Bike Economics

What economic benefit does biking bring to a town?

In 2022, we learnt about the significant role biking has to the Queenstown Lakes economy. Read the full report here.

Key findings include:

  • 5,313 locals biked at least weekly for recreation in Queenstown-Lakes in 2021.

  • 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.

  • 806 jobs 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 travelers 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.

  • The total number of days spent biking by locals in 2021 (conservatively estimated at 184,184) is likely to have already exceeded the total days spent skiing by locals in the pre-covid 2019 season (167,072).