Surf Tourism and Sustainable Development in Indo-Pacific Islands. II. Recreational Capacity Management and Case Study

Recreational capacity is a function of the natural and social environment, the activity concerned, and the management regime. Indo-Pacific surf destinations with cheap and open access and no capacity management have experienced crowding, crime, pollution and price collapses. Many island surf breaks can handle only a few surfers at once because of the shape of the reefs. A crowding factor may be conceptualised as the proportion of rideable waves each surfer is forced to cede to another boardrider. Quota management systems using operator permits need to incorporate the complexity of the environment and the industry, but be equitable enough to gain general acceptance, and simple enough to enforce without dispute. Siberut Island in the Mentawai chain near West Sumatra, Indonesia, is covered by dense tropical rainforest which supports a number of endangered species and has been proposed as a Biosphere Reserve. It is also home to indigenous village communities with traditional social and religious practices. This island is subject to commercial logging and plantation agriculture, and tourism seems to be the only politically realistic economic alternative at present. To provide infrastructure for long-term growth in nature and cultural tourism, an immediate source of tourism revenue is needed. The most immediate option seems to be surf lodges on some of the smaller Mentawai Islands, which have already been largely cleared and are already visited by boat-based surf tour operators. Operators will only invest in lodges if they can acquire preferential rights to particular surf breaks. Hence the recreational capacity of the islands for surf tourism must be determined, and allocated between operators through a management system. Relevant data and one management option are presented here.     

Surf Tourism and Sustainable Development in Indo-Pacific Islands. I. The Industry and the Islands

Commercial surf tourism is recent in origin but is now a significant component of the worldwide adventure tourism sector. There are over 10 million surfers worldwide and a third of these are cash-rich, time-poor and hence potential tour clients. Most travelling surfers visit mainland destinations and are not distinguished from other tourists. Specialist surfing boat charters and lodges are most prevalent in Indo-Pacific islands. In the smaller reef islands, growth in tourism carries risks to drinking water and subsistence fisheries. There risks are easily overcome, but only if appropriate waste and sewage management technologies are installed. In the larger rock islands, nature and adventure tourism may provide an economic alternative to logging and plantation agriculture. Cultural impacts can occur in either type of island. As with most types of adventure tourism, the commercial surf tourism industry in the Indo-Pacific is strongly linked to the clothing, fashion and entertainment industries, and marketed through specialist surfing magazines and surfing media. From a tourism development perspective, the trend is towards integrated ocean sports destinations which attract entire families as well as individual surfers. Currently, however, marketing crossovers with other specialist ocean sports such as diving are far smaller than with other boardsports such as snowboarding.     

The Role of Pluralistic Ignorance in the Perception of Unethical Behavior

Is there really an ethical crisis? We propose that the situation is not as bad as many would have us believe. We have attempted to present an alternative explanation for some earlier reports of an ethical crisis. This has resulted in a number of research propositions. We are optimistic that there are, in spite of reports to the contrary, an overwhelming majority of ethical people populating our business community.