N.S. has world-class potential for cycling tourism: experts
Posted Jul 21, 2011 06:08:18 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Justice Minister Ross Landry recently suggested nova scotia could be a great destination for cycling tourism – and tourism experts agree, kind of.
President of the Tourism Industry Association of Nova Scotia Darlene Grant-Fiander says it’s a terrific idea – so terrific, there are several groups working to make it a reality.
“I think Nova Scotia’s well suited to these types of activities,” she said. “National Geographic had designated a part of Cape Breton as one of the best places to cycle.”
However, Grant-Fiander says there’s a lot of work to be done before Nova Scotia can be called a premium cycle tourism destination.
“In order to do it well, we need to make sure that we have really good infrastructure in place, with routes and the linkages of routes that exist already,” she said. “We’d need signage, good information for people who are coming here.”
Steve Bedard, Former co-chair of the Halifax Cycling Coalition, says making the province into a cycling tourism destination could be a smart investment, pointing out that it’s a lucrative industry in Europe.
“It’s a multi-billion dollar industry over there,” he said. “People are always looking to come to new places and see what other parts of the world have to offer. One of the major ways that they enjoy doing that is by bike.”
Bedard says Canada’s geography lends itself perfectly to the creation of picturesque bike trails, noting the excellent trail system in Quebec.
“They have the Route Verte there that goes along the St. Lawrence,” he siad. “It’s a very scenic, very long, connected cycle trail that really brings down a lot of money for the province.”
Bedard says the provincial department of transportation and infrastructure renewal needs to get on board, and to do that, it needs to be convinced that cycling is also a form of transportation.
