Benje Patterson Economics recently assessed the contribution of biking to the Queenstown-Lakes economy. The report was commissioned by Rod Drury to show the economic impact of biking and mountain biking in Queenstown. The objective was to understand how much economic activity and employment is supported by visitors and locals who bike.
Key questions addressed by this report include:
- How many people participate in biking as a recreational pursuit?
- How much spending is brought into the district by biking?
- How much employment does this spending support?
- What could future growth in biking look like?
- How does biking’s contribution to the economy compare to ski?
A copy of the report is available for download here.
Key findings
- About 5,313 locals biked at least weekly for recreation in Queenstown-Lakes in 2021.
- A further 176,634 visitors to Queenstown-Lakes biked in 2021.
- The average bike visitor stays 3.4 nights and spends $262 per day, compared to 2.6 nights and $248 per day across all visitors.
- Total spend by visitors who bike while staying in Queenstown-Lakes was $157.6 million in 2021, with $101.6 million of this being from bike visitors whose main purpose of visiting was to bike.
- About 806 jobs in 2021 were supported by bike visitors’ spending. Of these jobs, 520 were supported by people whose primary purpose of visiting was to bike.
- Under a scenario of international visitors recovering to pre-Covid levels by 2026 and their bike participation rising modestly to the same rate as domestic travellers then:
- Spending by visitors who bike could climb to $209.8 million. Of this total $135.6 million would be from visitors whose main purpose of visiting was to bike.
- The jobs supported by spending by visitors who bike would rise from 806 in 2021 to 1,072 in 2026. Of the 1,072 jobs in 2026, about 692 would be supported by spending by visitors whose primary purpose of visiting was to bike.
- Comparing bike visitors’ spending against previous research into spending by ski visitors shows:
- Spending by all visitors who biked in the district during the June 2021 year was about 37% of the level of spending by ski visitors from the 2019 winter peak before Covid.
- If bike visitor spending grows according to the potential growth scenario in this report, then biking could become almost 50% of the size of the ski visitor economy by 2026.
A copy of the report that assesses the economic impact of biking and mountain biking in Queenstown Lakes is available for download here.