth place (10,099) and, lagging far behind, the Netherlands came fifth (with 1,088 units).

There is a bonus of 2,500 euros dedicated to vehicles for tourism on wheels, for the replacement of the following vehicles: Euro 0, Euro 1, Euro 2 (registered before 31^st December 1999) with new Euro 4 and Euro 5 class motorhomes.

According to the ANFIA Motorcaravan Manufacturers Association, the eco-incentives for the market are a concrete sign of attention for tourism on wheels, in a period that is not easy for the economy of local industrial areas. It must be remembered that the motorhome manufacturing trade, established in the Val d’Elsa area, mainly located between the provinces of Siena and Florence, but with factories also located in Latium and Lombardy, has a workforce of over 5,000.

It must also be remembered that facilitations for the purchase of autocaravans are also foreseen for the disabled. In the cases taken into consideration by the law, there is a 19% detraction of IRPEF.

Press Release N° 8

THE AC-NIELSEN SURVEY, MOTORHOME OWNERS’ IDENTIKIT AND THE NEW “CAMPER STYLE”

According to the surveys carried out by ACNielsen on behalf of APC-ANFIA, 3.3 million Italians have already tried a motorhome vacation, therefore a considerable number of potential users.

The figures are even more surprising if one considers that no less than 11.8 million people stated that they are fascinated by the idea of setting off in a mobile home and 1.7 million of them expressed their intention of travelling by motorhome in the next three years.

Nowadays, motorhomes are chosen by families, generally made up of four members (parents and two children), couples with no children and groups of friends. In fact, in recent years, there has been an increase in the tendency to travel by motorhome on behalf of younger age groups (aged between 25 and 34), who state that they are attracted by more dynamic travel formats that can be tailor-made to meet their requirements. Curious, dynamic, open to cultural differences, lovers of sports and animals, DIY buffs, new young motorhome users are also internauts, pay more attention to social aspects and intend exploiting the advantageous freedom that motorhomes offer for reaching characteristic places and going back to their roots. In fact, from the analyses carried out, it can be seen that 89% of open-air tourists go shopping in the areas they visit during their travels by motorhome, thus showing they appreciate typical local produce, gourmet items and artisan products.

A love for new things and places and escaping from the frenetic rhythms of daily life are the main reasons that make respectively 74 and 62% of the interviewees choose recreational vehicles for vacations, which are on average longer than those taken in a traditional manner. In the course of a year, 26% of motorhome users dedicate three or four weeks to travel, while 18% of them extend their vacation period to one or even two months.

Among the favourite destinations, Italy, chosen by 83% of the interviewees, is without doubt number one, even if foreign destinations are becoming more popular. Artistic-cultural visits, gourmet itineraries and trekking immersed in nature are the activities that attract the majority of motorhome lifestyle fans.

What are their expectations for the future? The abolition of barriers, particularly of an economic nature, increasing reliability of manufacturers and dealers, sure reference points for asking questions or expressing doubts and a larger number of suitable facilities are the main needs and requests of tourists on wheels.
Press Release N° 9

PARKING AREAS ARE GROWING

PARKING AREAS ARE GROWING

As well as the growing motorhome community, according to figures announced by Confedercampeggio, updated to January 2008, there is an increase in parking areas in Italy: at present, there are a total of 1,240 distributed throughout the country (7% more than 2007). Piedmont, with 226 areas, confirms its role as the region with the best accommodation figures. Emilia Romagna is second (144 areas, 7.5% more than 2007) and Lombardy third (138). Then come the Marches (132), Tuscany (107), Veneto (67), Sicily (60), Apulia (53), Latium (50), Trentino Alto Adige (49) and Sardinia (48).

To implement the quality of hospitality facilities dedicated to motorhomes, every year, APC-ANFIA holds “Open-air Tourism Municipalities”, a contest that gives awards to the best five parking area projects by Italian municipalities which receive an award of a contribution of 10,000 euros each from the Motorcaravan Manufacturers Association.

In 2008, there was also a good response on behalf of the Municipalities in the five categories taking part: North, Centre, South and Islands, Cities of Wine and the new category, Spa towns. A total of over thirty projects were received. The regions seen to be the most active were Piedmont and Marches (equally placed), followed by Emilia Romagna and Tuscany: four, three and two municipalities took part respectively

This was therefore a further success for the initiative launched in 2001 which has received three hundred projects to date, with fifty municipalities winning awards and over forty setting up motorhome parking areas in 16 Italian regions, thanks to the APC-ANFIA contribution.

The selection of the projects sent in finished in July and the winners will receive their awards in September during MONDO NATURA 2009.

The new edition of the Contest (which dedicates a category to Municipalities in the Abruzzo region taking part) starts in June. The new category is based on the trade’s desire to offer concrete help to the areas struck by the earthquake, providing hospitality facilities and welcome points, which can be set up rapidly and with the economic support of the APC-ANFIA.

Then there’s the campsite issue.

Preliminary balance figures for the summer of 2009 show that in Italian facilities there was a moderate upswing compared with 2008, the year in which there was a drop of 3% in arrivals and 4% in attendance figures.

More specifically, in summer of 2009, the open-air accommodation structures reported an increase of approximately 2% in arrivals and 3% in attendance figures, going against the trend with respect to the figures reported in the sector in the last three years. In numerical terms, there was an increase of approximately 200,000 arrivals, a total of 67 days stay and an average stay in the venues of approximately 8.2 days per person.

This year there has also been a comeback with German guests, who account for approximately half the foreign tourists in Italian campsites, last year had dropped by approximately 20% and had been deserting Italy for around five years, attracted by areas that were economically more convenient, such as Croatia and Greece. New guests arrived from Holland (+5%), Switzerland (+17%) and Austria (+20%).

In particular, the seasonal trend is diversified in the various areas of Italy. Positive figures in the North, which reported the best performance (+10% in Lombardy, +3% in Veneto, +5% in Trentino and +5% in Tuscany), The Centre-South reported substantially the same arrivals and days’ stay as the previous season, except Sicily, which reports a sharp drop of 12% in arrivals and days’ stay. While campsites near cities famous for artistic attractions have undergone a drop in bookings, venues near seaside, mountain and lakeside locations are standing up well to the situation. A constantly increasing number of companies have invested in services and products this year too: from wellness centres to installation of mobile homes, kindergarten and babysitting services with professional child care staff and bungalows for couples, located in reserved positions and with half-board facilities.

The trend under way for some years justifies this work, to meet a new demand for vacations in bungalows that offer more comfortable conditions than other accommodation solutions.

In Italy there are over 2,500 campsites and tourist villages, which annually report approximately 8 million arrivals and 60 million days’ stay by guests. These venues are able to host 1,358,000 people, employ over 43,000 staff and have a turnover of 2.7 billion euros. Campers account for approximately a fifth of the total of tourists in Italy.

(Sources: FAITA figures processed by us)

Press Release N° 10

A HUNDRED EVENTS IN THE LOCAL AREA
Rimini and the local area offer MONDO NATURA visitors numerous leisure opportunities outside the expo.

In this region, which runs from the sea to the inland mountains, Roman, Medieval and Malatesta settings are combined with the colours of the countryside, a wide variety of shopping opportunities, the flavours of gourmet produce, the notes of entertainment, words of culture and spectacle, relaxation in wellness centres and spas, the dynamism of sports activities and the great amusement parks.

There are numerous opportunities in the month of September.

Here are a few examples (for more in-depth info, check out www.turismo.provincia.rimini.it).

These include: the piadina and grape festival in Cattolica, staged in the same period as MONDO NATURA, September 12-20; the festival of the Madonna of the Sun in Coriano (13^th September); the Santa Croce Fair in Verucchio (13^th); The 42^nd Sangiovese Fair with a show/market of products at the beginning if the autumn (Coriano, 20^th September); appointments with gymnastics and dance on the beach in Bellaria…

Plus, while MONDO NATURA is being held, there will also be outstanding appointments with the great concerts of the Sagra Malatestiana, whose 60th edition hosted the world’s greatest musicians www.sagramusicalemalatestiana.it

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