By Clyde Pellew
What's Bicycle Friendly Tourism you ask? Simply put it is the ability to explore a country by bicycle using cycle ways, marked routes or Cycling Holiday Companies.Along the way the intrepid tourist has access to accommodation, Repair facilities and the opportunity to explore an areas natural beauty and activities. Worldwide the trend is to embrace various forms of Responsible Tourism, with countries such as Germany leading the way. Germany annually hosts two major international Bicycling shows of which each has an area or supporting program dedicated to Cycle Tourism. It is estimated that one million German's went on cycling holidays in 2005 alone. And with 2010 on everybody’s minds, its worth noting that Berlin reduced the number of cars on their streets prior to their World Cup in 2006 by 25%. This was through the introduction of measures and incentives to encourage Germans to get out of their Cars and onto bicycles. Worldwide the trend is towards embracing various forms of ecotourism or green transport.
In Germany and Croatia, a network of cycle routes and accompanying support structure has been set up under the guise of ‘Bike & Bed’. They outline simple, but essential requirements for the support structure on one of these cycle routes.
The accommodation Standards of Service are:
Basic requirements
- The opportunity for the cycle tourist to stay a minimum of one night
- Complimentary secured overnight bike storage
- Overnight laundry facilities
- Full breakfast offered or use of the kitchen
- Complimentary or available for purchase regional bicycle route guides and maps
- Provision of information regarding the areas attractions, activities and transport time schedule (bus, train, etc.)
- Basic bicycle repair kit for simple repairs and knowledge of the nearest bicycle shop.
Additionally the accommodation providers could offer:
- High quality bicycle rentals or reference to rental companies
- Baggage Transfer from accommodation to accommodation
- One day guided bicycle path excursions
- Advanced bookings for accommodation at other bicycle friendly establishments
The advent of cycle tourism in South Africa has been met with misunderstanding and a degree of ignorance. For the most part South Africans miss the concept of a Cycling Holiday. They often assume that it is the same as a mass participation cycling event, where entrants compete in mass and attempt to complete the day in the fastest time possible. The main differences are in the number of participants (typically 4 -20 instead of hundreds), the abilities of the cyclists (from novice) and the individual attention shown to the cycle tourists by the cycling holiday companies. The idea of a cycling holiday, although new, is gaining more momentum as more individuals and families opt for active holidays. In Europe, major package tour companies are now including active holidays as one of their brochures, equivalent to their coverage of skiing.
So the question is where and how does South Africa fit into this global picture? With the growth in cycle tourism attention needs to be paid to the formalisation of cycle routes throughout South Africa. The establishment of such routes can assist with job alleviation in rural areas. Considering the cycle tourist’s needs and the distance that they cycle in one day, it would establish a network of rural guest houses that would lead both local and foreign tourists on a discovery of South Africa's heartlands. The possibility of including these overlooked areas on a tourist route would mean that isolated communities could profit from the increase in foreign tourists pre and post 2010.
The formalization of a cycle route does not require large amounts of capital, but more a commitment from Local, Provincial and National tourism structures in the identifying and marking of suitable cycling routes. There routes are preferably on quiet roads and through areas of beauty or of interest.
It is worth bearing in mind that to the cycle tourist a view spot is an opportunity to rest the legs and relax.
