From 14 to 16 October, TTG Travel Experience returns to the Rimini exhibition centre. At the heart of this edition: the growth of international flows, the evolution of consumption, and the new opportunities for the hospitality industry. And in the halls, there will certainly be talk of short-term rentals too.
Ready, set, go—here is the 63rd edition of TTG Travel Experience, the event dedicated to the international tourism market and the flagship of Italian Exhibition Group (IEG). In the halls of the Rimini exhibition centre, the event opens for business on 14 October for a three-day run in tandem with “InOut,” a parallel event likewise dedicated to the hospitality sector. The focus is on the growth of international demand, new travel habits, and the technological innovation that is shaking up the sector at full tilt through AI. Experiential tourism and the promotion of lesser-known destinations also take a leading role. The spotlight then turns on small municipalities, which are recording a 5.3 per cent rise in arrivals and a 4.6 per cent rise in overnight stays.
The general picture of the event will also be outlined by previews of Nexi’s Tourism and Incoming Watch report. According to the financial operator’s analysis, in the first eight months of this year, foreign tourists’ spending in Italy reached €16.2 billion, marking a 5 per cent increase compared with the same period the previous year.
Domestic tourism, too, confirms its significant economic weight. According to Federalberghi, over the summer, 36.2 million of our compatriots planned a holiday, generating turnover estimated at €43 billion. 87.6 per cent favoured destinations within Italy, while the average planned spend for the main holiday was €917 per person. Alongside the rising estimates, however, comes a drop in the share of Italian residents who planned additional holiday periods beyond the main one. According to the Tecnè survey for Federalberghi, the percentage fell from 33.6 per cent in 2025 to 28.9 per cent this year, a decline of 4.7 points. This is a signal that highlights a decided caution in Italians’ planning of their departures. The rising cost of living is also leading almost three Italians in ten to seek cheaper accommodation, 27% to choose nearby destinations, and 19% to favour the low season, according to the Udicon-Istituto Piepoli survey.
Opening a necessary aside, the Rimini event begins just days after a Constitutional Court ruling set to have an impact on the regulation of short-term rentals. With ruling no. 164, filed on 9 October, the Consulta declared unlawful two articles of the short-term rentals law approved by Emilia-Romagna last December. The court effectively scaled back the planning framework with which the Region intended to regulate the sector. While recognising the Region’s authority to intervene on tourist rentals and the legitimacy of the objectives of countering overtourism, the Court’s judges deemed disproportionate the system adopted by the Region, which required properties intended for short-term rentals to obtain a specific change-of-use designation.
In the public debate, the problems and the costs attached to such a change of use had come to the fore. The now-rejected legislation applied indiscriminately across the entire regional territory, without distinguishing between metropolitan areas and rural zones, which may not be subject to overtourism. The Court’s decision will naturally find its place, fuelling the debate among the operators present at the fair.
Worth noting, however, is the limit on freedom of enterprise in the face of the pressing issues of soaring rents and a now much-abused right to housing. These are urgent themes on which a shrewd governance of tourist flows must now necessarily act, to prevent—as is by now a widespread view—tourist cities from turning into artificial fictions devoid of residents, craftsmanship, and that genuine community fabric which should be regarded, in its own right, as a partner of the tourism sector and not as a competitor.
Returning to the proceedings scheduled at the Rimini fair, the rhythms of the holiday are now changing. Previews from the Confturismo-SWG Observatory indicate that 58 per cent of Italians spread their holidays across several periods of the year, while 69 per cent plan at least one short stay. This is a trend that offers new prospects to those operators equipped with the skills to develop flexible tourism products and off-season offerings.
On the hospitality front, the parallel event “InOut” will delve into the transformations characterising the hotel and extra-hotel sector, touching on themes ranging from generational turnover to the use of artificial intelligence in management processes.