Cycle routes: a data-proven win-win for residents and tourists

Cycle routes connect different areas, from urban to rural, and represent opportunities to spread the flows and encourage more people to cycle wherever they live, and whatever profile of cyclists they may be. They are also an opportunity to reinvent a region, bring a new dimension to depopulated areas and take advantage of local heritage. Powerful examples are former railways transformed into greenways, the Iron Curtain Trail becoming EuroVelo 13, or the EuroVelo award winner Amazon of Europe Bike Trail.

An interesting case study comes from Austria: in 2025, a total of 916,600 cyclists were counted on the Austrian part of the Danube Cycle Route – EuroVelo 6. 1/3 were everyday cyclists, using the route for everyday journeys. A little bit less than another 1/3 were local day visitors, leisure cyclists from the region; and the last 1/3 were tourists (a majority of touring cyclists, but also day visitors and cruise passengers). Similarly, along French touristic cycle routes, on average 60% of cyclists are local residents, according to 2022-2023 data.

In the EuroVelo Usage Barometer 2025 by ECF and Eco-Counter, we read that traffic on EuroVelo in rural areas grew more than in other locations in 2025 compared to 2024 (+6,2%), but urban traffic on EuroVelo routes is still 10 times higher than rural traffic. This is most likely because the overall number of users is more important in regions with higher population density and because EuroVelo routes are largely used by local residents for leisure or mobility.

A key milestone: Velo-city 2026

Advocates and policymakers are increasingly looking at cycle route usage data to analyse and interpret patterns and map the return on investment and justify new ones. At Velo-city 2026 in Rimini, one parallel session was dedicated to this topic. Session 2.2 - How many commuters use touristic cycle routes? Exploring the power of counting data to generate insights into cycle route usage was moderated by Agathe Daudibon, EuroVelo and cycling tourism Director and featured Jean-François Rheault, CEO of Vélo Québec, Christian Tänzler, Board member of ADFC, and Enrico Durbano, Eco-Counter’s CEO.

in France. Using different automatic counting solutions installed along the route, it was possible to show that rural counting locations had 39% weekend traffic, while suburban counting locations had 34% weekend traffic, and urban counting locations in a city like Lyon had 80% of weekly users on working days.

Jean-François Rheault used the example of La Route verte, the longest cycle route in North America, to illustrate how usage varies in different contexts. In Montréal, the La Route verte track is largely used by commuters during the week, with peak periods in the mornings and at the end of the afternoon, but also sees high traffic at midday, especially on weekends. On the other hand, in the touristic town of Métabétchouan, along the Véloroute des bleuets, the hourly patterns vary very slightly during the week compared to weekends. But still, small peaks in the morning and afternoon seem to indicate a share of commuting in this highly leisure and touristy location.

Users do not ask themselves what type of route they are cycling on or for whom it is intended; they just care about the best possible route conditions, and they will choose the one they consider better, safer, and more convenient.

In Germany, the ADFC Bicycle Travel Analysis forms an important part of cycling tourism data for advocacy purposes. But this biennial work is much more than that: it helps shape tourism policies in German States. Christian Tänzler presented the case of Lower Saxony, a very large region with a strong cycling tourism appeal, especially thanks to river routes. Lower Saxony is a key cycling tourist destination but is also the first source market for cycling tourism and a region with very high daily cycling shares. The three are connected by good infrastructure and a well-established cycling culture, and they reinforce each other. The Bicycle Travel Analysis by ADFC is instrumental in developing data-based strategies to further develop cycling in Lower Saxony.

Next stop: Utrecht

After Velo-city, the discussion continues. The EuroVelo & Cycling Tourism Conference 2026 has multi-purpose cycle routes at heart: this year’s event takes place in Utrecht, a city with several well-integrated cycle route networks and one of the best cycling cities in the world.

Inspired by the theme ‘At the beating heart of cycling’, the EuroVelo & Cycling Tourism Conference explores the usage and purpose of cycle route networks in several sessions: in the evening of 30 September, a keynote dialogue between ECF’s EuroVelo and cycling tourism Director Agathe Daudibon and Utrecht Municipality’s Herbert Tiemens will aim to reconcile different understandings of cycle route networks to align them with one goal: more and better cycling for all.

On Thursday 1 October, in turn, parallel session 1.3 - Multi-purpose cycle route networks: from principles to reality, moderated by Yann Leclercq, brings European experts to the same stage to discuss route network principles and practical applications in regional cycle route planning.

Lots of space will be dedicated to monitoring, too. There will be a parallel session on understanding cycle route users, session 1.2 - What do cyclists (look) like? Insights from user surveys, moderated by ECF’s Data and IP Director Holger Haubold, and then with an Eco-Counter-led workshop: session 2.4 - Flow Monitoring for Cycling Tourism, with Robin Ranjore as a facilitator.

Article by Jessica Casagrande, with input by Agathe Daudibon