Leisure Cycling Tourism Webinar

Are you a business or organisation interested in benefitting from the vibrant and fast growing leisure cycling market? Would you like to learn more about how to successfully engage with leisure cyclists, and grow your share of this thriving sector? If so, then read on!

Carrie Starkie, Sustrans’ Lochaber based Network Engagement Officer will be delivering a series of informative webinars aimed at raising sectoral awareness, and helping businesses to refine their offer to leisure and recreational cyclists. Carrie will be joined by experts from across the industry, who will share their experiences and insights.

Delivered in partnership with Lochaber Chamber of Commerce, participating businesses will gain an invaluable understanding of the sector, and learn more about the easy steps they can take to support and benefit from the development of the leisure cycling sector within Lochaber. The programme will include themed workshops, as well as the opportunity for 1 to 1 support, and much more.

The Sustrans / VisitScotland Leisure Cycling Journey Planner

About this Event

Speakers:

Mark Shields, Senior Communications Officer, Sustrans Scotland.

Steve Duncan, Senior Regional Manager, Content Marketing, VisitScotland.

Carrie Starkie, Network Engagement Officer, Sustrans Scotland.

Lee Craigie, Active Nation Commissionaire, Scotland.

Mark Shields will introduce the new Sustrans/VisitScotland Leisure Cycling Journey Planner, and highlight the economic growth opportunities this innovative new platform offers businesses across Lochaber.

Hosting inspiring, in-depth information about multi-day cycle tours and shorter, family-friendly day trips, the new Journey Planner will showcase Scotland’s best leisure cycling routes to VisitScotland’s audience of up to 20 million people. With cycle tourism already worth up to £239million to the Scottish economy and sustainable tourism GVA (gross value added) per head increasing by 42.9% in nine years, there has never been a better opportunity for your business to harness the benefits of this fast growing market.

Learn about the easy steps you can take to ensure your business benefits from this initiative, and hear more about how you can secure your share of the fast-growing domestic and international leisure cycling tourism sectors.

Steve Duncan will give an overview of the potential role of leisure cycling within VisitScotland’s medium and longer term plans, and will outline the process for businesses to secure their free promotional listing on the Leisure Cycling Journey Planner.

Carrie Starkie will focus in on Lochaber’s premier leisure cycling route; the Caledonia Way. Carrie will share insights from route users who clocked over 2.3million trips on the Caledonia Way, and will explain how this research will be used to inform Sustrans’ ongoing promotional and business engagement activities for the route across Lochaber, and beyond.

The team will be joined on the night by Lee Craigie, Scotland’s Active nation Commissioner, who will act as compère for the event. Lee will be putting your questions to the team of speakers during the course of the presentation.

Mark Shields is Senior Communications Officer, Network Development at Sustrans Scotland. Since joining the organisation in 2018, he has been involved in the development, launch and promotion of Sustrans’ partnership with VisitScotland through the Leisure Cycling Journey Planner. Mark is responsible for communications and campaigns focused on the National Cycle Network in Scotland, and promotion and engagement work across the country’s best leisure cycling routes. Originally from Northern Ireland, he made the short hop across the Irish Sea to study in Glasgow before settling in Edinburgh.

Lee Craigie has a passion for the outdoors, and an unquenchable thirst for adventure! Lee is a vocal advocate for the health and well-being benefits of being active in Scotland’s great outdoors. Her early career as an outdoor instructor and then as a child therapist, cemented her belief that everyone should have the opportunity to participate, irrespective of their confidence or perceived ability. Lee is a highly accomplished mountain bike racer, counting British Mountain Bike Champion and member of Team GB – competing at both World and European Championships, and the Common Wealth Games - amongst her many sporting achievements. Lee has made award winning films and radio programmes for the BBC, delivered a TedX talk, and continues her advocacy of the benefits of being active in the outdoors, in her current role as the Active Nation Commissioner for Scotland.

By registering for the webinars your details will be shared with our embedded officer, Carrie Starkie.

The webinar will be recorded and available after the event.

A link for this webinar will be sent to all registered attendees at 2pm on the day of the webinar.