CYCLING TOURISM | FOCUS Biker and school girls in Paro, Bhutan
Business ad-ventures…
The view from atop the Shropshire hills - toured by Max Bikes PR’s new tourism division
Bike bridge in Paro, Bhutan
EACH YEAR the bike trade looks on enviously across the corridors of the ExCeL centre into what those peddling bikes describe as ‘a different world’. The glitz, glamour and riches of the adjoining boat show is, in reality, a distant dream for the bike industry in which just a lucky few make their millions. BikeBiz has, in fact, heard rumour of boat shoe-clad millionaires buying fleets of top-end bikes on the show floor to give away as ‘freebies’ with their yachts. But that’s not really the point of the bike business, is it? The vast majority of us are here as hobbyists, fitness fanatics, for the love and adventure of the outdoors. It’s therefore little surprise that the trade so often mixes business with pleasure, simply for an excuse to accumulate some mileage in the saddle. If
BIKEBIZ.COM
“If I can enjoy riding, and see others doing the same, I’ve been successful.” Andrew Straw,
Saddle Skedaddle
Patagonia’s salt flats may not be the most challenging terrain, but they’re not bad for a drag race
The bike business is certainly no stranger to working its socks off only to just about turn a profit, but what’s more rewarding than doing something you love? Mark Sutton approaches three of the trade’s cycle tourism firms to find out if working for love not money is really worth it…
you’re the jealous type, it’s at this point you should turn the page. “You are never going to be rich running a cycling holiday company, but for me it was a lifestyle choice rather than making a million,” says Saddle Skedaddle’s Andrew Straw. “If I can get out on my bike, enjoy it and see others doing the same, then I feel I’ve been successful. Saying which, we feel we do things right and over 50 per cent of those travelling with us each year are repeat customers.” For much the same reasons, industry marketing and PR guru Keith Jepson recently
made the move to expand his business’ horizons with the creation of Lima Cycle Guiding. Though currently keeping his tours domestic, Jepson, who lived and worked in Switzerland for several years, knows
>>> BIKEBIZ MAY 25
© GuidesOfBhutan
© GuidesOfBhutan
© Skedaddle
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