Strategies Promoting Cycle Tourism in Belgium: Practices and Implications

Abstract

Cycle tourism poses a number of problems both for academics analysing it as a phenomenon and for those engaged in the management of it. Cycle tourism and cycling more broadly emerge at a nexus of contrasting and often competing agendas. These cross not only administrative policy boundaries, but frequently, as a mobile mode of tourism, geographical boundaries. Further, since the bicycle is also used for quotidian travel, policies designed to facilitate tourism may impact on more mundane activity. This article describes, compares and assesses a number of different strategies used to promote cycle tourism in Wallonia and Flanders. It notes the merits of different strategies employed not only in their capacity to facilitate Belgium as a cycle-tourism destination, but also, through this approach, to encourage and facilitate the specific use of the bicycle as a means of transport fitting with wider social and environmental agendas. It draws on user perspectives and considers the impact of mapping, routing guides and global positioning system (GPS) facilitated travel on the user. The article concludes that both approaches examined have distinctive merits, and that the most important considerations in best provision are the consistency and integration.

Acknowledgement

I would like to thank the anonymous referees for their extensive comments and assistance in shaping this paper.