[Anecdotal remarks. All around us, we can see harbingers of what is coming in future - which we can capitalize on or hinder, depending on our approach. Consider the new bike rental store up at the Forks. Consider the Fringe bringing a boost in the number of people walking and cycling downtown - already filling every bike rack in sight. Consider the importance of good signage and infrastructure for to those people -especially all the out-of-towners who either already chose to come here or who would - and consider what would happen if all folks knew that a week at the fringe meant a week cycling between venues and exploring the city. Consider the fact that in their closing remarks, one particular group of Columbian performance artists performing at the fringe mentioned "exploring Winnipeg by bicycle" as the main thing they would miss. Consider the potential of bicycle tourism as a social lubricant for just that one event and multiply that by every comic convention, Canada Day concert, football game, local street festival, German who wants to visit Canada and see both prairies and boreal forest, Winnipegger/Grandparent who wants their children (and esp. their children's children) to choose to visit Winnipeg on summer break... or perhaps just you and your family on any plain-old beautiful Sunday afternoon choosing to invest in an a locally-made ice cream cone instead of Netflix. Ironically, perhaps, even CBC inadvertantly underestimates the potential: there is one typo in the article; the figure for the money spent annually in Europe should read 64 billion, with a 'B', not million. See:
http://www.eurovelo.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Economic-Benefits-of-Cycling-Paper.pdf In short, we would be very wise to do better. Someone else tell Travel Manitoba and Tourism Winnipeg and the respective roads departments. I have been a "professional bike tourist" for so long lately, perhaps i am biased. -Anders]