Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Austria (Weinberger, 2009). Many of the towns and villages on the route
have expanded their accommodation and hospitality sectors to serve the new
market (Bernhofer et al, 2008).
In those countries where low levels of use persist, investment in other
forms of transport has tended to make the bicycle a less attractive proposition.
In summary, in many developed countries, cycling has been 'engineered' out
of people's lives (Saelens et al, 2003). Social processes and perceptions have
also marginalized cycling. For example, in the UK, Dickinson and Robbins
(2009) suggest cycling is widely seen as being for 'other people', to take place
in special locations where there are facilities, such as routes segregated from
traffic, and the environment is pleasant. However, to some extent this reflects
cycling's significant potential as a form of recreation and tourism.
The use of bicycles in developing countries is very different. In Asia, where
the use of the bicycle remains widespread, there is currently a rapid decline in
cycle trips. The reason is that car ownership and use is replacing the bicycle
for short trips in urban areas. This trend is compounded by government
exhortations to modernize, and this has signalled a cultural shift from human-
powered transport to automobility where access by the car dominates. In
effect, this trend has condemned the bicycle to a much lower position in the
transport hierarchy. The future of the bicycle is therefore uncertain, as gov-
ernments continue to invest heavily in highways and provision for the car.
Given the declining market, the role of the bicycle in leisure, and in relation
to slow travel, is likely to be limited. This seems to be the case everywhere and
especially amongst the nouveau riche, where cultural trends favour long-haul
travel to other parts of the world.
There are some definitional issues regarding cycle tourism. Whilst cycle
tourism is the generic term to describe the use of the bicycle for travel between
places, the actual act of cycling (the movement) is part of the tourist experi-
ence. Cycle holidays include touring from place to place or bicycle trips from
a single base; cycling is the key motivation for the holiday and is pursued on
most if not all days away. Holiday cycling refers to the tourist who seeks to
cycle on one or more days while on holiday at a destination. It is not the main
pursuit. An early study by Simonsen and Jorgensen (1996) reviewed cycle
tourism on the island of Bornholm, Denmark. The authors found that 40 per
cent of cycle tourists cycled from a fixed accommodation base, whereas 60 per
cent were involved in touring from place to place. This split in the market will
vary according to routes, local accommodation providers and user preferences.
The third category included in the definition of cycle tourism is the day
cycle trip, a recreational outing from home or a holiday home, where cycling
is the main pursuit for all or part of the day. Ritchie (1998) disagrees with this
inclusion. He argues that it is more appropriate to define those who stay
overnight as cycle tourists and others as day excursionists, and that their moti-
vations and needs are different. There is no evidence to support this from the
wider literature. The needs and desires of the cycle tourist do not vary accord-
ing to day or multiple-day cycling; the core satisfaction factors remain similar
(Downward and Lumsdon, 2001). Ritchie also explores whether it is better to
define cycle tourism as a continuum, where at one end cycling is a highly