Halton tourism: cycle-friendly destination

NRU
April 26, 2017
Leah Wong

To differentiate itself from other GTHA municipalities and attract its share of visitors, Halton’s economic development team is creating a unique brand for the region. A brand premised on the strength of the region’s cycling infrastructure - Milton’s velodrome and an extensive regional trail network - and targeted to attracting cyclists.

“We have some of the most beautiful routes in Southern Ontario along the [Niagara] Escarpment and Halton is well-known for its quaint-small town feel with international shopping and dining,” Halton tourism specialist Nancy Fields told NRU. “[The region] is known to cyclists for its great routes because of the variety of the terrain.”

To leverage its infrastructure and position itself as a cycling destination the region is developing a cycle tourism strategy. Friday, the region is hosting the last of its four municipal stakeholder consultation meetings, which have been held over the past week. The sessions are bringing together the region’s tourism partners - hotels, restaurants and cycle-friendly businesses - to gain insights about what businesses are currently doing to attract people to the area and how the region and its partners can better cater to the needs of cyclists.

Fields said these businesses serve as “ambassadors on the ground” and help to improve the experience of cyclists visiting the region. While Halton can create marketing materials and cycling maps, she noted that it’s really the businesses that interact with visitors when they are in the region.

Halton is already a popular destination for cyclists in the GTHA.

A cycle tourism report by non-profit Ontario By Bike found that more than 7,000 cyclists rode the trails in the Kelso Conservation Area in 2016, and ridership is increasing every year.

One of the attractions for cyclists is the annual Epic Tour Halton, a long-distance road bicycle race that attracts more than 4,000 riders each year. It is the second largest in North America. Ontario By Bike’s report notes that about 71 per cent of the participants travelled more than 40 km for the event, with 38 per cent of out-of-town participants visiting the area to train in advance of the event.

“We know people are coming to Halton in droves to cycle,” said Fields. “It’s the one tourism activity that connects all four municipalities.”

Through the development of a tourism strategy the region is trying to identify opportunities to increase Halton’s popularity to cyclists, and attract more visitors to the region.

“We’re trying to find our secret sauce when it comes to tourism...Cycle tourism leverages some of our greatest attributes that are locked in long-term,” economic development director John Davidson told NRU. “The [Niagara] Escarpment isn’t going away, the Greenbelt isn’t going away and the lakefront [will] always be there.”

Davidson noted that cycle tourism is a growing market. For Halton, catering to this market is a way to take advantage of its natural assets and differentiate it from other municipalities.

“We have dabbled in agritourism and still have a vibrant agriculture base, but there are probably regions outside of the GTA that have a stronger rural product,” said Davidson. “We’re looking for a bit of a differentiator and I think the cycling tourism aspect plays to our strengths.”

Together with the cycle tourism strategy, the region is preparing a marketing plan that aims to showcase the region as a cycling destination. Davidson would like to attract more visitors from outside of the GTHA, by starting to market the region to the rest of Ontario and Quebec.

Halton has retained the consulting team of Transportation Options, Ontario By Bike and Economic Planning Group to develop the strategy. The final strategy and marketing plan will be considered by council in July.