The 13th edition of the International Cultural Tourism Exchange and the 9th edition of Mirabilia Food&Drink were inaugurated this morning at the fair in Catanzaro. The event is part of the rich programming of the special Mirabilia project, this year hosted for the first time in Calabria, thanks to the collaboration between the Catanzaro Crotone Vibo Valentia Chamber of Commerce, the national Unioncamere, 21 Italian Chambers of Commerce and the project contribution offered by Isnart, the National Institute of Tourist and Cultural Research.
High participation in the 2025 edition which aims to promote knowledge and commercial exchanges between companies in the food & drink and cultural tourism sectors. In particular, the presence of 124 food & drink companies and 72 cultural tourism companies from the 21 Chambers of Commerce participating in the Mirabilia project was recorded. Central Calabria was represented by 60 companies from both sectors. B2B events were held within the exhibition spaces with 80 buyers of 30 different nationalities.
Inaugurating the bags were the president of the Catanzaro Crotone Vibo Valentia Chamber of Commerce Pietro Falbo and the Isnart president Loretta Credaro, who both emphasized the strategic value of the special project as a qualifying element of promotion in an eco-systemic key of the territories home to lesser-known UNESCO sites. «These are areas rich in cultural heritage and territorial productive excellence, Isnart’s function is to promote a union between economy and tourism in order to promote these sites so that they no longer have to be defined as minor in the future» explained Loretta Credaro on the sidelines of the ribbon cutting. «The 13th edition of the International Cultural Tourism Exchange and the 9th edition of the Mirabilia Food&Drink represents the key event of this series of cultural and economic initiatives, with a kind of approach that only Isnart in Italy is developing and exploring. Calabria has a lot to offer from a cultural point of view; in particular, I believe that the food and wine sector can and must become the economic driver of this land.”
«This is an extraordinary event for us, capable of putting Calabria and, in particular, the provinces of Catanzaro, Crotone and Vibo Valentia at the center of national and European socioeconomic dynamics» highlighted the president Pietro Falbo. «Chambers of Commerce, Unioncamere and Isnart together for a common and shared but above all successful project that aims at the qualifying promotion of territories and businesses. Mirabilia represents the right lever to bring out, in an integrated logic, the strong tourist and food and wine vocation of our three territories. The Chamber of Commerce is pursuing these objectives with tenacity by investing in internationalization, training, innovation and promoting the best excellence. This is the Calabria that we like.”
During the morning, the data from the report “Attractiveness and positioning of UNESCO site destinations for the development of local economies”, created by Isnart for the special Mirabilia project, was also illustrated, from which it emerged that these sites confirm themselves as an extraordinary driving force for tourism and territorial development in Italy. In particular, what mainly drives the attractiveness of the territories is the “culture” factor, placed in first place for the fourth consecutive year among the drivers of holiday choice. An element also confirmed by the data presented during the conference by the Tagliacarne Study Center.
According to the research institute, Italy is first in the world in international rankings for cultural influence and second for cultural tourism experience. In the Mirabilia municipalities the stay of tourists is higher than that found in the sites considered “major”. Finally, there is a denser fabric of youth businesses out of the total: 8.5% versus 7%. Evidence of vitality, also confirmed by the growth rates between 2019 and 2024 of the overall entrepreneurship in the sector, which increased in the Municipalities located in Mirabilia by 6.2% compared to a 2% contraction in the overall number of companies operating in the same territories.