Cycling holidays take off

After the bad press about the many negative effects of our holidays on the environment it's encouraging to read that cycling holidays are as much as 30 per cent more popular than they were two years ago, Mintel's market research reveals.

Last year, 450,000 cycling holidays were booked while the number of people getting on a bike as part of their break grew to 2.25 million.

That seems good news, regardless of whether this is due to an increased awareness of health and fitness issues, concerns about the environment or because we want to do something different.

"Although fly and flop still dominates the mass market, many well-travelled and well-off consumers are growing bored with sun worship and are seeking more active experiences," commented Richard Cope of Mintel.

Some of my mates like to argue about what's a 'true' cycling holiday. Forking out a fair amount of cash to have everything organised and stress-free, or heading off with your bike, a map and a phrase book not knowing what will come across your path. To me this is exactly the beauty of it, whatever your preference, free range or organised, that is your holiday.

It'll be interesting to see if this increased interest in cycling on holiday will continue back home and boost the numbers of people joining cycling clubs and those cycling to work. I don’t suppose any of our blog readers could forward this question to Mintel?
Posted by Caroline