The vision is that Åre will become one of the five major bike destinations in Europe and Scandinavia's leading bike destination by 2025. All bike actors in the Åre Valley are now ready and united behind a common investment. The non-profit sector in the form of Åre Mountain Bikers, the public sector in the form of Åre municipality, and the business community in the form of Åre Destination and specifically Skistar, as well as the reference group within cycling – Biking Åre – where all actors within cycling in the Åre Valley participate. This ensures that the project's anchoring and thus its ability to implement is very strong. Elements that need to be in place to achieve the vision include a good bike park, good cross-country with built trails and paths, a well-developed destination with accommodation, restaurants, transport, and professional bike companies/actors that form an important whole, and not least a strong local bike culture. The bike product as a whole in the Åre Valley has a way to go to develop to reach the above vision, but the right driving forces and conditions are now definitely in place. The project is divided into different phases where the strategic development of the whole is ongoing in parallel with direct investments in various investment areas. The application covers costs for: project management of the development of the overall bike product in the Åre Valley as well as the coordinated marketing, investments in trails, and information and signage. We see that this investment can enable sustainable development by: – Channeling cycling to the right places, and only to the designated places – Developing methods for sustainable trails that go beyond the currently dominant boardwalks, which have too short a lifespan to be truly considered sustainable, developing with new materials and construction methods – Evaluating, reconsidering, and creating new business models for how ongoing operation, maintenance, and development of the bike product should occur.
Read more: aresweden.com/are-destination/

LAG board's justification

The project's vision is that Åre is one of the five major bike destinations in Europe and Scandinavia's leading bike destination by 2025. Elements that need to be in place to achieve this goal include a good bike park, good cross-country with built trails and paths, a well-developed destination with accommodation, restaurants, transport, and professional bike companies/actors that form an important whole, and not least a strong local bike culture. LAG perceives the project as a well-prepared, innovative, and solid application.