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Abstract

The Blue Ridge Parkway, located in the mountain region of North Carolina, attracts over 20 million visitors each year with an estimated 500,000 touring on motorcycles, who often consider the region the best motorcycle venue in the United States. While many studies have examined both recreation preferences and a wide array of recreation activities in the Blue Ridge Mountain area, empirical research is lacking on motorcycle recreationists’ preferences and economic impacts. Therefore, this research project aims to understand these aspects of the recreational experience within a specific travel group. A total of 189 people completed the online survey administered to a convenience sample. Respondents were mostly males (85%) with an average age of 56 years, spending on average of $1,032, riding in the summer (47%) with a partner (58%) while traveling approximately 1,531 miles per round trip. Respondents with a college education where more likely than those with high school education to agree they had at least some impact from wildlife disturbance.The motorcycle tourism sector proves to be a powerful economic generator for the mountain region and understanding their travel patterns will enable continued tourism and a greater understanding of this user group.

Keywords

Motorcycling, Touring, Blue Ridge Parkway, Tourism, Outdoor Recreation

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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