BAR HARBOR – Bicycle tourists spent $36.3 million as they rolled through Maine last year, according to a recent study financed by the Department of Transportation.

When the additional economic boost from related sources – such as the salaries of Mainers employed by businesses that serve bicycle tourists – are included, the benefit jumps to $66.8 million annually.

But if businesses, communities and the state work together to improve and market Maine’s bikeways, that figure can be expected to grow by millions of dollars in the next decade, said Bruce Hyman of Wilbur Smith Associates, the Portland firm that performed the bicycle tourism study. The company released findings from the 1999 study earlier this month.

“Outstanding scenery is our No. 1 asset – we need to market it, market it, market it,” Hyman said. “A lot of places are doing a better job than Maine in getting information out.”

Hyman was among several speakers at the state’s first Bicycles and Tourism Conference held in Bar Harbor on Friday. More than 50 people – experts from all aspects of tourism and transportation – attended the conference to learn how bicyclists can affect their day-to-day business.

“When we see tourists bringing their bicycles to Maine, we inherently understand that bicycling is a part of the attraction of Maine. But folks too often miss the connection between bike touring and the economy,” said John Balicki, who organized the conference in his capacity as bicycle and transportation coordinator for the DOT.

Day tourists currently leave most of their bicycle dollars in the southern part of the state, where the trails are more common and within a day’s drive of metropolitan areas like Boston and New York, Hyman said.

Yet a 1994 survey indicated that well-to-do urban cyclists are willing to drive several hundred miles to embark on a multiday bicycle adventure through rural countryside, he said.

“Paths in Wisconsin are drawing more than 50 percent of their users from the Chicago area,” Hyman said.

Most of the 11/2 million bicycle tourists that currently travel to Maine are from New England or the mid-Atlantic states. They range in age from thirtysomethings with young children to empty-nesters in their 60s. They tend to prefer small, rural campgrounds and bed-and-breakfasts to large motels and resorts, according to the survey.

The key is creating the environment that will attract these people – safe, well-maintained trails through scenic areas, Hyman said.

Presently Maine lacks safe, consistent bicycle lanes on many of its often narrow, winding roads. Even with the recent attitude shift among transportation planners in Augusta, funds for pedestrian and bicycle projects are rare.

“We are at a disadvantage to other states, and the people who hold the purse strings need to know that,” Balicki said.

Building Maine’s bicycle infrastructure to the bicyclists’ visions will take a minimum of 10 to 15 years.

However, during the next two budget periods, the department will fund the conversion of 240 miles of gravel shoulder to bicycle-friendly pavement, he said.

And the DOT already is touting 21 bicycle tours scattered from Cape Elizabeth to Presque Isle on its Web site, and with an official Maine Bike Map, Balicki said.

The Wilbur Smith study estimated that these tours alone could attract 53,000 annual users by 2005. And completed portions of the East Coast Greenway – a proposed “linear park” of off-road bicycle and pedestrian trails stretching from Calais to Key West, Fla. – could bring more than 200,000 additional cyclists each year, it said.

For the remainder of the conference, participants discussed how to attract cyclists with presentations on how to work with professional bike tour groups, how to market bicycle tourism regionally, and how to build a “bike-friendly business.”

Participants also were invited to explore Acadia by bicycle on one of several tours Saturday morning.

A similar conference is scheduled for May 3 in Saco. For more information, contact Balicki at 287-6600.