In the past few years, a clear trend in favor of bicycle tourism be recognized. The Rad Lobby got it right in its article: “We consider cycle tourism to be one of the most important and economically stable forms of vacation & excursions in the “tourism world champion country” (overnight stays per inhabitant) Austria.” In this respect, a study by the ADFC cycle travel analysis for the cycle travel year 2021 has shown that Austria most popular cycling destination with 36 counts. Closely followed by Italy and France. In the next few lines, you will learn why and how tourism businesses such as hotels can profit from this.
What is meant by the term “cycle tourism”?
The name already suggests a lot. In short, it is understood as bicycle travel, that is, the route between one place of accommodation to the next. The boom of the bicycle does not exist only since yesterday, however, especially the Corona pandemic has enormously boosted the popularity of the one-lane vehicle.
Cycling vacations offer enormous opportunity for accommodation businesses
Cycle tourism also strengthens the local economy, benefiting especially gastronomy, accommodation, services, trade, cultural institutions and more. It also allows new target groups to be addressed and offers great opportunities for tourism businesses in winter sports-oriented regions to exploit the potential of the location independently of the season. This is because mountain bikers in particular are attracted to cycling tourism in such regions.
Here’s how you as a tourism business can take advantage of this trend
Who doesn’t know it? You want to leave your car parked for a change and get from A to B by bike instead. Especially when you try to park your bike in public, you often face the challenge of finding a suitable parking space. This problem can also be applied to bicycle tourism.
After all, potential hotel guests want to be sure that they can park their bike comfortably and, above all, safely at their next stop. Many hotels and restaurants have already recognized this and have equipped their own infrastructure for summer for bicycle tourism accordingly.
Bike rooms offer a perfect solution to provide hotel guests with suitable space for bicycles and related equipment. In addition to high-quality parking facilities, this also includes repair or service stations, stowage options for equipment and plenty of room for movement. Hotel guests should feel at home and this should start with the bike room.
Bett & Bike” quality seal
Due to the rapidly growing number of “bike tourists”, for example, 100 tourism establishments in Styria have already been certified with the “Bed & Bike” seal of quality, guaranteeing services such as bike parking, tools in case of breakdowns and short bookings for one night. This not only promises to enhance the value of the business itself, but also goes hand in hand with the growing trend of bicycle tourism.
4 million bike vacationers, of which 41% with e-bikes
Interesting facts and movements can also be seen when looking at Germany. Indeed, the ADFC Cycling Travel Analysis has studied in detail the movements in cycling tourism and its surveys have shown that in 2021, 3.9 million German vacationers were traveling by bicycle. In connection with this, an enormous trend towards e-bikes could be identified. In fact, 41% of the nearly four million vacationers were on an electrically powered bicycle.
This indicates that additional target groups can be addressed by investing in bikerooms with the corresponding equipment.
The cycling vacation wants to be planned
68% of German “bike tourists” selected and booked their accommodation before their vacation, instead of visiting it spontaneously. The reason is certainly that cycling vacations as routes and the daily and weekly stages want to be well planned, according to physical fitness.
Are you already addressing this target group online?
A corresponding online presence can therefore bring you additional guests as a hotelier. Especially hotels are in demand within this target group, because 60% of bike tourists prefer hotels instead of guesthouses, campsites and co.
So these numbers definitely illustrate the potential of top-equipped bike rooms in hotels and other accommodations.
Any questions? We will be happy to answer your questions in an individual meeting. Write to us at info@bikeraum.at or simply call us at +43 5474 5500.
Greetings from Pfunds
Your team Regensburger!
Sources:
https://www.adfc.de/fileadmin/user_upload/ADFC-_Radreiseanalyse_2021_-_Handout.pdf
https://www.radfahren.de/reise/radurlaub-trend-radreiseanalyse-2020/
https://www.radlobby.at/radtourismus
https://www.ifahrrad.at/radtourismus-boomt-oesterreich/
