PRESS RELEASE
Comunicato n. 2 del 09/10/2026 ( download download )
· TTG Travel Experience looks ahead to tourism 2027: from 14th to 16th October at Rimini Expo Centre, 200 events in 9 themed arenas and over 400 speakers. A preview of the five consumer trends with Travel & Hospitality Vision +27 by TTG, the Italian Tourism Report, studies by Nexi, Milan Polytechnic, Confturismo-SWG and Isnart, and the first research into the Zero Click Economy on hotel and destination visibility in artificial intelligence responses
· From the Mediterranean to geopolitics, the new challenges facing global tourism. CNR-ISMed and tourism boards from Malta, Slovenia and Greece will discuss investments and strategies up to 2030. Climate and traveller safety will be the focus of meetings with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, ASTOI and Legambiente
· Italy and Poland launch the St John Paul II Trail: Minister Gianmarco Mazzi and Polish Secretary of State Ireneusz Raś will be in Rimini to present a project dedicated to religious tourism, villages and lesser-known areas
· Debut of the TTG Star Awards new formula: 12 candidates in four categories and the special TTG Star EXIST Award
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Rimini, 9th October 2026 — The Mediterranean as a testing ground for new tourism strategies; geopolitics and climate change reshaping the travel landscape; and artificial intelligence transforming the relationship between supply and demand. Organised by Italian Exhibition Group (IEG), TTG Travel Experience, the leading Mediterranean event for global tourism, scheduled to take place at Rimini Expo Centre from 14th to 16th October, will present a programme of 200 events spread across nine themed arenas featuring over 400 speakers. Events will include institutional meetings, market analyses, previews of research findings and discussions with the sector’s key players. The all-encompassing theme of the 2026 edition will be EXIST, a call to restore authentic experiences and the value of relationships to a central role in a sector that is undergoing profound change.
THE MEDITERRANEAN: NEW BALANCES, INVESTMENTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE
The Mediterranean will be one of the main topics of discussion throughout the programme. On Wednesday 14th October, at 11 am in the Italy Arena, CNR-ISMed will present The Mediterranean that exists, an analysis of five years’ research into the economic, social, technological and environmental transformations of tourism in the region. On Thursday 15th October, at 2.20 pm in the Main Arena, the Mediterranean: together towards 2030 debate will see the directors of the Maltese, Slovenian and Greek tourism boards discussing investments, development policies and strategies for addressing the effects of climate change and evolving demand.
The discussion on safety will also examine the travel industry’s new geographies. On Wednesday 14th October, at 12.10 pm in the Italy Arena, Professor Marco Valigi will analyse the role of geopolitics for travel agencies and tour operators. Thursday 15th at 12.30 will be the turn of Travelling in the age of uncertainty: geopolitics, climate and safety with, amongst others, Pier Ezhaya, president of ASTOI Confindustria Viaggi, Nicola Minasi, head of the Crisis Unit at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Fabio Carsenzuola from the Redion Group, and Alessandro Pozzi from Milan Polytechnic. Climate will once again take centre stage on Thursday at 11 am in the Italy Arena with Legambiente and data from the ENIT survey on local area and tourist flow changes.
THE FIVE TRENDS FOR 2027 AND RESEARCH PREVIEWS
Travel & Hospitality Vision +27 by TTG will be giving a highly-anticipated presentation of the five consumer trends set to shape tourism in 2027. Alongside the Vision, a series of studies will address the market from different perspectives ranging from travellers’ choices to the economic value that destinations generate.
On Wednesday 14th October, at 1.20 pm in the Italy Arena, Isnart (National Institute for Tourism Research) will present Choosing to Be There, an in-depth analysis of the relationship between tourism, events and regional development. At 3.20 pm in the Main Arena, the focus will be on the first study on the Zero Click Economy dedicated to Italian hotel and destination visibility in responses generated by artificial intelligence.
Thursday 15th October, at 11 am in the Main Arena, will see the Travel Innovation Observatory at Milan Polytechnic’s School of Management presenting ViaggIAre: existing in travel, between the human and the artificial featuring the travel market’s annual assessment and the results of the first European survey of travellers. At 1.10 pm, the Confturismo-SWG Observatory will analyse the evolution of holidays, which are becoming increasingly shorter, more frequent and spread out over the year. At 4.40 pm, Nexi will present the second edition of Tourism and Incoming Watch with a focus on international tourist expenditure in Italy, the markets of origin and the distribution of economic value across regions and seasons.
On Friday 16th October, at 11 am in the Italy Arena, the latest Italian Tourism Report compiled by Isnart will broaden the focus to include sustainability, the promotion of cultural heritage and regional competitiveness within the framework of European policies.
FROM ORGANISED TOURISM TO ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: NEW TRAVEL MODELS
On Wednesday 14th October at 3 pm, the programme’s new features will include the ASTOI and TTG press conference, which will present the new ASTOI Hub alongside data and trends in organised tourism. Participating speakers will be Gloria Armiri on behalf of IEG and Pier Ezhaya, president of ASTOI Confindustria Viaggi.
Artificial intelligence will also be at the heart of the discussion on new forms of communication in tourism. On Thursday 15th October, at 11 am in the Global Village Arena, a session moderated by Marco Cattaneo, editor-in-chief of National Geographic Italia, will address the issue of travel narrative credibility in the age of AI and multi-channel communication. At the same time but in the Book&Go Arena, photojournalist and filmmaker Betty Colombo will illustrate the new possibilities offered by immersive VR 180 virtual reality for promoting territories.
On Friday 16th October, at 11 am in the Main Arena, a humanoid robot equipped with artificial intelligence will take part live in the event entitled I exist. And you? Humans and humanoids in the tourism work of the future, organised by AssoParchi. The focus will be on the evolution of professions and skills and the relationship between people and technology.
SLOW TOURISM AND PILGRIMAGES: THE ITALY-POLAND PROJECT WITH MINISTER MAZZI
Significant institutional events will include a preview presentation of the St John Paul II Trail scheduled for Thursday 15th October at 12.10 pm in the Global Village Arena. This joint project between Italy and Poland aims to promote the places linked to the life of Pope Wojtyła through religious and cultural tourism. The Minister for Tourism, Gianmarco Mazzi, and the Polish Secretary of State, Ireneusz Raś, will be in attendance. At 4.50 pm in the Italy Arena, a discussion entitled Religious Pilgrimages: the reasons for their success between slowness, rediscovery of interiority and the meaning of existence will broaden the perspective to include slow tourism, villages and inland areas. The Bishop of Rimini, Monsignor Nicolò Anselmi, and don Marco Fagotti, deputy director of the CEI Pastoral Commission for Tourism, will be taking part.
BOOK&GO: TRAVEL TOLD THROUGH BOOKS, DOCUMENTARIES AND NEW NARRATIVE FORMS
Travel storytelling will take centre stage in the Book&Go Arena (Hall A7), which will be hosting a programme of talks with authors, filmmakers and leading figures in digital communication throughout all three days. Guide and travel books are now being joined by a growing number of documentaries, television programmes and new narrative forms, which are having an ever-greater influence on travellers’ choices. Guests will include Nick Pescetto, an Italian pioneer of travel storytelling on social media, and Giovanni Arena, renowned for his travel advice and stories on lesser-known destinations, who will be giving a preview of his new book due to be published at the end of the year.
TTG STAR AWARDS, TWELVE CANDIDATES AND A SPECIAL AWARD FOR EXIST
Thursday 15th October, at 3.30 pm in the Main Arena, will see the TTG Star Awards 2026 debuting their revamped format for awarding the professionals driving change in the tourism sector through innovative ideas, products and solutions. Twelve candidates will be in the running, divided into four categories: Transport, Hospitality, Destination and Tour Operator. The ceremony will culminate with the presentation of the special TTG Star EXIST Award for the professional who has best embodied the values of the 2026 edition’s central theme.
ABOUT TTG TRAVEL EXPERIENCE – INOUT | The Hospitality Community
Event: international trade show; organiser: Italian Exhibition Group SpA; frequency: annual; edition: 63rd; entry: trade only; website: www.ttgexpo.it - #ttgexpo
PRESS CONTACT IEG, TTG TRAVEL EXPERIENCE
Elisabetta Vitali, head of corporate communication & media relation; Marco Forcellini, Pier Francesco Bellini, press office manager media@iegexpo.it
MEDIA AGENCY TTG TRAVEL EXPERIENCE
Martina Vacca: martina@mindthepop.it, mob. +39 339 748 5994; Fabrizio Raimondi: fabrizio@mindthepop.it, mob. +39 335 389 848; Stefano Chiossi: stefano@mindthepop.it, mob. + 39 388 739 4358; Maria Laura Piazza: marialaura@mindthepop.it, mob: +39 393 564 1179
This press release contains forecast elements and estimates that reflect the management´s current opinions (´forward-looking statements´), particularly regarding future management performance, realization of investments, cash flow trends and the evolution of the financial structure. For their very nature, forward-looking statements have a component of risk and uncertainty, as they depend on the occurrence of future events. The effective results may differ (even significantly) from those announced, due to numerous factors, including, only by way of example: food service market and tourist flow trends in Italy, gold and jewellery market trends, green economy market trends; the evolution of raw material prices; general macroeconomic conditions; geopolitical factors and evolutions in the legislative framework. Moreover, the information contained in this release, does not claim to be complete, and has not been verified by independent third parties. Forecasts, estimates and objectives contained herein are based on the information available to the Company as at the date of this release.