Skip to content

Mountain biking has exploded

Economic impact of mountain biking is an important economic boon to region
8621332_web1_170921-RTR-mountainbike2
There has been a tremendous increase in popularity for mountain biking in the past 11 years and the economic impact is tremendous.

Tim Collins / News staff

The Western Canada Mountain Bike Tourism Association (MBTA) has released numbers to quantify the impact of mountain biking on the economy of the region, and the news is great.

Martin Littlejohn, the MBTA executive director presented the organization’s findings during the two day conference in Revelstoke last week. The figures come as a result of a 2016 survey, designed to update the last information that had been collected over a decade earlier.

“We needed to update that information to see what the growth has been like, and what changed since 206,” said Littlejohn.

The study showed that the total number of rides had grown from about 210,000 in 2006 to 1.2 million in 2016 and visitor dollars spent had jumped from $31.7 million to $70.6 million.

The number of jobs directly linked to mountain biking in the Sea to Sky corridor had doubled to 687 and tax revenue attributable to the activity had increased from just over $8 million to $18.6 million.

Littlejohn used the good economic news to urge mountain biking enthusiasts and stakeholders to advocate for greater public funding for trail development and maintenance.