Monitoring of cycle tourism on long distance trails: The North Sea Cycle Route

Abstract

The work reports the findings of a monitoring programme of a long distance cycle trail, the North Sea Cycle Route, launched in 2001. The North East of England was selected as the study area and the research design included unit counts, intercept surveys and a travel diary. The initial results suggest that day cyclists account for approximately 70 per cent of users and 30 per cent are cycle tourers. There is a link between group composition and duration of cycling which leads to higher levels of spending in the rural economy. © 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.