Plenary 5: The growing Economic Benefits of Cycling Tourism

The Thursday morning plenary session witnessed a heated debate on tourism.  Discussion centred on how cycling tourism can reduce the harmfulness of the tourism sector and shift gear towards a more sustainable future.  

ECF President Henk Swarttouw’s opening comments declared cycling tourism, in the form of the EuroVelo cycle route network, as “one of the pillars of ECF.”  

Addressing delegates remotely, Alessandra Priante, Director of Regional Department for Europe at World Tourism Organization UNWTO, passionately discussed the many economic and sustainable benefits cycling tourism brings to both urban and rural areas.  

Alex Crevar, sustainable travel journalist, also claimed cycling to be “a great equaliser” stating that “sustainability” is an overused term in our society. Calling for more responsible forms of tourism, Crevar said, “You can’t just lay down your beach towel and hope someone is looking after sustainability.”

Echoing previous panellists, Blaz Kurnik, head of the EEA Climate Group and Camille Thomé CEO of Vélo & Territoires addressed the need for a change in our approach towards tourism and for shifting the focus to domestic tourism.  

Bringing a different perspective, Petra Stusek, Managing Director of Ljubljana tourism, argued that tourism was already changing pre-pandemic and if managed properly, has the potential to spur local economic growth.  

Joining calls from fellow panellists for the increased inclusion of local people, Thomas Larsen Schmidt, President of International Mountain Bike Association Europe, also cited the importance of building local communities in rural areas for cycling tourists and locals alike to enjoy.

In the end, we all agree with Priante, who signed off saying that: "If we want to change, we have to bring a little bit of that cycling state of mind with us."

Session highlights

Pushing for change: National Strategies brought national transport ministry officials from five European nations together to present the state of their national cycling strategies. Martin Eder from Austria explained how, “ECF showed us all that if a state has a national cycling strategy, then the overall number of cycling increases.” Indeed, the ECF National Strategy overview map needs some updating! The map was referenced several times by the attending officials, with both Belgium and Spain having introduced new national plans in the time since its publication. Such progress in such a short space of time is what we like to see! 

On the main stage, a session on road safety had contrasting case studies; from a successful Vision Zero policy in Helsinki detailed by Martti Tulenheimo, to shocking statistics from Brazil provided by Ana Carboni (polling results showed 80% of participants knew someone that had lost their life on the road). In the end the argument for more traffic calming is physics - with greater kinetic energy comes greater potential of serious injury, or worse, for road victims.

Over at the yellow room, five speakers elaborated on data, figures and trends related to cycling tourism. They provided analytical insight into the profile and preferences of cycling tourists, usage, and economic impact. The unanimous conclusion is: cycling tourism is definitely on the rise, as evidenced from the usage on EuroVelo routes. Although, proper data gathering is crucial in forming sound investment strategies and business decisions. As pointed out by Laurent Guennoc from Eco-Counter, ‘’EuroVelo routes have experienced a cycling explosion between 2020-2022’’ and 2022 is poised to break further records. He also added what is the point of collecting data: "If we don't count, it doesn't count".

On Friday morning, the red room was host to a very important topic in contemporary cycling advocacy – the importance of integrating cycling into the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) guidelines. Speakers Radosław Lesisz, Giulia Cortesi, Maurits Lopes Cardozo and Marta Orihuel each made strong cases, using both good and bad practice examples of infrastructure projects that included and missed out on opportunities. The key takeaways from the session were straight forward: when integrating cycling into a project, plan early, hire consultants and review strategically. But the final message was clear: EuroVelo and cycling, the European cycle route network, needs to be held in the same esteem as other modes of transport and included in Europe’s flagship transport network!

Spotlight session: Academic session: Technological innovation as a global driver for more change

The cycling economy and the tension from attempting to emulate growth models of other sectors came into focus in this session.  

How do we achieve sustainable growth and create a new, more sustainable understanding of economic and social impact? Sonja Rijsbosch from the Dutch Enterprise Agency presented a new report on the economic impact of the Dutch cycling sector. Apart from the wider social and ecological benefits, the report also shows that the added value of Dutch cycling companies has grown by 50% since 2015, representing 1.1 billion euros. Much of this can be attributed to the boom in e-bikes.

Priscillia Petitjean, of Les Atéliers de l’Audace, asked a more fundamental question about the economic system we want for cycling and how to make it more sustainable. Arguing for one based on sustainable consumption, repairing and recycling whilst presenting her organisation’s model for creating sustainable and inclusive employment.

Paolo Pinzutti, CEO of Italian company Bikenomist, told the story of how he has managed to combine cycling activism with entrepreneurship, by creating economic interest in the bicycle and in advocacy. The online platform “bikeitalia.it” has become a central source of information on cycling in Italy.

Josefine Wickenbrock and Edwin de Jong from JobRad, an ECF Award sponsor, presented the development of their bike-leasing company. They explained how changes in fiscal legislation in Austria had made it possible to expand the business model abroad, whilst also outlining the impressive business impact they are having.

Plenary 6: Urban Mobility Innovation

Plenary 6 revolved around the question of what urban mobility will look like in 2050. While all panellists subscribed to the idea that innovation is essential, they agreed that the most important solution is readily available, the bicycle. 

"We need to innovate by collectively doing what we are already doing just even faster.” stressed Kevin Mayne, CEO of Cycling industries Europe “We believe we can reduce our dependence on fossil fuels by 12% with the bicycle. We are ready to change our future, so get on it!"  

In light of the escalating climate crisis, it is all too easy to fall into a pessimistic view of the future. Those on stage, however, conveyed a message of hope. “The future is not yet determined. We must exercise our initiative to shape the future. With every pedal stroke, we make the world a better place.” emphasised Philippe Crist.  

A sustainable future is an inclusive future. Karen Vancluysen of Polis believes that if we are to build a better tomorrow, everybody needs to be involved in the process. "I see people-based cities with density and proximity as key.” Adding that “I hope that gender mainstreaming will be normal and we won't be catering for middle-aged engineers anymore." We ended with a powerful call for action: Be hopeful and fight for change. 

Winners of the ECF Awards 2022

With Day 3 drawing to a close, Velo-citizens gathered once more against the stunning backdrop of Ljubljana Castle for the Velo-city dinner and inaugural ECF Awards ceremony. 

This year four sponsors: Arup, Geveko Markings, Jobrad and Eco-Counter; have kindly lent their support to ECF in helping to recognise achievements within the world of urban everyday cycling. 

The winners were as follows: 

Cycle-Friendly Employer Award went to R+V Versicherung AG for their bold steps to facilitate pro-cycling incentives amongst employees.

Cycling Improvement Award was presented to an emerging cycling superpower, the City of Paris was recognized for the enormous growth in cycling journeys over the past two years.

Cycling Infrastructure Award celebrated an exemplary cycling and public realm project as a response to Covid-19 public health crisis and was awarded to Rathdown County-Council.

Road Safety Award went to the City of Brussels for achieving a 50% reduction in the number of road fatalities in 2021 and creating a safer and more liveable city for its residents and visitors.  

Congratulations to all the winners! We can’t wait to celebrate more achievements in cycling next year in Velo-city 2023 Leipzig!

Plenary 7: Urban Mobility Innovation

Velo-citizens took their seats for the final time on Friday morning to hear from UN Habitat’s Public Space Program Director Cecilia Andersson. Speaking from UN Habitat offices in Nairobi about how public space has been reimagined in cities such as Belo Horizonte and Addis Ababa, with access to public transport made a priority as part of UN Sustainable Development Goal ambitions. Andersson signed off with regret that she could not attend in person but that she looked forward to working with likeminded organisations at COP27 later this year.  

On stage, Leipzig Deputy Mayor Thomas Dienberg detailed how the city places great emphasis upon consultations, communication and compromise with a city department exclusively dedicated to the practice. Dienberg was frank: “collaboration is not always easy, but it is crucial to our decision making.” Sigrid Heiburg from the City of Oslo Urban Development Committee also spoke about communication and explained that, despite a desire to implement car-free streets, communicating traffic reduction measures in terms such as “fossil-free” had proven to be more appealing. Deputy Mayor of Tirana Keti Luasari, was enthusiastic about meeting the needs of all members of the public when repurposing urban space for recreation and Karl Falkenberg, formerly Director General of the European Commission Environment Agency, echoed these points with an appeal to implement socially inclusive and equitable environmental policies.  

CEO Jill Warren stepped up to the podium for the closing remarks. She thanked the hosts and all who worked to put on the event and stated that “we’ll keep pushing our policy and decisionmakers to do more for cycling” and urged the attending cycling community “to keep cycling the change” alongside ECF.  

Finally, the Velo-city flag was handed from Mayor Jankovic of Ljubljana to Deputy Mayor Dienberg of Leipzig and with that act, Velo-city 2022 came to a close.  

Change can be strange, but there is little doubt that there will be plenty of positive cycling change worthy of celebration when the Velo-citizen community returns in 2023!