Reducing negative impacts of cycling tourism: the Good Impact Programme

Cycling tourism is one of the tourism sectors with the lowest impact on the environment and society. It is not a form of mass tourism that concentrates an excessive number of visitors in one place, causing significant environmental and social impacts on the destination. Probably this is also why you have been, or are considering going on a cycling holiday!

The infrastructure required for cycling tourism does not involve major interventions in the landscape, unlike infrastructure for ski tourism, seaside tourism, golf, and similar activities. Cycle tourists tend to spread out across the destination, using roads and trails that already exist or require only minimal construction. Riding a bicycle generates little to no carbon footprint. Additionally, cycling tourism distributes social and economic benefits more evenly across the regions – unlike typical tourists, long-distance cyclists not only visit main attractions and travel along major transport routes but also explore less-visited areas.

Nevertheless, cycling tourism is not a sector without negative impacts, mainly environmental, social and economic.

In the ICTr-CE project, co-funded by the Interreg Central Europe programme of the European Union and focused on EuroVelo 13 – Iron Curtain Trail, several organisations have worked to establish a way to reduce the negative impacts of cycling tourism on the environment and society along the route or in the destination.

The principle of the Good Impact Programme is that the client pays a specific surcharge, which roughly represents the financial equivalent of their negative environmental impact. This surcharge is then used to fund projects that mitigate the negative effects of cycling tourism.

The GIP surcharge

The impacts of cycling tourism will be measured using two tools – the Carmacal carbon footprint calculator and the Impact Measurement System (IMS).

Carmacal’s carbon footprint calculator is a tool designed for the travel and tourism industry, allowing tour operators, travel agencies, or destination managers to estimate CO₂ emissions for entire travel packages, including flights, local transport, accommodations, and even activities. The financial value of these emissions is then set by standard methodologies (e.g. the European Union Emissions Trading System).

The Impact Measurement System (IMS) is a methodology for quantifying the negative impacts of cycling tourism, developed within the ICTr-CE project. It is one of the first of its kind, created specifically for cycling tourism. It evaluates a set of criteria for each client related to the environmental, social, economic, and cultural sustainability of the services and goods they use (i.e. accommodation, dining, transportation, activities, etc.). The resulting score expresses the level of negative impacts of the cycling tourism product. The financial value of the IMS point is the subject of annual evaluation.

The surcharge added to the touristic product price is obtained by summing the financial value of CO₂ emissions and of IMS points missing from the maximum IMS score. This surcharge is charged to the person who buys the cycling tourism product and is used to finance the Good Impact Programme.

Right now, the data to calculate the score is only possible for cycling tourism packages, such as cycling tours organised by tour operators. The Good Impact Programme is not applicable for individual cycle tourists yet, as it is currently not possible to collect the required data.

Distributing the funds in the region

To distribute the surcharge amounts along a route or a destination, it is necessary to establish an appropriate structure. In principle, a platform organisation, such as a tourism board, appoints a suitable organisation to distribute the GIP funds collected by the tour operators. These funds are then allocated to projects within the affected area that mitigate the negative impacts of cycling tourism on the natural and social environment.

The spectrum of eligible projects is very broad, and their selection depends on the expert judgement of the organisation responsible for distributing the funds. The projects should focus on reducing the three types of negative impacts:

• Environmental impacts (e.g., habitat fragmentation, wildlife disturbance, littering, GHG emissions, soil erosion, vegetation trampling, etc.)
• Social impacts (e.g., overcrowding on recreational cycle routes and in public spaces; multi-user conflicts on trails and roads; intrusion into residents’ privacy; entering or disturbing agricultural, forestry, or construction workplaces; cultural dilution or over-commercialisation)
• Economic impacts (e.g., tax and profit leakage from the region; land-use restrictions for farming or grazing due to prioritisation of cycling trails and infrastructure; seasonal dependency; inconsistent or unstable income).

The Good Impact Programme is a new concept that is still in the development phase. It will soon be carried out for some cycling tours along EuroVelo 13, with the ambition to expand its application to other long-distance cycling routes and destinations.