20 October 2021

CYCLING A KEY CONTRIBUTOR TO VISITOR ECONOMY

The Tourism & Transport Forum (TTF) today welcomes the release of the Australian Cycling Economy Report.

This Australian first accounting of the cycling industry by WeRide and Ernst & Young found that cycling’s direct industry output as part of the Australian economy was $6.3 billion in 2020, which includes $3.4 billion direct value added to Australia’s GDP.

The Report was launched today by the Treasurer, the Hon. Josh Frydenberg MP and the Shadow Assistant Treasurer, the Hon. Stephen Jones MP, with cross-party political representation including Dave Sharma MP, Dr Hon. Andrew Leigh MP and Dr Helen Haines MP.

It outlines the economic activity directly generated by bike riders, organisations, local and state government provision of infrastructure to events, research, and sport and recreational cycling.

The Report specifically recognises transportation and tourism-related cycling activity including expenditure from bike hire and entry fees, and bicycle-related tourism and services.

TFF welcomes this report and acknowledges this Australian first account of the Australian cycling industry will prove valuable in benchmarking this important economic driver into the future.

“Cycling for transport and tourism are two of many reasons Australians take up and ride a bicycle, and it’s fantastic to see cycling to get around and cycling as fun included in this valuable resource,” said TTF Chief Executive Officer Margy Osmond.

Cycle tourism and services is assessed as contributing $1.168 billion to the overall economic figure.

“It’s fantastic to see the contribution of cycling to tourism spelled out in black and white,” said Osmond.

“With cycling having grown significantly during the pandemic, we fully expect cycling to go on making a significant contribution to the multimodal transport and tourism mix – just as it should do as the fun, active and low emission activity it is,” said Ms Osmond.

“The Report’s assessment of the number of additional cycling trips likely to follow policy interventions such as more bikeways in urban areas, and better connection of separate bike paths with transport hubs, will be useful to stakeholders planning the next tranche of city transport infrastructure,” said Osmond.

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Contact: Scott Walker, Policy Manager: swalker@ttf.org.au 0401884462