Velo-city 2026: Advancing sustainability and tourism in Rimini

The world cycling summit by the European Cyclists’ Federation (ECF) took place in Rimini, Italy from 16 to 19 June. ‘Delivering the Urban Dream’ was the main theme of this edition: a fitting one for a very touristic host city, which managed to transition to a greener mobility system for the benefit of its tourists and residents. One of the subthemes was ‘Travel Reimagined: Advancing Sustainability & Tourism’, which meant more attention for cycling tourism than in previous editions.

Velo-city gathered more than 1,400 cycling professionals in Rimini, bringing the Conference back to Italy 35 years later. Back then, EuroVelo – and many of its current team members – did not even exist, but this time, both the initiative and the team were very present!

Plenary

On 18 June, the fourth plenary, entitled ‘Travel Reimagined: Advancing Sustainability & Tourism’, was moderated by EuroVelo and cycling tourism Director Agathe Daudibon. The panel connected the dots between mobility and tourism with a simple statement: while tourism always involves mobility, the mobility sector often does not consider tourism that much.

Roberta Frisoni, Emilia-Romagna Regional Councillor, highlighted the efforts of a very touristic region: from re-shaping the Adriatic coastline, making space for visitors and residents, to improving the transport of bicycles on trains with new rolling stock, but also through a network of bicycle-friendly hotels. Cycling tourism arrivals are 500,000 a year in the region alone, with sport cycling events such as the Giro d’Italia and the Tour de France boosting the visibility of Emilia-Romagna as a cycling destination.

Ehime Governor Tokihiro Nakamura brought the example of Shimanami Kaido, a 70-km route through the scenic islands of the Ehime Prefecture – the Velo-city 2027 host – and one of the most successful cycling tourism experiences in Japan. The governor was personally inspired to bring a new cycling culture to his region and make Ehime a ‘cycling paradise’.

The discussion, which also featured Brian Bell (Vice President of Global Communications and Social Impact at Strava), Giuseppe Grezzi (City Councillor of Valencia) and Vanessa Perez (Senior Advisor, Passenger Department at UIC), revolved around two main themes: overtourism and multimodality. Cycling is a big opportunity for popular tourist destinations like Valencia or Rimini, as it helps to spread the flow and ‘expand the radar’ beyond busy city centres, as shown by the Strava Metro data. But creating cycling infrastructure connecting the cities with the surrounding areas proves beneficial for local residents, too, who have comfortable infrastructure for active commuting. Bicycle-friendly public transport has very similar effects: while tourists can take their bicycles on a train and discover more remote parts of a region, residents benefit from improved connections too, changing car-dependent habits and easing rent pressure.

The plenary session concluded with two announcements: three regions – Calabria, Friuli Venezia Giulia and Emilia-Romagna, the region of Rimini – are now members of the Italian National EuroVelo Coordination Centre, managed by FIAB, while Friuli Venezia Giulia has won the bid to host the EuroVelo & Cycling Tourism Conference 2027.

After Utrecht, cycling tourism and cycle route professionals will meet in Trieste, Italy, from 29 September to 1 October 2027, for the tenth EuroVelo & Cycling Tourism Conference and its first-ever Italian edition.

Parallel sessions

There were 66 parallel sessions spread over four days, engaging hundreds of speakers. Following the ‘Travel Reimagined: Advancing Sustainability & Tourism’ and ‘Built to Inspire. Designing Beautiful Urban Environments’ subthemes, there were quite some remarkable parallel sessions about or including EuroVelo work.

Session 1.6: How to establish a cycling tourism destination? Examples and tips from known or emerging hotspots was moderated by now-former EuroVelo team member Mark Sheridan and included best practices on developing destinations through cycling tourism, with a focus on rural areas such as EuroVelo 13 – Iron Curtain Trail in Timis County, Romania and EuroVelo 7 – Sun Route in Italy, and Marmaris Cycle Route in Türkiye.

Session 2.2: How many commuters use touristic cycle routes? The power of data insights into route usage illustrated how counting data supports evidence-based policymaking and showed that cycle route usage is more diverse than expected, with speakers from ADFC, Eco-Counter and Vélo Québec and the moderation of Agathe Daudibon. The session highlighted that touristic cycle routes attract many locals for mobility or leisure purposes. The same infrastructure can serve multiple uses, and this is another reason to invest in cycle routes to benefit both the local economy and residents' quality of life.

In Session 4.5: Designing experience: Cycling routes and Greenways shaping sustainable tourism and abandoned railways, EuroVelo & Projects Officer Alexandra Fournier discussed cycling-friendly labels and the engagement of local service providers, while other speakers presented examples of creating cycling destinations using existing infrastructure such as abandoned railways.

Session 9.3: Turning guidelines into change: The impact of EuroVelo route quality standards on local policy developments focused on the experience of applying the European Certification Standard, ECF’s methodology to assess the quality of cycle routes, to Poland, Slovenia and Austria. The session, moderated by EuroVelo and Projects Officer Florence Grégoire, was the first open debate on the practical applications of ECS, comparing approaches and sharing the impact of the methodology on EuroVelo route quality.

As part of Session 10.3: Green vs. Green? Reconciling climate resilience and cycling infrastructure, Florence Grégoire introduced regenerative tourism best practices from EuroVelo. The panel discussed the challenge of building cycle tracks while keeping nature protection in mind, and whether it is really possible to reconcile climate resilience with low-carbon transport infrastructure.

Exhibition

At the ECF booth, EuroVelo was showcased with maps and materials, but especially with the Scavenger Hunt, in which Velo-citizens collected clues all across the exhibition and had to guess the correct EuroVelo route. If they answered correctly, they could win a very special Brompton bicycle.

For the first time, a EuroVelo-themed gathering took place at the ECF booth during the welcome reception of Velo-city. Such an informal get-together was a nice opportunity to meet with NECCs and various stakeholders at the start of the conference.

ECF’s booth was not the only one with EuroVelo materials – the Calabria Parks cycle route (part of EuroVelo 7), the Emilia-Romagna Region, FIAB (National EuroVelo Coordination Centre), and several other exhibitors highlighted the routes in their various aspects.

Although no EuroVelo routes cross Rimini, the European cycle route network forms the backbone of Italy’s national cycle route network (Bicitalia) and is a reference for the Italian cycling tourism stakeholders. The Italian National EuroVelo Coordination Centre, FIAB, worked intensively to shape this memorable Velo-city Rimini as Programme Director.

Article by Jessica Casagrande