December 2015 Update: The survey is closed and we are anxiously awaiting the results. For now you can read a brief recap of the data that was received on SVBCoalition.org
This is your last opportunity to take our survey and show the world how much money bicycles bring into our region.
Tell us about your biking experience:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/shenvalleybiking
Please take a few minutes to tell us about your experience biking in our area. We invite both visitors to the area and residents to take the survey, which will be open for responses until mid-November. As a thank you for completing the survey, you can enter a drawing to win one of several prizes.
Your responses will help us better serve bicyclists and assess the economic impact of bicycle tourism in our area.
Help us show the Economic Impact of bicycling in our area by not only taking but also sharing this survey. Pass them this address: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/shenvalleybiking
Please take the survey and tell your friends, family, neighbors, and anyone else who you know has ridden a bike in our beautiful corner of the world to do the same. We are conducting this survey to collect information about bicyclists in the Central Shenandoah Valley of Virginia.
Who is the Survey For?
This survey is for VISITORS to the area and RESIDENTS. Please take a few minutes to tell us about your experience biking in our area whether you biked for one day or ride every day, whether it was riding with an organized event or tour, to commute, or just for fun on the area’s roads or trails. Your responses will help us better serve bicyclists in our area and help us demonstrate the tremendous impact of bicycle riding in the Central Shenandoah Valley. All responses are confidential.
How long will the Survey take?
Not as long as it took for you to read this page. No really, likely less than 10 minutes.
How did we get here? Why is there a survey?
One of the major themes that came out of last year’s Harrisonburg and Rockingham County Bike Walk Summit was the need for more data on the economic impact of bicycling on our community. Because of this a goal was developed to look into developing an economic impact study. The SVBC along with Harrisonburg Tourism, Rockingham County Tourism and Economic Development and the Central Shenandoah Valley Planning Commission formed a group to look into the possibility of developing the study. After contacting multiple local governments and Bryce and Massanutten Resorts we found that there was interest and willingness to fund an economic study.
Is this done regularly?
Other communities have measured the economic impact of bicycling on their local economies. Adventure Cycling has a nice list of other Bicycle Economic Impact Studies. Several states have conducted studies but many of these states are traditionally viewed as bicycle hotbeds. These states include: Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, Colorado, Vermont, and Maine. Other regional studies have been completed in high profile cycling destinations such as, Portland, Boulder, San Francisco, Long Beach, and Washington DC. One of particular interest (at least for geographic proximity) is a study done on North Carolina’s Outer Banks which found the Outer Banks generates $60 million in economic activity through bicycle tourism. The one-time investment of $6.7 million on bicycle infrastructure has resulted in an annual nine-to-one return.
Go ahead and TAKE THE SURVEY
Survey Sponsors
The survey is sponsored by Shenandoah County Tourism, Byrce Resort, Harrisonburg Tourism, Rockingham County, Massanutten Resort, Greater Augusta Regional Tourism, Lexington & the Rockbridge Area Tourism, and the Shenandoah Valley Bicycle Coalition.