Nicholas Towner

Surf Tourism and Sustainable Development: Mentawai Islands, Indonesia Nicholas Towner

Surf tourism is expanding into regions with newly discovered surf breaks, often in less economically developed world parts of the world. The economic, environmental and socio-cultural benefits that surf tourism brings to many destinations worldwide are significant; however, adverse community impacts can also be significant and are often overlooked. The Mentawai Islands, located off the west coast of Sumatra, Indonesia, is an emerging surf tourist destination and provide the case study used in this work to explore multiple stakeholder perspectives on surf tourism development. The research has illustrated the complex challenges that stakeholders face in attempting to enhance the sustainability of surf tourism development in the Mentawai Islands. The findings revealed a number of underlying themes that include: the need for improved communication between stakeholders; the inadequacy of current tourism-management strategies; the importance of local community participation; and the need for more sustainable surf tourism development practices in the Mentawai Islands.