The Conference brought together around 150 participants from 24 countries. Over two days of debates and sessions, the programme featured a balanced lineup, with 27 women and 29 men taking the stage at Tinghallen, a modern conference venue in the heart of Viborg.

The conference kicked off on Monday with a welcome reception at Viborg Town Hall, following the EuroVelo General Meeting. Attendees were treated to a surprise display of impressive cycling skills by local youth, before raising a glass of bubbles to mark the start of the event.In his opening remarks, Andreas Grønnebæk Horn, head of conventions at VisitAarhus, said: "It is in the history and legacy of Viborg to bring people together, get ideas and get passion flowing. VisitAarhus saw lots of potential in this conference because the Danes love bikes, and Viborg has great potential for cycling tourism."

Jens Erik Larsen, one of the founding figures of EuroVelo in the 1990s, took the audience back to the roots of the initiative, reflecting on its growth nearly 30 years later. He noted that the first EuroVelo sign in Denmark was placed right here in Viborg.

It was the first time the conference took place this far north, and Marie Kåstrup and Henna Palosaari engaged in a lively exchange about what cycling and cycling tourism mean for the Nordic countries. In both Denmark and Finland, cycling is a part of everyday life, with people growing up using bicycles primarily for daily mobility rather than for recreational purposes. They emphasised that the region’s stunning natural landscapes must be paired with suitable cycling infrastructure and services to encourage more people to take cycling holidays.

Marie and Henna introduced two concepts to help understand (cycling) culture in the Nordics: Sisu, a Finnish word meaning determination and resilience to keep going, even when facing challenges, and Hygge, the Danish concept of enjoying life’s simple pleasures, such as a bike ride with friends, and cherishing what makes a place feel magical.

A morning full of inspiring keynotes

Tuesday was packed with conference activities, with two plenary sessions, six keynote speeches, and six parallel sessions aligned with the conference theme, all developed from abstracts submitted earlier in the year.

The Mayor of Viborg, Ulrik Wilbek, opened the Conference highlighting that Viborg is located on EuroVelo 3 – Pilgrims Route, following the Hærvejen route in Denmark and reminded participants of the legacy of events such as the country’s biggest Gran Fondo and local L’Etape by Tour de France.

Pia Lange Christensen, CEO of VisitAarhus – the regional tourism board that supported the event – spoke as a proud local about the fact that Viborg is a historical meeting place, an ideal location for cycling tourism. Cycling tourism is a priority for the local destination marketing organisation, considering the interest in nature and outdoors.

ECF President Henk Swarttouw welcomed the community and recalled that the roots of the EuroVelo initiative lie in Denmark. He emphasised that the primary users of EuroVelo routes are local citizens and daily commuters, alongside cycling tourists. As such, the connection between recreational cycling and daily mobility is a crucial aspect to consider and discuss.

The importance of the European Declaration on Cycling for cycling tourism

The first plenary session of the day, moderated by ECF CEO Jill Warren, focused on the European Declaration on Cycling and its impact on cycling tourism. This session reflected on the recent appointment of Apostolos Tzitzikostas as the designated European Commissioner for Sustainable Transport and Tourism by Ursula von der Leyen. The declaration, signed in April, follows multiple high-level political commitments from the European Parliament and member states, representing the most ambitious EU cycling initiative to date. It includes an entire chapter on cycling tourism and multimodality while emphasising the role of long-distance cycle routes.

After a recorded address by Isabelle Vandoorne of the European Commission, the panelists discussed the importance of national efforts, such as the Hungarian Cycling Strategy publication. State Secretary for Active Hungary Máriusz Révész reminded that Hungary is the third country in Europe for bicycle usage, more strongly in rural areas than in cities, and that one of the objectives is to increase cycling in large towns and cycling tourism by 150% with better route networks and improved safety.

Patricia Carmona Redondo of UN Tourism highlighted the agency's commitment to sustainable tourism development and emphasised the importance of the renewed Memorandum of Understanding with ECF regarding cycling tourism promotion, which will continue in 2024. She stressed how cycling tourism connects cities and rural areas, citing several Best Rural Tourism Villages located along EuroVelo routes.

Jonas Wamsler of the Danish Road Directorate commented that the Declaration offered an ideal framework to advocate and work towards a revision of the Danish National Cycling Strategy, and Kenneth Øhrberg Krag added that the Declaration is important for political and lobbying work at the national level, offering an ideal advocacy framework.

All speakers agreed that the declaration has a positive impact on improving data, services, and infrastructure for all, as well as general tourism policy. In the following keynote speech, Noémie Rousset of Velo & Territoires and Mikkel von Seelen of Udvikling Hærvejen presented two best practices for developing cycling tourism. They discussed the French initiative aimed at positioning the country as the largest cycling tourism destination in Europe and the partnership to develop Hærvejen, the Danish stretch of EuroVelo 3, into a combined hiking and cycling trail supported by both public and private funding.

An afternoon of engaging parallel sessions

After a much-deserved coffee break, the participants split into three groups for parallel sessions. One session featured a fast-paced talk on cycling events that promote cycling practice, with ECF Velo-city & Events Programme Officer Eva Malovrh presenting Velo-city’s impact on the 2023 host city, Leipzig. Another session focused on the diversity of cycling tourists, using various surveys and innovative approaches to tailor cycling tourism products and offerings. The third session was a lecture on the use of geographical data for developing cycle routes, as well as exploring different projects and data sources.

The afternoon continued with three more parallel sessions. One session focused on cycle route projects and how they can help highlight local assets. Another session explored community engagement through volunteering, covering topics such as the creation, development, patrolling, and improvement of cycling and mountain bike trails, with speakers from Canada, Italy, Sweden, and Hungary. A more technical session reflected on the concept of quality cycle route networks and the diversity of standards across European countries.

How large events spark local interest in cycling and boost cities' infrastructure 

The participants gathered again in the plenary hall for a much-anticipated panel on the impact and legacy of large events in promoting cycling—such as the Tour de France, the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, and the 2023 UCI World Cycling Championships in Scotland. Henrik Lundorff from the City of Copenhagen reflected on the role of the 2022 Tour de France Grand Départ in celebrating cycling culture within a national context of declining cycling usage, raising political ambitions, and connecting sport with everyday cycling.

Cyrille Tricart from A.S.O. confirmed that this is already a key element of the Tour de France, emphasising the importance of the Tour, a free event, in promoting cycling culture in France and beyond. He also highlighted its growing impact on womens cycling, following the launch of the Tour de France Femmes in 2022. Cyrille further shared some of the Tour’s commitments to reducing its carbon footprint and supporting cycling development worldwide.

Paula Ward from South of Scotland Enterprise highlighted how the UCI World Cycling Championships in Scotland last year required a huge investment, but how the results could be deeply measured in terms of citizen participation, social impact (for example the inclusion of para-cycling events), as well as value and broadcast capability. The event was a catalyst for change, especially because a legacy plan was anticipated very early in the event planning phase and is still ongoing.

Ivana Cabello and Louisa Soualmi Rascle of Île-de-France Mobilités explained the efforts to make the Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games 100% accessible by bicycle for the first time, with bike rental offers for visitors, residents and workers, improved intermodality at stations, and a dedicated Olympic cycle route network for all venues to be accessible by bicycle. Very recent figures show a modal share of 5% for cycling during the event, with more than 200,000 additional bike trips in July compared to an average month. This modal shift is particularly impressive considering the 7 million visitors during the event.

The last session of the day focused on data about cycling tourism, with Eco-Counter’s Alice Kervran presenting the latest EuroVelo Usage Monitoring data. In the first eight months of 2024, there were 111 million bike counts on the 540 counting sites along EuroVelo routes. Over a five-year period, traffic on EuroVelo routes has increased by 10%, even if there is a general stability of bike counts in 2024 compared to 2023.

It was then time to present the results of the cycling tour operator survey done by ECF in cooperation with the Adventure Travel Trade Association and CycleSummit. All results can be consulted in the report and are commented in an article exploring the key findings. 

To conclude the EuroVelo & Cycling Tourism Conference, ECF CEO Jill Warren was joined on stage by Jesper Pørksen, the EuroVelo Council Chair, to announce the host city of the 2025 edition of the event: Balatonfüred, Hungary, on EuroVelo 14 – Waters of Central Europe. The lake town will host the EuroVelo and cycling tourism community from 24 to 26 September 2025. We look forward to welcoming you there!

A walking tour of the city offered participants a chance to explore the beautiful host town before a standing dinner to continue networking and sing along with Viborg’s choir on Tuesday evening.

On Wednesday, two technical visits to Viborg wrapped up the events: a mountain bike visit to a track just outside of town guided by Outdoor Arena, and a tour along beautiful lakes and ancient fortresses under typically changeable Danish weather.