Sustainable Surfing Tourism Development in the Mentawai Islands, Indonesia: Local Stakeholder Perspectives

This paper detects and explores how relevant stakeholder groups perceive surfing tourism development in the Mentawai Islands and examine the processes that shape tourism in the region. The paper draws on semi-structured interviews conducted in the Mentawai Islands, Indonesia between July and September 2010. The paper indicates the overall perception among stakeholders is that the surfing tourism industry in the Mentawai Islands needs to be developed in a more sustainable fashion through more operative governance and active government involvement. Stakeholders identified a range of adverse impacts associated with surfing tourism development ranging from the negative influence of Western culture on local communities to the uncontrolled development of resorts and homestays. A key finding of this paper is that there are differing opinions within groups as to how surfing tourism had developed. Responses from community members at the villages highly exposed to the surfing tourism industry were far more positive than those more removed. One significant theme to emerge from the study is the creation of an effective management strategy is crucial to the development of a sustainable surfing tourism industry in the Mentawais Islands.