Hot Springs National Park is celebrating its 100th anniversary.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Thousands of tourists flock to Hot Springs every year to enjoy all of the city’s attractions.

Trail City E-Bikes is a new electric bike rental near downtown and an idea the city has never seen before.

Lee Campbell is the co-owner and he said he’s taking advantage of the new traffic the company is seeing.

“Either way, we’re giving people a new way of seeing Hot Springs,” said Campbell.

He’s lived in Hot Springs for over 20 years and recently opened the store over the Independence Day holiday weekend.

“Hot Springs is pretty big and pretty all-terrain, so there are all these mountains and all these hills and a lot of people can’t hike them and they can’t bike them. But an e-bike gets about 85% of the people who can’t ride a bike again, “Campbell said.

He said he decided to open the bike shop because he wanted to offer more than just a hike.

“We wanted to give hot springs a new way for the tourist to see hot springs and learn the history of hot springs. So we are telling people the story of hot springs,” said Campbell.

Bill Solleder, Marketing Director for Visit Hot Springs, said almost every downtown store sees more people coming to the area.

“We have seen an enormous increase in visitors, especially in the last four months. We had a record tourism in the last four months,” said Solleder.

The Hot Springs Visitor Center is seeing an increase in visitor numbers, and all, according to Solleder, as more and more families are leaving their homes.

“It’s a combination of things. People are keen to be outdoors right now, so there are over 80 kilometers of hiking and mountain biking trails in the hot springs,” said Solleder.

This is good news for new owners like Campbell who are hoping the traffic to his bike shop will continue to grow.

“A lot of people, when they go on a tour, rent it and come back to buy a bike because now they can keep up with their friends,” said Campbell.

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR