Get into gear with our Cycling Tourism Industry Guide

Get your business ready for cycling tourism visitors

Today (1 February), we've published a new Cycling Tourism Industry Guide to help tourism businesses make the most of the cycling tourism market and help Scotland to establish itself as a world-class cycling destination.

Our online guide contains practical advice on how to attract cycling visitors and provide them with a quality cycling tourism experience.

What's Included in the guide:

• Practical advice on how businesses can create a high-quality experience for cyclists
• Market insights from the latest cycling tourism research
• Visitor insights on types of visitors that are interested in cycling trips
• Marketing advice on how to attract cyclists and which channels to use
• Cycling tourism trends
• Useful resources - information on routes, bike hire and public transport 

The countdown is on to the world's biggest cycling event

In August the 2023 UCI Cycling World Championships will be hosted in Glasgow and across Scotland. This event brings together 13 existing UCI World Championships for the first time to create the world's biggest cycling event. 

There will be a wide array of world-class action on show over 11 days, with everything from track sprints and mountain bike downhill races to BMX freestyle and indoor cycling acrobatics.

With the event attracting an increased number of cyclists and cycling enthusiasts to Scotland, our new guide will make sure you're ready to welcome these visitors and accommodate their specific needs.

If you're interested in finding out more about the event, visit the UCI Cycling World Championships website for full details.

The latest cycling insights

As well as our new industry guide, our insights team has also launched new research looking at the value of cycling tourism in Scotland. 

Worth an estimated £37 billion to the European economy, cycling tourism has grown in popularity in recent years. In Scotland in 2019, UK overnight visitors who took part in cycling activities spent a total of £266 million. Cycling activities also generate an average of 238,000 page views every year to our consumer website - visitscotland.com, with potential visitors seeking inspiration on routes, itineraries and unmissable cycling experiences.

The research paper highlights examples of what makes Scotland's cycling offer so attractive including:

• The country's 1,600 miles of National Cycle Network
• World-class track cycling facilities
• New cycling initiatives and investment across the country
• Unmissable experiences such as mountain and gravel biking

The paper also gives attention to other well-established cycling destinations that Scotland could learn from, such as Denmark and Switzerland. Examples of best practice that helped these locations become outstanding cycling destinations include investment in infrastructure, cycle superhighways and bike hotels.