Report - Section 4.7

4.7   Value of horse-riding holidays

There is very little information available about the value of riding holidays. UKTS figures in 2000 showed that the 2% of holidays where horse-riding was undertaken as an activity produced 4% of the spend, indicating that horse-riding generates significant expenditure.

The Daily Telegraph 28 Dec 1999¹⁴ stated that cyclists spend, on average, £35/day/person on cycling holidays, straight into local pubs, shops and bed and breakfasts. It is likely that riders will spend at least this on themselves, plus more on their horses.

The HWBG’s own survey for this report identified 23 of the 77 respondents who had been on a riding holiday of some kind, spending on average £311.

Very little monitoring is conducted of levels of use, let alone expenditure, of riding routes, so projected economic impacts are at present quite speculative. The Mary Townley Loop, the first part of the Pennine Bridleway to open, intends to conduct a survey next year.

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¹⁴ Quoted in the Ride UK briefing note on the National Bridleroute Network.