Tasmanian businesses are being warned they will miss out on the benefits of a booming mountain biking sector if they do not get on board.

The state’s cycling tourism industry has met in Launceston to look at ways to reach its multi‐million‐dollar potential.

Around 30,000 cycling tourists arrive in the state each year, and Chris Griffin from Tourism Northern Tasmania said they were a welcome sight.

‘We know when [riders] come to Tasmania they tend to spend more than the average visitor,’ he said.

He said it took 15 years for local businesses to realise the value of the trails.

Our business community actually engaging with the cycle tourism market has been the biggest change that we’ve seen. Since they’ve started promoting and marketing cycling we’ve seen a really dramatic change in the number of visitors coming to the region. They actually develop cultural places for people to go and hang out and be amongst like‐minded people and that’s been the most critical thing.

Dorset Council’s Manager of Economic Development Susie Bower said the region was enjoying the success of its mountain bike trails.

There was only one cafe open prior to the mountain trials going in, there’s now three open in Derby. ‘Others have converted their houses into accommodation and we’ve had other investment with people buying properties and doing the same thing.

Ms Bower said there had been some trepidation.

Tasmania is conservative and we always have been looking at venturing into a new business. But now that people can see the success, they can see what is possible at Derby so I think now is the time we’ll actually start seeing more people coming into the town and opening up new businesses and driving the economy.

QUESTION

What are some other enterprises that can piggyback on a booming tourism industry?