North Vancouver, BC June 1, 2006 – The Mountain Bike Tourism Association, in cooperation with community partners and the Ministry of Tourism, Sport and the Arts announced the launch of a study to measure the economic impact of mountain biking in the Sea to Sky Corridor. Spending data will be gathered from mountain bikers on the North Shore and in Squamish and Whistler from June-September. The data will be used to generate an estimate of economic impact at the community level as well as for the Corridor as a whole. There is a particular emphasis on tourism impacts generated by destination mountain bikers. Quantifying the economic impact of mountain biking will demonstrate the value of the trails and help trail management groups in their efforts to create, maintain, and upgrade trails.
The study is being designed by Tony Fisher, Senior Research Consultant at the Canadian Sport Tourism Alliance. Spending data gathered from mountain bikers will be extrapolated into CSTA’s newly developed STEAM-Pro Model, which builds on the success of the CSTA’s Sport Tourism Economic Assessment Model (STEAM), by allowing the direct entry of tourist expenditure survey results to provide consistent and credible economic impact estimates of a sporting event on both the provincial and community level. Fisher has conducted similar economic impact assessments across Canada including the World Junior Hockey Championships held in Vancouver, Kelowna and Kamloops in 2006 and the UCI 2003 Road World Cycling Championships held in Hamilton. Fisher utilizes the Entryware-Pro system developed by Techneos Systems Inc., a Vancouver-based supplier of software for mobile survey automation.
Richard Walton, Mayor of North Vancouver District, and co-founder of the World Mountain Bike Conference firs held in North Vancouver in 2004 commented “I am very interested in learning the amount of economic activity generated by mountain biking on the North Shore and I look forward to using this knowledge in shaping our economic development strategy going forward.”
“Anecdotally, we know that mountain biking is a burgeoning activity across B.C. for locals and tourists,” said Tourism, Sport and Arts Minister Olga Ilich. “B.C.’s award-winning bike parks, resorts and public trails are drawing mountain biking enthusiasts from all over the world. Tracking the economic impact of this increasingly important sector will help guide future development so we can meet the growing demand in a way that is sustainable, safe and environmentally sound.”
The Mountain Bike Tourism Association, formed in late 2005, is dedicated to sustainable mountain bike tourism in BC. The MBTA’s vision is to have BC recognized for its world class sustainable trails and abundant mountain bike experiences that are supported by enthusiastic communities and operators offering high quality services. The Association’s mandate is to represent the interests of mountain bike tourism stakeholders at the provincial level. Stakeholders include commercial operators and resorts offering lift-accessed mountain biking as well as community-based trail groups & clubs and local government. The Economic Impact study is a key initiative for the MBTA in its first full year of operation. This study is viewed as a pilot project and the plan is to conduct similar studies in other BC mountain biking communities in subsequent years.
Preliminary economic impact results will be released in the fall of 2006. The MBTA and the study partners wish to ask mountain bikers for their cooperation in the study and thank them in advance for participating. Part-time casual surveying positions will be available on the North Shore. Anyone interested in these positions should email the MBTA at info@mbta.ca.