In summer 2016, the Swiss mountains are once again echoing the familiar lament of declining overnight stays. Due to the strong franc and tough competition, many Swiss mountain destinations are stumbling. Now mountain bikers are supposed to fix it. Quite a few tourism experts now see mountain bikers as the new skiers and a growth engine for Alpine tourism. Thanks to them, hotel beds should stay warm in summer and the mountain railroads should remain busy.

The summer of 2016 has shown it: Mountain biking has become a relevant economic factor in the mountains and a significant element of the leisure offer in urban areas. In Switzerland alone, half a million mountain bikers are out and about today. They spend an average of 159 francs on bike tours. However, there is still a lack of business models for this young branch of tourism. Only a few hotels, mountain railroads and bike schools have managed to establish a sustainable basis for value creation with mountain bikers. They often lack specialist knowledge and experience in dealing with this target group.

This is where the 2016 edition of the Ride Mountain Bike Congress in Chur comes in. The main theme is "Bikeonomics". On October 20 and 21, around 300 international mountain bike tourism experts will meet to discuss how mountain bike tourism can turn a profit. Expert presentations will lay the foundations, best-practice examples will convey concrete ideas and current topics relating to mountain bike tourism will be discussed at numerous workshops.

Programme booklet with all information about the booklet and the abstracts of the speakers:
www.ride-kongress.ch/images/ridekongress2016/programmheft_ridekongress2016.pdf

Current list of participants at the Ride Mountain Bike Congress 2016 (as of 13.10.2016):