Valuing adventurous off-road cycling
as a tourism product:
A case-study of South West England
Neil S. Ormerod
Centre for Sport, Leisure and Tourism Research, June 8th 2011
University of Exeter Research Showcase Event
1 South West Case Studentship
• In collaboration with Paul Hawkins – Project Manager for 1 South West
Cycle Adventure, my ESRC CASE Studentship research will investigate the
economic value of off-road cycling.
• 1SW is a partnership originating from a 2006 feasibility study titled:
‘Developing Off-Road Cycling In Woodlands Across the South West’. This
report identified a considerable demand for woodland cycling in the South
West and concluded that it is an economically significant activity.
• 1SW aim to cater for this demand by creating an off-road
cycling region, through the development of specific off-road
cycling facilities.
Research Aims
• Two connected aims drive this project:
• To develop a dedicated method for better capturing the economic benefit
to regional tourism of adventurous off-road cycling facilities
• To establish the strength of case of this activity as a regional tourism
‘attractor’
Research Objectives
• Identify the current range of economic assessment ‘technologies’ used in
tourism and;
• Assess the relative merits of the extant approaches in the context of offroad cycling;
• Develop, implement and appraise survey instruments to capture the
economic value of off-road cycling in the South West;
• Produce an estimate of the current economic impact of off-road cycling;
• Develop guidance notes to inform policy-related research on the economic
case for countryside recreation
Research Methodology
• My research aims to develop a dedicated method for better capturing the
economic benefit to regional tourism of off-road cycling.
• No single recognised solution for measuring the economic impact of
tourism can be found within the literature.
• However, the economic benefits of tourism can be measured by either:
• Quantifying the economic impact of visitor expenditure.
• Or alternatively, by measuring the economic value of a resource from the
user’s perspective.
Thank you – any questions?
• Research presented here was conducted during an ESRC Studentship
under its Capacity Building Clusters Award (RES-187-24-0002) in
partnership with 1 South West Cycle Adventure.
• For more information about this project and the work of the Centre for
Sport, Leisure and Tourism research, see
www.ex.ac.uk/slt/ourresearch/economicimpactofoff-roadbiking/
• Neil S. Ormerod, n.s.ormerod@exeter.ac.uk