Measuring Cycle Tourism: More Bang for your Buck! Robert A. G. Wong, CMRP, MCIP, FMRIA, Principal, RMCG
Inc.
Outline Cycle Tourism Typology Measuring Cycle Tourism Impacts General Awareness Tourism Measures Cycling Events Tourism Measures Cycle Tourism Business Measures
Future Regional Cycle Tourism Opportunities
Cycle Tourism Road, Touring, Mountain Bike
On Road, Pathways, Trails, Bike Parks
Typology Of Cycle Tourism & Measurements (Leisure oriented, on all surface types)
Local Rides (weekday/end ridesparticularly second home hubs)
Holiday Cycling
Charity Rides
Cycling Holiday
(Activity as part of holiday – day use mainly)
(Sportives – some competitive but more charity/community focus)
(Prime reason for holiday, independent, club or guided tour)
Somewhat Achievable: -indirectly measureable -directional measures -more challenging to quantify -but useful evidence
Achievable: -contact information from registration -post event research
Desirable: -long term goal for destinations if market-ready products -need to work with tourism operators
Why do we want to know? Tourism
Transportation Planning
Cycle Tourism Research Destination Awareness
Economic Development
Cycling Events Business Perspective
Health & Wellness
Measuring Cycle Tourism Impacts
Image: ASI Photo
General Awareness: Peek at Some Insights
Image: RMCG Inc.
Translate to Measures of Tourism Impacts General Awareness Measures Awareness of as a cycling destination (relative to other destinations) General Awareness
Do cyclists know about us?
Are we competitive?
Who are they?
What cycling experiences are they looking for?
Have they come and/or will they come to our destination?
Types of cycle tourism activities Types of cyclists Actual visits to destination (relative to other destinations) Future interests on our destination
Toronto Bike Show Survey 2015 Intercept interviews at the Toronto International Bike Show March 6-8, 2015
March 2015
Image: Cucle Simcoe.
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Research Plan & Execution Purpose Measure the market for cycle tourism in Region 7 Method Intercept interviews at the Toronto Bike Show Sample for 2015 Interviewed 414 cyclists during three days
Image: RMCG Inc.
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Coming to the Toronto Bike Show  Most (74%) came to see the bikes  A third (36%) came to learn about biking destinations and some (14%) came to book a bike tour/trip
Reasons for Coming to the Toronto Bike Show 2013 N=417
2014 N=388
2015 N=414 73.9 78 79 31 30
35.7
13.5 9 10
4
Image: RMCG Inc.
8
11.1
10
Cycle Tourism Last season, 68% of All cyclists took at least one “tourism” bike trip (started > 40 km from home) Of those cyclists who took a tourism bike trip, the median* number of trips in a season was 3 trips, slightly lower than in 2014 (5 trips) Of those who took overnight bike trips, the median* number of nights they stayed was 2 nights, comparable with 2014
Image Forks in the Trail B&B.
Tourism Trips and Overnight Trips N=386 At Least One
How many trips in Ontario did you take where biking was the prime reason for the trip and where you travelled 40 km from home to start your ride?
68%
How many of those trips did you stay overnight?
35%
*Median - 50% of cyclists were above and below this value
Median*
3 trips
Mean
10 trips
(N=386)
(N=386)
2 nights
3 nights
(N=128)
(N=128)
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Interested in BGS in Next 2 Years  83% of All cyclists were very interested or interested in riding in BGS in the next 2 years
 39% of Mountain Bikers were very interested
Interest in BGS in Next 2 Years Int erest ed
Very int erest ed
34.1
47.3
83
32.5
49.6
8 3
39.4
% of respondents
43.9
Image: RMCG Inc.
8 3
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Cycling Events: Peek at Some Insights
Credit: Terence Scarnicchia Photography
Spin-Offs:
Ontario Cycling Events & Tourism Impacts
Cyclists, Tourism Researchers, Strategists Funded in part by
Translate to Measures of Tourism Impacts Cycling Events Questions Is it a local/regional or tourist drawing event? What types of cycle tourism did it generate?
Cycle Events Measures
Percentage tourists
Overnight stays
Spending
Pre / post rides to destination
Spin off to CD / RTO
TREIM Economic Impacts
Four Ontario Cycling Events
Credits: Escarpment,Terence Scarnicchia Photography, TourdeHans,LeTourdeNorfolk
Research Plan
Registrants
Postevent Online Survey
Analysis -TREIM
Insights Report
Credit: RMCG
Many Attracted Tourists (>40 km) 40-100 km; 49%
40-100km; 16% Less than 40 km; 9%
<40km; 11%
>100km; 73%
(n = 872)
(n=267)
Greater than 100 km; 42%
40-100km; 30% <40km; 80%
<40km; 42%
40-100km; 13%
(n=30) >100km; 7%
(n =138)
>100km; 28%
Generated Overnight Stays 0.75
0.31 0.12
0 Credit: Forks in the Trail B&B
Resulted in Pre-Event Visitation 0.3
0.18
0.17
0.13 0.09 0.06 0.06 0.04
1 Trip
2+ Trips Credit: Terence Scarnicchia Photography
Insights: Future Visit Next 2 Years 0.7
0.67 0.6 0.49
Credit: RMCG
Insights: Contributed to Regional Economy
$1.4M $174K $50K + GDP + Employment+ Direct & Indirect Taxes Source: Ontario Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Tourism & Recreation Economic Impacts Model (TREIM) Credit: BMVA
$6K
Cycle Tourism Businesses: Peek at Some Insights
Credit: RMCG
Translate to Measures of Tourism Impacts
Business of Cycle Tourism Measures Range of business types
Cycle Tourism Business Questions
What businesses are benefiting from Cycle Tourism?
Evidence of cycle tourism for their business Change from year to year
How much of their business is from cyclists?
Type of cyclists & magnitude of tourist component
Are we growing, staying the same or declining?
Willingness to share
Are our marketing efforts creating impacts on the ground?
Benchmark and longitudinal
Photo Credit: Robert Wong
Simcoe & Grey Counties Cycle Tourism Business Tracking 2015 December 2015 Prepared for
Prepared by
Simcoe Cycle Tourism Businesses Invited 52 businesses, all members of the Ontario by Bike Network in Simcoe County, to share their experiences with cyclist 28 businesses responded (53% response rate compared to 60% in 2014) Very good cross section of tourism businesses responded with a strong response from B&Bs Types of Businesses (N=28) 10
2015 N=28
2014 N=24
6 4
4 2
1
1
Simcoe Cycle Business Activity 2015 Business Type
# of Cyclists
Attractions
60-20,000+
Bike shops/Mobile bike shop
500-15000
Touring companies
Up to 300
Resort/Residence
25-600
Motel/Hotel
10-15
Café/retail/bakeries
50-300
Winery/cidery/brewery
Up to 500
Farm Gate/Local Food Market
Up to 150
B&Bs/campground
Six businesses were relying on cycling as their core business while over a third (10) indicated they had “ a regular flow of cyclists”
Business from Cyclists in 2015
2015 N=28 6 10
0-30
9 2
28
Simcoe Cycle Business Trends 2014-2015 Cycle Business Trends 2014-15 (N=28)
Stayed the same; 34%
Increased; 59% Photo Credit: Cycle Simcoe
Decreased; 7%
Business Type
Trend 2014-15
Attractions
Bike shops
Touring companies Hotel/Resort/Residence
B&Bs/campground
Café/retail/bakeries
Grey Cycle Business Trends 2014-2015 Cycle Business Trends 2014-15 (N=21)
Stayed the same; 52% Increased; 43%
Business Type
Cycle Trend 2014-15*
Bike shops (5)
Touring companies (0)
NA
Café/bakery/general store
Winery/cidery/brewery (3)
(3)
Image: Grey County.
Decreased; 5%
Attraction (2) B&B (4) Hotel (1)
29
30
Simcoe Cycling Tourists in 2015
Regional 40-100; 33%
Photo Credit: Jane Wang
Cyclist Residence 2015 (N=27) Long haul >100; 30%
Local <40; 37%
Regional 40-100; 53%
Cyclist Residence 2014 (N=19)
Long haul >100; 16% Local <40; 32%
* Based on highest percentage of business from cyclists travelling from home
â&#x20AC;˘
82% of businesses reported serving cycling tourists, up from 69% in 2014 (i.e. permanent residence >40 km away).
â&#x20AC;˘
11 businesses reported catering to international cyclists
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Awareness of Cyclists Using/Talking about Interactive Cycle Maps
â&#x20AC;˘ 41% of the businesses had heard or noticed cyclists using the Cycle Simcoe interactive cycle maps â&#x20AC;˘ 25% (8 businesses) wanted to learn more about how they can have their business on the map
No; 34% Awareness of Interactive Map (N=28)
Want to learn more; 25%
Yes had noticed; 41%
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Cycle Tourism Tracking in Simcoe County ď&#x201A;´ Simcoe County businesses were positive about sharing their cycle tourism business experiences
Businesses Willing to Participate in Annual Tracking (N=28)
Yes; 26
Maybe; 2
Image: Grey County.
Cycle Tourism: Future Measurement Opportunities
Image: Tour de Norfolk.
Translate to Measures of Tourism Impacts
Future Measurement Opportunities
Future Cycle Tourism Questions
How can we standardized measures so we can compare and aggregate for a bigger picture?
How important is Cycle Tourism to RTOs?
How can we measure volume of cycle tourists sustainably?
What is the volume of Cycle Tourism?
How can we engage our tourism business community to help us measure tourism impacts?
What cycling experiences generate tourism impacts? Do we have a market ready international cycling product?
Cycle Tourism Regional Research Project 2016 Developing the methodology for 2016 summer/fall measures Working with : RTO 1 RTO 3 & RTO 9 Funded in part by
Trail Counts
Cycling Events
Last Words Cycle Tourism can be measured Takes time, thought & resources Economic impact research is very expensive, but tourism impact measures are achievable Need to decide on what questions you need answered and at what costs Take leadership in your region to capture tourism impacts to help make cycle tourism business decisions Image: RMCG Inc.
Questions & Discussion Robert A. G. Wong robert@rmcg.ca
Image: RMCG Inc.