Contested surf tourism resources in the Maldives

Abstract

We analyse contests for control of a newly valuable tourism resource, namely surf breaks in the Maldives. Conflicts are shaped by: the resource, economics, culture, legislation, and politics. There are seven stakeholder groups: island resorts, resort-based surfing tourists, liveaboard charter boats, boat-based surfing tourists, local surf-related enterprises, independent travelling surfers using those enterprises, and local resident surfers. We identify a transition from exogenously to endogenously-controlled political processes and power. These are driven by tourism growth, and accelerated by specific trigger events related to political change, land tenure, and development projects. Tourism destinations have seldom been studied in the context of control over natural resources. The transition model constructed here applies across destinations, adventure activities, tourism subsectors, and other industries.

Analysing adventure: a leisure lifepsychle?

“…Most previous research is on individuals from wealthier Western nations, principally English-speaking. There may be substantial differences in other cultures Buckley, Guitart and Shakeela 2017;Mackenzie and Kerr 2013;Ooko, Muthomi and Odhiambo 2015). This topic also deserves further attention.…”

“…This transfer value also differs between individuals, depending on their lifestyle strategy. There are backpackerstyle adventure tourists, who are time-rich, cash-poor; and wealthy clients of commercial adventure tour operators, who are cash-rich, time-poor (Buckley, Guitart and Shakeela 2017).…”

Perceived Resource Quality as a Framework to Analyze Impacts of Climate Change on Adventure Tourism: Snow, Surf, Wind, and Whitewater

“…All of these components and mechanisms affecting wave shape and surf quality are infinitely variable, and the summary above is but the merest outline. For example, it is commonplace for coastlines to factors (Buckley, Guitart, & Shakeela, 2017;O'Brien & Ponting, 2013). There may be potential cases in the future where access roads on public easements are cut by coastal erosion, exacerbated by climate change, and the roads could not be replaced because surrounding lands are privately owned.…”

Surf Tourism Development: Perspectives in Alaçati Surf Spot

“…Sport tourism also makes progress day by day since it provides people to be active socially; provides personal and self-confidence developments. Within the adventure/sport tourism sector, surf tourism has become a significant market (Doering, 2018;Buckley et al, 2017;Barbieri & Sotomayor, 2013). However, the global surf tourism industry has grown significantly since the middle of the 20th century (Brochado et al, 2018;Sotomayor & Barbieri, 2016;Ponting & McDonald, 2013;Martin & Assenov, 2011b).…”