Surf Tourism and Sustainable Development in Indo-Pacific Islands. 1. The Industry and the Islands Author Buckley, R Published 2002 Journal Title Journal of Sustainable Tourism DOI https://doi.org/10.1080/09669580208667176 Copyright Statement © 2002 Multilingual Matters & Channel View Publications. Reproduced in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher. Please refer to the journal website for access to the definitive, published version. Downloaded from http://hdl.handle.net/10072/6732 Griffith Research Online https://research-repository.griffith.edu.au Surf Tourism and Sustainable Development in Indo-Pacific Islands. I. The Industry and the Islands Ralf Buckley International Centre for Ecotourism Research, School of Environmental & Applied Sciences, Griffith University, PMB 50, Gold Coast Mail Centre Southport Qld 9726, Australia Commercialsurf tourism is recent in origin but isnow asignificantcomponent of the worldwide adventuretourism sector. There are over 10 million surfers worldwide and athirdof theseare cash-rich, time-poor and hencepotential tour clients.Most travel- ling surfersvisit mainland destinations and arenot distinguishedfrom other tourists. Specialistsurfing boat chartersand lodges aremost prevalent in Indo-Pacificislands. Inthesmaller reef islands, growth in tourismcarries risks to drinking waterand subsis- tencefisheries. There risks are easily overcome, but only ifappropriate waste and sewagemanagement technologies are installed. In thelarger rock islands,nature and adventuretourism may provide aneconomicalternative to logging and plantationagri- culture.Cultural impacts can occur in eithertype of island.As with most types of adventuretourism, the commercial surf tourism industry in theIndo-Pacific is strongly linked totheclothing, fashionand entertainmentindustries, and marketedthrough specialistsurfing magazines and surfingmedia. From atourismdevelopment perspec- tive,the trend is towards integrated ocean sports destinations which attractentire familiesas well as individual surfers.Currently, however, marketing crossovers with otherspecialist ocean sports such as diving arefar smaller than with other boardsports such as snowboarding. Introduction and Methods Itis only recently thatcommercial surf tourismhas reached any appreciable economicscale. Currently, however,it is bringing tourismdevelopment, withits associatedeconomic, social and environmental costs and benefits, toisland communitiesthroughout the Indian andPacific Oceans. Surf tourismin Indo-Pacific islandsprovides a strikingexample of the waveof adventure tourismdevelopment which isnow sweeping worldwide.In particular,it is almostcompletely tied tohighly specific featuresof the naturallandscape; it is largely disjunctfrom the culturesof hostcommunities; and it has strong economic links to the global fashion and entertainment industries. In addition,in manyislands, growth in commercialsurf tourismquickly tests the limitsof recreationalcapacity, in the particularsense thatcrowding between commercialclients reduces the value of the experience forthe tourists,and hence the potentialprice availableto operators.Surf tourismon smallislands hence providesa strongcase for managed access to limit both crowding of clients andcultural impacts on host communities. This, however, commonly brings conflicts:between touroperators; between commercialtour clients and 0966-9582/02/05 0405-20 $20.00/0 © 2002 R. Buckley JOURNAL OF SUSTAINABLE TOURISM Vol. 10, No. 5, 2002 405 406 Journal of Sustainable Tourism independent travellers;and in somecases between different factionswithin host communities. The commercialsurf tourismindustry does not seem tohavebeen described previously in the tourismliterature. This analysis, therefore, startswith an over- view of the historyand current structure of the sector,with minimal use of specialistsurfing terminology.Information for this review isderived from personalexperience in the sector;interviews with commercial surf touropera- torsand agents; direct observations at surf destinationsand on surf tours;surfing andadventure tourism magazines; commercial publications in the surfing industry,such as productcatalogues and investment prospectuses; and websites forcommercial surf tourismoperations. It is an overviewfrom a tourismdevel- opmentperspective anddoes not attempt to provide acomprehensive historyof recreationalsurfing. Such historiesare available in, forexample, Bartholomew (1996), Hynd (1991) and Young (1994). Thisanalysis is presented fromthe perspective ofan environmentalscientist workingin tourismwho is also a surfer withten yearsexperience. Itis an intro- ductoryoverview intended todemonstratethat surf tourismhas become asocial phenomenon of sufficient economic,social and environmental significance to justify academicattention. As suchit has a strongdescriptive and practical focus. One ofitsaims is to stimulate more detailed analyses of specific destinations. There isapparently noprevious academicliterature on surf tourism,and refer- ence ishence necessarilymade to non-academic sources, and to personal observations over the past decade. Surf tourism,along with other forms of adventuretourism and outdoor recre- ation,may alsoprovide opportunitiesto testestablished theories of humansocial behaviour relatingto crowding, home-versus-holiday norms, cross-cultural interactions,and peer-group dynamics.These theoreticalframeworks, however, arebeyond the expertise of the present author,and beyond the scopeof this contribution. The surfing industryisworldwide, but concentratedin particularareas. Commercialsurf tourismrelies heavily onislandnations in the Indian and Pacific Oceans.Many ofthese islandshave relativ ely smalland often aid- dependentcasheconomi esgraftedonto a traditionalsocial framewo rkand subsistence economy.Forthese islands,surf tourismhas become asignifi- cantadditio nalfactor influenc ing economic,socia landenviron mental patternsandprocesses.Hence,thefocusofthisanalysisisintheIndo-Pacific regions,though instancesfromother parts of the worldare included where relevant. The islandsof the Indo-Pacific region haveparticular natural and social char- acteristicswhich influence their opportunitiesfor sustainable development, and these aresummarised as the contextfor surf tourismspecifically. Dataare derived fromreviews of island economies by multilateralfinancial institutions andbilateral development assistance(AIDAB, 1991a,b,1992a– d); interviews withgovernment personnel in the countriesconcerned, in tourismand environ- mentalportfolios, and their privatesector counterparts; personal experience in researchand consulting in Indo-Pacific islandnations over the pastquarter- century; and relevant websites. Surf Tourism in the Indo-Pacific 407 The Surf Tourism Industry History and structure Only in Hawaiiis surfing anancient tradition. Modern surfing hasbeen in existence forbarely half acentury, andthe nowubiquitous 3-fin foam-and-fibre- glassshortboard, known as a thruster,was first ridden in 1981(Hynd, 1991; Young,1994). Accessories such as legropes, wetsuitsand board covers, and design featuressuch as detachable fins, are even morerecent in origin.Sailboards were invented inthe 1970s,and kitesurfing notuntil the 1990s.Commercial surf tourism,as opposedto the independent travellingsurfer, hascome into promi- nence only in the lastdecade. Surfboards of softplastic construction similar to bodyboards,which haverendered learning tosurf largely risk-free andhave led toaboomin backpackersurf schools,have become widely availableonly in the last five years. There arenow estimated to be over10 millionsurfers worldwide, increasing at 12–16% p.a., and surfing isnow a multi-billion dollarglobal industry. Its world- wide value wasestimatedat over US$2.5 billion p.a.in the mid-1990s(Raymond, 1998).There areapparently nopublished calculationsof itstotal current value. There areperhaps three maincomponents. Sales of surf-branded clothingare dominatedby afew largelabels and can be estimatedfrom annual reports and associatedstock exchange datafrom major surfwear companies (McKnight, 2002),at around US$6.3 billion in total(Anon, 2001).Manufacturing ofsurf- boards,wetsuits and accessories is much morediffuse. Anaverageexpenditure estimateof $300– $500 per surfer per yearis not unreasonable, allowing for second-handsales. Travel costs are most difficult toestimate, especially if local travelfrom home to beach isincluded, but areprobably similar.Overall, US$10 billion p.a.is perhaps notan unreasonable approximation for the current economic scale of the surfing industry, and may be conservative. In termsof economicstatistics, surfing becomestourism as soon as surfers travelat least40 km andstay overnight with surfing asthe primarypurpose for travel.This may be consideredin twocomponents, namely recreationalsurf travel,and commercial surf tourism.In recreationalsurf travel,surfers plan their owntrips,use their owntransport and equipment, andstay in localaccommoda- tionor their owntents. Trips may be long orshort, local or international, but expenditure per personper dayis typically low. Recreational surf travelis as old as surfing itself. In commercialsurf tourism,tour operators plan andpackage allthe logistic aspectsof the trip,generally including transport,accommodation and food. Clientsbring only boardsand personal gear, and pay apredetermined price for the tour,as for any other kind oftour. Commercial surf toursinclude, e.g. low-budget bus safariswith flexible itineraries;high-budget boattours with localflexibility but