The city you don’t expect: the trends in arrivals (+12.8%) and presences (+12%) in the first quarter of 2024 confirm the success of Rimini as a “seaside” destination. Thanks to the hospitality offered 365 days a year, the unique beauty and a rich calendar of events not to be missed
The 2024 tourist year is off to a strong start in Rimini: an increasingly popular travel destination to be experienced all year round. A place where you always feel good and not just for summer holidays, the Romagna city reaps the first fruits of the innovative communication strategy that expresses the idea of a Rimini that welcomes every type of guest. As the claim of the new promotional campaign launched by VisitRimini explains well – ‘Discover the city you don’t expect’ – which introduces the discovery of a destination by the sea and not just ‘the sea’. The data for the first quarter of 2024 (January-March) demonstrate this strong start for Rimini on the national and international tourist market. In a period of the year when tourists prefer mountain locations (or even seaside locations but far from home…), Rimini has shown an excellent performance.
This is +12.8% of arrivals compared to the same period in 2023 with a +21.7% of foreigners. There was also excellent growth in attendance, marking a total +12% compared to last year (with +14.8% referring to international guests only). These data (source: Trademark Italia) are particularly affected by the strong growth in February (+41% in arrivals and +25.5% in attendance), also thanks to trade fairs and conferences. Also in the first quarter, foreign arrivals accounted for 18.1%, while presences from abroad accounted for 25.6% of the total: among the countries of origin, Germany recorded +60.9% of arrivals and +69, 5% attendance. Also interesting is the occupancy rate of Rimini’s hotels which for the first quarter stood steadily at over 65%.
On the other hand – according to what emerged from the Sociometric study on the impact of tourist spending on the local economy, published by the Sole 24 Ore -, with 1,481,114,745 euros of added value generated by tourism, Rimini is the leading municipality in Italy for wealth creation. Based on the processing of Istat 2023 data, combined with tourist presences and the ‘tourism satellite account’ (the tourist expenditure items of the stay: from the cost of overnight accommodation to agency expenses, from transport and rentals, various hospitality and cultural services type, services related to attractions, guides), the report confirms Rimini’s positioning as an all-round tourism hub thanks to several factors; such as accessibility, connections with the arteries of international tourism, infrastructure, the size of the hospitality platform. To achieve these results, Rimini confirms itself as the location of a long list of events that transform it into a ‘place to be’ to be experienced all year round.
The next events on the calendar confirm the cultural vitality of the city.
After the break caused by Covid-19, the Biennale del Disegno has also returned to Rimini (until 28 July) with its long-awaited fourth edition. Organized by the Department of Culture and the Municipal Museums of Rimini, the artistic journey linked to the event extends throughout the city – from the City Museum to the Gambalunga Library, from Palazzo del Fulgor to Castel Sismondo -, through the format of institutional exhibitions and the Open circuit, embracing public and private spaces. Thus there are 12 active exhibitions displaying 1,000 drawings from international institutions such as the Royal Academy of San Fernando in Madrid and the Fonds Regionale d’Art Contemporain de Picardie.
Scheduled from 30 May to 2 June, Rimini Wellness is the reference event for the wellness sector organized by the Italian Exhibition Group – in collaboration with the Municipality of Rimini -: in conjunction with its 18th edition, RiminiWellness OFF returns, an event that transforms the territory of Rimini and the Riviera in the concrete manifesto of the promotion of physical activity, bringing the experience of well-being beyond the confines of the exhibition centre. RiminiWellness OFF is a ‘Wellness Community Activation’: from the coast to the city parks, from the Wellness Park of the Parco del Mare to the picturesque Piazza sull’Acqua of the Tiberius Bridge, it offers unique experiences that show how Rimini promotes accessible and participatory.
Having left Bologna on May 10th, it will land in Rimini, at the Rotonda Battisti, “Good Bike! Bike People”. From 31 May to 2 June Rimini turns yellow to celebrate the wait for the historic arrival stage of the Tour de France scheduled for 29 June. “Good Bike! Gente di Bici” is the free-entry traveling event in which the bicycle is the absolute protagonist, allowing adults and children to discover new sports related to two wheels and admire performances by professionals. Among the many activities planned there is “baptism of the bike” for the little ones. An open-air event that anticipates the summer, which includes a calendar full of cultural and musical events, now upon us: and the employment rate data for the summer months (to date) appear to have a growing trend of some percentage points compared to an already excellent 2023.
