Three or four years ago I contacted a friend of mine who is a senior tourism specialist at the Idaho Department of Commerce to ask if she could provide any insight into the economic impact of ADV tourism within the state. At that point I was casually observing that the relatively new phenomena of ADV tourism was increasing, evidenced by the “new” BDR thing, and the ever-increasing numbers of bikes with hard-cases I was seeing on the roads. I had no business interest; I was just curious. She took my question seriously and offered to get back with me after she had a chance to look into it. A couple of weeks later she called me back and told me that after a fairly exhaustive search through the tourism data the state was tracking, this was not a segment they had any insight into. Apparently, the financial impact of ADV tourism just wasn’t significant enough to register on the state’s radar.

Why is that? The ADV segment of the motorcycle industry is thriving with virtually every manufacturer producing an ADV contender in one form or another. Even HD—a company loathe to change and innovation, reluctantly introduced the Pan America 1250 a couple of years ago as its first ADV model, succumbing to what can only be described as a tectonic shift in the market. It is even expected to introduce a couple of additional new models in 2023—the Pan America 975 and Pan America 965S—to compete in the growing middleweight ADV segment. HD recognizes the growth in ADV riding. But Idaho? Apparently not-so-much.

Backcountry Discovery Routes (BDR), the non-profit organization behind the development of the adventure routes we all love is also key to the growth of this segment by introducing riders to a completely new genre of riding. There are now 12 BDR routes (AZ, CA, CO, ID, MA, NE, NM, NV, OR, UT, WA, & WY). And if you’re on any one of them during riding season, you’re sure to meet dozens and dozens of other riders enroute. To the small towns and small business along the way, ADV tourism must be akin to another gold rush. These long-forgotten burgs are seeing fresh dollars flow once again. While the overall revenue spent on ADV tourism in any given state is probably dwarfed in comparison to mainstream types of tourism—say skiing at a resort—the actual benefit and impact to these remote locations must be immeasurably greater. Having owned a couple of small businesses over my lifetime, I feel that for some of these business owners, the ADV dollar might be the difference between having gifts under the Christmas tree or not. But still, Departments of Commerce don’t have data to measure the impact of ADV—but I think that’s about to change.

In 2022, the BDR organization contacted the University of Wyoming to conduct an economic impact study to measure the positive impact created by BDR riders on local economies and powersports industries, as well as learning more about the demographics and needs of BDR riders. This is a HUGE first step! Hopefully, each state will leverage this study to continue to explore the broader benefit of ADV tourism overall—not just the narrower focus related to BDR routes and riders.

I am including the link to the BDR Economic Impact Study—BDR 2022 Economic Impact Study - Take the Survey - Backcountry Discovery Routes (ridebdr.com)—and strongly encourage you to take the survey to share your insight and experience. The survey is open through July 22nd, 2023.

In my opinion, with political pressure to sell-off public lands to privateers, long term preservation of route access is likely to be challenging. In my opinion, understanding the economic impact of ADV tourism is going to be critically important to our sport in the years to come.

Cheers!

John