New Study by Turner College Economist Examines Aspects of Surfing Tourism in Oceania

Recent research has asserted that post-COVID-19 tourism recovery, which is still ongoing in many parts of the world, is most likely to be led by adventurous and young travelers that represent crisis-resistant tourists, such as those who are engaged in surfing tourism. A new study by Turner College economist Frank Mixon delves into this proposition by relating surfing tourism to localism at surf breaks. In doing so it utilizes the specific case of Oceania, a group of countries in the South Pacific (e.g., Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, New Caledonia, etc.) where surfing spots of various quality abound. Mixon's study compares three separate measures of surf break quality, extending traditional research into the association between localism and surf break quality to provide robustness tests. Lastly, the data used to explain localism across Oceania’s surf breaks are also used to construct a surf tourism threat index that may be useful in future empirical studies of this sort.

Mixon explains that, from a human capital perspective, the benefits of surfing and surf tourism include improvements in one’s health and physical capabilities. Relatedly, surf tourism also promotes skills development and capacity building, which for some individuals provide positive spillovers in terms of workplace productivity and subsequent wages.  From a natural resource perspective, popular surf breaks are also often rich in biodiversity and surfers can and do contribute to its conservation. Prior research indicates that surfers can be categorized as an environment friendly tourist segment, with more than 90% reporting a willingness to pay more for surf tourism opportunities that can be considered sustainable. Surfing is also a major driver of development in transportation, real estate and public services, particularly at surf tourism destinations. There, the demand for surfing often leads to the creation and expansion of hospitality-related capital (e.g., hotels), which then spills over into investments in roads and water networks. Of course, surfing and surf tourism are costly in multiple ways.  Surfing is a hazardous activity, and there is potential for death from drowning, and death or injury from shark attacks, rocks and reef, and bacterial infection. Moreover, in some surf tourism destinations, tourist surfers have clashed with and eroded native, traditional values and ways of life. Lastly, from an access perspective surf breaks (waves) are classified by economists as common-pool resources, meaning that that in some cases local surfers will decide to employ confrontational methods to restrict access to a surf break by non-locals, which is a process referred to as “localism.”

To examine the role that localism plays in Oceania, Mixon tests a model wherein surf break localism is a function of several variables, including surf break wave quality, surf break water quality, surf break remoteness, and other surf break characteristics, such as the presence of sharks. One would expect that localism will tend to be more prominent where wave and water quality are high, at accessible (less remote) locations, and where sharks visit relatively infrequently, as these surf breaks will attract the largest numbers of surfers. Ordered logit regressions discussed in Mixon's study suggest that the highest quality waves are about 35 percentage points more likely to attract some localism, and about eight percentage points more likely to attract the fiercest localism efforts, than are lower quality waves. The presence of unsanitary water conditions also leads to less localism, as does regular visitation by sharks.

Finally, among the locations included in Oceania, Samoa appears to be the friendliest towards surf tourism, thanks largely to wave and water quality and ease of access, followed by New Zealand. Mixon finds that, owing partially to the lower wave quality and the remoteness of its surf breaks, Papua New Guinea presently faces the greatest threat to surf break tourism. It is followed closely by New Caledonia, then Micronesia, in this regard. Interestingly, despite its reputation for fierce localism and the presence of sharks, surf tourism in Australia remains relatively healthy thanks in large part to the quality and accessibility of its waves.