New Report: Building Cycling Tourism the Dutch Way; Hardware, Software, Orgware

How can the Dutch cycling vision advance the field of cycling tourism across the world?

This was the question at the heart of the new report by the Dutch Cycling Embassy (DCE), investigating how the Netherlands’ approach to cycling can help communities worldwide strengthen their cycling tourism sectors. Written by urban planner Erin Sheehan, the report shows how a successful cycling tourism plan depends on an integrated strategy combining infrastructure, visitor experience, and institutional collaboration.

What Cycling Tourism Is, and Why It Matters

Cycling tourism is defined as recreational travel between places by bicycle, where cycling itself is central to the experience, ranging from multi-day holidays to a single afternoon within a broader vacation. Investing in it supports businesses in both cities and rural areas, encourages sustainable travel, and can redirect visitors toward smaller destinations that don’t typically benefit from tourism.

The economic case is substantial: research by Dutch consultancy Decisio, found that cyclists in the Netherlands take roughly 300 million day trips and 5.85 million overnight trips per year, generating about €3.6 billion for the Dutch economy and supporting nearly 39,000 full-time jobs. Across Europe, cycling tourism is estimated to account for about 28% of the bike industry’s total economic and employment impact. Beyond economics, cycling tourism infrastructure also improves road safety, reduces environmental impact, and contributes to healthier, more livable communities.

Interest in this sector is accelerating globally, with new EU-level cycling policy, national strategies emerging across Europe, and growing momentum in Asia and North America. Despite this growth, approaches vary across communities: some places build coordinated networks with consistent branding and long-term funding, while many others still treat cycling tourism as either a standalone infrastructure project or a branding exercise, without connecting the two.

The Three-Part Framework: Hardware, Software, Orgware

The Dutch Cycling Vision report organizes cycling policy into three interlocking components.

Hardware refers to physical infrastructure, cycling networks, signage, wayfinding, and amenities. There’s no single correct governance model for building hardware, national leadership, regional coordination, and incremental local investment can all work, depending on context.

Software covers the tools and promotional efforts shaping user behavior and turning routes into experiences: route-planning platforms, storytelling, and marketing.

Orgware, the organizational and institutional backbone, is presented as the most essential ingredient. Because cycling tourism spans transportation, recreation, tourism, and economic development, it demands coordination across government levels and sectors.

Conclusion

No two communities will approach cycling tourism the same way, since each starts from a different baseline of infrastructure, culture, and institutional capacity. But four principles apply broadly:

• think in terms of connected networks rather than isolated routes;
• build a complete visitor experience
• build on existing assets
•  establish clear, collaborative governance with sustainable long-term funding.

Cycling tourism can advance multiple public goals at once  strengthening local and rural economies, supporting climate goals, promoting healthier lifestyles, and improving everyday mobility.