Italy has huge potential for cycle tourism, but it is still too fragmented to make the most of it. That is the thread running through the second interview of From Bike to Business, Bikenomist's series on the economies of the bicycle hosted by CEO Paolo Pinzuti.
The guest is Freddy Mair, founder and CEO of Fun Active Tours, a tour operator specialising in cycling and walking holidays. Before becoming an entrepreneur, Mair was a professional mountain bike athlete.
From pro rider to an €8 million business
Fun Active Tours was founded in 2000 with a simple idea: bring travellers to discover Italy by bike. It sells turnkey packages that include hotels, luggage transfer, assistance and bike rental.
Today the company has an annual turnover of more than €8 million and welcomes over 10,000 customers a year. Its fleet counts 1,200 bikes, half of them e-bikes.
For Mair, the pandemic was not a setback but an accelerator. "For us, Covid was an incredible boost for our sector," he says. People rediscovered slower, outdoor holidays close to nature, and many of them chose the bike.
His typical customer is not a sporty cyclist. "They want to have fun, relax and discover the dolce vita," Mair explains. The bike is the way to experience Italy, not the goal in itself.
Huge potential, too many borders
Italy's cycle tourism potential is immense, but the offer is fragmented, with few connections and little continuity. South Tyrol, Veneto and Friuli Venezia Giulia stand out as model regions, yet many projects still stop at municipal boundaries.
This is where Italy falls behind. Building a stable, mature and internationally competitive cycle tourism offer means networking: routes, services and operators that work together across towns and regions, so that travellers find a continuous experience rather than isolated pieces.
Experiences, not just bikes
Cycle tourism keeps growing even as bike sales slow down, because people are looking for an experience rather than a product. Covid showed the way towards a more human, slower and more connected kind of travel. Now it is up to operators to ride this momentum without leaving anyone behind. If you're serious about networking beyond just talking, the best place to do it is the Cycle Tourism Show, in Padua.
Read the original Italian article on Bikeitalia.
Happy cycling to all of us!
Originally published on the Bikenomist blog ↗