Alan Elliot gives a great insight in the benefits of mountain bike tourism to Scotland. Looking at the direct economic impact as a result of Scotlands status as one of the best places to mountain bike in the World.

1. 10 September From The Roots to
From the Roots to the Shoots
Alan Elliot - MTB Tourism in the
South of Scotland

2. MOUNTAIN BIKING & TOURISM IN
THE SOUTH OF SCOTLAND
Alan Elliott
Sector Delivery Team Leader
10 Sept 2010

3. Tourism Context
 Scottish
 South of Scotland
Scottish Enterprise role
Mountain Biking - current Situation
 Scottish
 South of Scotland
Issues
Mountain Biking & Tourism in the South of Scotland

4. Scottish Tourism
 Scottish tourism spend £4.1bn p.a.
 200,000 employees 10% employment
 National Strategy seeks growth of 50% 2005-15
 15m visitors p.a. take overnight trips to Scotland
 Opinion-former
 Mature industry

5. Scottish Tourism
 Length of stay
 Overseas visitors 9 nights
 English visitors 5 nights
 Scottish visitors 3 nights
 Spend/night
 Overseas visitors £62
 English visitors £60
 Scottish visitors £53
 Competition
 Emerging markets/destinations

6. South of Scotland Tourism
 10,500 jobs
 Dispersed and fragmented
 One major “visitor attraction” – Blacksmiths Shop, Gretna
 Ideally placed for North England/Northern Ireland
 Car-borne visitors dominant

7. Scottish Enterprise approach
 Economic outputs
 Priorities
 Industry leadership
 Innovation
 Destination Development
Edinburgh Royal Deeside & Cairngorms
Glasgow Loch Lomond & Trossachs
St Andrews Highland Perthshire
 Product Development
Golf Sailing
Mountain Biking Heritage
Food Cruise

8. Mountain Biking in Scotland
 £119m expenditure c 3,000 jobs
 70% of built trail centre visits in South
 16% Highlands
 Potential to increase spend by 35% over next 5 years
 Depends on investment level
 Vast range of people/organisations involved
 Private sector
• Accommodation; activity providers; restaurants; bike
shops; car hire
 Forestry Commission Scotland
 Local authorities
 Range of agencies – sporting, economic, countryside remits

9. Scottish Mountain Bike Development Consortium
 Composition
 Scottish Cycling
 Forestry Commission Scotland
 Scottish Natural Heritage
 NHS Scotland
 CTC
 VisitScotland
 EventScotland
 Cycling Scotland
 Scottish Enterprise
 Highlands & Islands Enterprise
 IMBA

10. Scottish Mountain Bike Development Consortium
 Tourism and Economic development
 To increase mountain biking visitor numbers by a further
50% over the next 5 years
 Increased participation
 To increase domestic participation in mountain biking by 25%
over the same period
 Creating Champions
 To assist Scots to win at least 5 medals in World or
Commonwealth competitions

13. South of Scotland Priorities
 7stanes
 Commercial approach
 Company established with business groupings represented
 Income generation
 Glentress
 Innerleithen Bike Park proposal
 Galloway Forest Park

14. Issues
 Everyone’s interest but no-one’s role
 Different stories for different audiences
 Severely limited public £s
 Opportunities in technology?
 User has to pay

15. And finally….
 Mountain biking “community” has a huge part to play
 Complex projects
 New approaches will be required in the future
 Industry leadership
 Innovative funding approaches
 New markets
 Link with other activities
 Scotland has a huge opportunity