West Coast Council, Tasmania, in partnership with Dirt Art Pty Ltd has created the West Coast Mountain Bike Trail Strategy (the Strategy), to take advantage of emerging mountain bike (MTB) opportunities for the State of Tasmania and the West Coast region in particular.
Mayor, Phil Vickers, said, “It’s an exciting time for the West Coast with a range of economic development initiatives starting to take shape.
“The community has voiced its strong support for the creation of a series of world class mountain bike trails in the region and with generous financial support from the Parks and Wildlife Service Council was able to get on with some serious planning work to make that happen.”
Council was successful in securing a Federal Government commitment for $2.5 million towards the West Coast MTB Project, supplementing the financial support already received from the State Government in previous years.
The Strategy positions the West Coast to take advantage of its unique landscape and has the potential to position the region as an exceptional mountain bike destination in the future, capable of drawing in large tourist numbers.
Together, Council and Dirt Art identified a range of potential trails, starting at Mount Owen in Queenstown, with a real focus on not only building some beginner and intermediate trails but developing some ‘iconic’ trails that will appeal to the expert level rider as well.
Council’s General Manager, David Midson, said, “It’s this exciting and rare type of product that can generate initial interest in the West Coast throughout the MTB community, and it is this type of product that will ultimately drive tourists to the area – not just a limited number of specialist riders, but their families, those seeking to upgrade their skills and those that are interested in the iconic nature of some of the proposed trails, that will not exist anywhere else in the state let alone the country.”
The first stage will focus on a 30km trail network on Mount Owen, and will extend to other big mountain descent opportunities, back country riding options and even long format trail rides in between towns. The Strategy provides Council, the community and a range of stakeholders and investors, with an array of ideas and opportunities
to explore further.
