On April 30, a few companies in the cycle tourism sector in Spain We share our concerns about the current situation and how to address the difficulties for the sector, in the short and medium term. We also talked about the opportunities that may arise for bicycle tourism, which is a clear example of sustainable, healthy tourism with important economic impacts in rural areas.

We try to bring together companies with different business models, located in different territories, with the common denominator that cycling holidays are the center of our tourism product offer.

To write these conclusions, we appreciate the contributions of all the people who participated in the talk. Furthermore, we would like to make special mention of Julen Iturbe, cycle tourist, and consultant (in other areas of knowledge and also in this one), to Jezabel Ramírez Uña, cycle tourist and Alex Rodier, from Between Lands, for your contributions, thank you, friends.

Conversing, in public, sharing our ideas seems to us the best way to contribute to improving our sector. If anything written here seems inappropriate or inappropriate, it will be the writer's fault for not having known how to adequately convey the message, which was basically one of hope, resilience and the conviction that a great future awaits cycle tourism.

CONTRIBUTIONS FROM DIFFERENT COMPANIES

Maria Knaapen, from S-cape Travel

– Common promotion to explain what we do.

– How to save the year.

Martín Muller and Ramón Pereira, from Naturbike

– Bicycle disinfection protocol (use of ozone machines to disinfect).

– How do we provide health security to the client?

– Different approaches due to the situation in the clients' countries of origin. There is everything: those from outside do not want to cancel. They have clients who “are ready”, with their bags packed.

Javier Gutiérrez, from Senda Libre

– Uncertainty due to the phases.

 Interprovincial horizon.

– Uncertainty, volatile scenario, "We are seeing".

– There are those who will not open due to capacity limitations (hotels).

– Could they stay in a sparsely populated area?

Maxi Biela, from VulcanBike

– We believe in collaborations = Promote partnership, to get clients abroad.

– It was our best year. Trail-runners from Holland and Austria.

– They have managed to gain customer loyalty and have everyone tell them that they are coming.

– Its seasonality is different. Now their offseason begins.

– Your feeling is that people "Wants to come".

– A serious problem is flights. Connection is essential. They consider the international public lost, but national tourism may recover: the Canary Islands, safe territory.

– Silver bridge for cancellations.

– Importance of promotion.

Antonio Camacho from Subbética Bikes Friends

– Importance of collaboration with the Public Administration (Mancomunidad, Sierra Subbética).

– Diversify offer.

– Importance of the foreign client.

– They were in a very good moment, at the beginning of the high season (uncertainty in the short term).

– More than half of our clients are national, family experiences of a couple of days with the aim of getting to know the territory by bicycle and the culture and gastronomy of the area.

Ruben Díaz, from Tee Travel and Caminoenbici.com

– This meeting = positive message.

– They also organize trips to Europe (northern Europe) and also receptive.

– We are a large structure (36 people).

- Uncertainty. Exogenous is what it is, but what can we do? That's what matters. Every cloud has a silver lining. Positivism.

– Think about new things: example rethinking the national client. It is an opportunity to highlight Spanish companies and destinations.

– Value more what we have.

Chus Blázquez, from Rutas Pangea

– Wide offer. Issuer for Spanish clients abroad and receptive specialized in Spain.

– Trips for Spanish clients on scheduled dates, in Spain and Europe. Many of our clients have been with us for twenty years and this is a great incentive.

– For us, the feeling of community, of a group, is key.

– We are going to have 3 winters: the past, the current one and the one that will arrive after the end of confinement.

– Cancellation of everything that came from outside; Spanish clients have opted to maintain reservations for summer trips in Spain, something we deeply appreciate.

– How will those of us from urban areas be accepted in rural areas?

– A great concern about whether this situation will lead to the closure of accommodation in rural areas, since in many cases these closures could be permanent. We must rethink that many businesses in sparsely populated rural areas should have a certain recognition of public service.

– Claim before the Public Administration the dimension of the economic impact generated by our sector. It would generate recognition.

– Great economic impact of cycle tourism on the country's economy.

SOME RECURRING TOPICS IN THE CONVERSATION

• Promote cycle tourism as a healthy “option” in the face of the pandemic situation.
• Work the brand: positioning.
• How we add and present ourselves to the extent that we bring value.
• Association = Bureaucracy? an issue that arose on several occasions despite the possible interest in creating an entity like this.
• Search the way to be associated. You can do different possibilities. More than an association, it could be a group of companies or a brand or concept of joint lines of work and mutual support.
• A possible alternative is a Product Club like those promoted by Turespaña. It would allow access and benefit from the actions organized by Turespaña, normally in coordination with the CCAA: famtrips, attendance at fairs, etc.
• An association in our sector could be a valid interlocutor in certain participation processes that concern many topics that interest us: bicycle use, traffic, sustainable tourism, rural development, etc. Everything related to the defense and promotion of our sector. Many of these issues have been debated within the framework of the participation process of the State Strategic Bicycle Plan (PEEB). We could be a key actor in that process.
• Problem: how do we organize ourselves? 
• Incorporate into these types of meetings members of the Public Administration.
• Yes or yes, we need reach the Public Administration as a collective. It gives us strength.
• Promotion of cycle tourism by institutions.
• We must look for “prescribers” in the public administration, work with a group of selected people to build muscle together. And also value those who, from the Public administration, have carried out positive initiatives.
• Empty Spain, proposals for climate/sustainability: we have been valuing it for years. We are the ones who have already been doing it.
• Being more reachable through a website, an app or other digital media is considered very interesting. An interesting example is that of our French neighbors: https://www.franceavelo.com/
• Be careful if we enter a price war. Great danger to the quality and our relationship with key partners of our products.
• It may happen that some hotels lower their prices to attract national customers (specific case of the Canary Islands).
• Importance of our flexibility and ability to adapt. We have to plan with different scenarios in view (be ready).
• OPTIMISM, vital attitude. Look for opportunity In all this.
• As soon as we return to a more normalized situation, there will be very eager to travel.
• In some areas there is some fear of reopening, since it is believed that there will be a strong movement of people, from areas with a high impact of the virus to places where the incidence of the pandemic has been low.
• 5S: sustainable, healthy, safe, supportive, sensitive. Great contribution from Antonio Camacho that could become a great slogan.
• Along those lines, or like “Take care of yourself, move by bike”, or as Julen Iturbe offered us: “cycle tourism, natural antivirus with pedals”. It could be a good idea common to everyone who wants to join.

AND NOW THAT?

It seems to us that many elements have been coming together for a long time in these ideas that have been around us here. The Secretary of State for Tourism has been thinking for some time that it would be necessary to create this Cycle Tourism Product Club, and it even already has a name CICLASPAIN. 

There has already been some attempt to think about a possible association in the sector promoted by Ambe and Bikefriendly. In January at FITUR we had a first meeting to talk about this topic with several companies in the sector, hotels, event companies...

In Madrid last year we already founded a Cycle Tourism Product Club around CiclaMadrid. Here we get together businessmen, town councils and associations of the territory to work for cycle tourism in the Community of Madrid.

We must seek those collaboration agreements with the administration, that framework of reference, but from here we want to claim that the role of our companies is essential, without companies there are no tourism products, without cycle tourism companies there will be no cycle tourism products in the territories. It is our recurring message to all administrations, help the companies in your territory, the merit of the people who risk their money, their time, their passion to launch their projects has a value that goes far beyond what economic. Listen to those “customer touch” people who focus on what cyclists need. Bureaucracies must be eliminated along this path.

Now we have to think about what our return to work will be like, what safety protocols we will have to adopt. We must highlight the great work that is being done since ANETA (National Association of Active Tourism Companies) to develop protocols for the sector.

Afterwards, we will have to go deeper, as far as we are concerned, to establish the guidelines for the disinfection of the material: bicycles, helmets, saddlebags, etc. Also how to establish protocols for the delivery of documentation, payments, insurance, it is likely that this situation will lead to a faster digitalization of the sector.

Emphasis on communicating safety. That our destination is safe, that we have sufficient and appropriate means to guarantee the safety of our clients. The image of Spain has been damaged and will have to be recovered. We must continue taking the pulse of how we are perceived from the outside.

An Image of Spain as a cycling destination is needed that supports all this. Problems at fairs. Diluted image among a wide product range. Our experience at fairs is that our image as a joint cycle tourism destination is painful, it is a personal opinion that we will be able to defend to whoever requires it.

Lack of coordinated offer (eg Camino de Santiago, Picos de Europa, Pyrenees,) facing the international customer. We demand from the administrations that there be “product.” Examples of how it can be done differently: before we could use France as an example. Now we can also use Portugal, Slovenia as an example... we could continue.

It is possible that what happens to us at fairs is a reflection of the seams of our state of autonomy and the weakness, or myopia, of some communities to serve our sector. Also, without a doubt, our inability as companies to claim our capabilities and the value of what we do.

It is true that proposing national, supra-autonomous actions that go beyond the scope of the Autonomous Communities complicates our relationship with our autonomous community, which is more accessible to us. It is not easy to articulate.

A great contribution to continue putting together this puzzle would be to have a true National Network of Cycle Routes that allows categorizing the major routes that already exist: Caminos de Santiago, Caminos Naturales, Vías Verdes, Caminos del Cid, Ruta de la Plata, Transandalus, CiclaMadrid and many others that already exist, integrating with all these routes the Eurovelos present in Spain.

Another idea from Julen, very interesting “hold this type of meetings, in digital format, with a certain cadence. Get into the habit without having to travel. Giving a name to the meetings and scheduling them with basic content: agenda, objective, etc.”

Each company, its recurring, loyal customers, is now a resilient community with which to unite in the face of adversity..

We are our agendas. These ideas will only become a reality if we incorporate them into our agendas and work together to achieve them.

Take care of yourselves and take care of the people around you. We continue with the task, as a continuation of all this and as we announced on April 30, we are going to continue working, but this year will be hard and there may be those who will not be able to continue. The more we can collaborate, the better off we will be, for sure. We are going to send a form so that those who want can join this idea of ​​“thinking together.”

We remind you that on May 14 we will have a similar meeting with people who, from different administrations, work to promote bicycle tourism. We will inform all registered participants of the event.

Finally, we share with you the video of the day on April 30 so that you can spread it wherever you think it can be useful.

 

Thank you very much for coming this far.

Greetings and lots of encouragement #we will travel again and we will do it by bike.