De-Constructing Wonderland: Surfing Tourism in the Mentawai Islands, Indonesia

Abstract

The Municipality of Mentawai Islands is the only regency in West Sumatra Province in a form of islands which has different regional characteristics with other cities and regencies in the province. It consists of a small and large group of 99 islands surrounded by the Indian Ocean. The distance between the Municipality of Mentawai Islands and the provincial capital of Padang is about 62 nautical miles. Sea and air transports become main transportation. However, sea transport is often used rather than air transport. The only route of air transport is from Rokot to Padang and otherwise using small plane (Susi Air). Based on the results of the research, the transportation costs to experience the significant resources of Mentawai Islands with its natural scenery and underwater beauty is expensive due to the inadequate of transportation accessibility.

Surf-riding tourism in coastal fishing communities: A comparative case study of two projects from the Philippines

“…Voluntary participation in environmental maintenance and/or improvement suggests that the community may be associating, an environmental value with tourism development. Voluntary active participation in the project bodes well for countering the community marginalisation previously described in the surf-riding tourism literature (Buckley, 2002a;Ponting et al, 2005;Ponting and McDonald, 2013;Towner, 2013).…”

“…Surf-riding tourism has been slow to gain recognition in the academic literature (e.g., Buckley, 2002aBuckley, , 2002bPonting et al, 2005); however, there has been a recent surge of attention (e.g., Martin & Assenov, 2012, 2014Orams and Towner, 2013;Ponting and McDonald, 2013;Ponting & O'Brien, 2014;Shuman and Hodgeson, 2009;Usher and Kerstetter, 2014). Buckley (2002aBuckley ( & 2002b offered an early description of the economic, environmental and social effects of surf-riding tourism development on IndoPacific island communities.…”

Regulating “Nirvana”: Sustainable surf tourism in a climate of increasing regulation

“…Martin and Assenov (2012) cite 156 individual pieces of surf tourism research published between 1997 and 2011 and claim that surf tourism now has its own distinct, multidisciplinary literature. Previous surf tourism research has explored the sustainability of management plans, policies, and regulations in a range of geographical settings including Indonesia (Buckley, 2002b;Hugues Dit Ciles, 2009;Ponting et al, 2005;Ponting, 2001;Ponting, 2008), Thailand (Martin, 2012), Costa Rica (Tantamjarik, 2004), Fiji (Hugues Dit Ciles, 2009Ponting, 2007;Ponting and O'Brien, 2014) and Papua New Guinea (O'Brien & Ponting, 2013;Ponting, 2007).…”

“…The FASST has its genesis in an analysis of data gathered in the Mentawais in 2003 (Ponting et al, 2005). These recommendations were then formalised into a framework in the context of a successful model of surf tourism development in Papua New Guinea (O'Brien & Ponting, 2013), and further refined and coined as the Framework Analysis for Sustainable Surf Tourism in the context of deregulation of the Fijian surf tourism industry (Ponting and O'Brien, 2014).…”

“…The notion of sustainable surf tourism fits with this conception of sustainable touristic activity centred on the sport of surfing, where the needs of surf tourists are met whilst also respecting the current and future social, cultural, economic, and ecological welfare of local people. Ponting et al (2005), O'Brien and Ponting (2013) and Ponting and O'Brien (2014) initiated a normative framework for analysing the sustainability of surf tourism development in developing countries based on five broad principles designed to be applicable across different geographical, cultural, political, policy, and regulatory settings. While the FASST is explained later in the paper, the ensuing sections address the related issues of common pool resources and recreational carrying capacities in the context of the communities where adventure sport tourism takes place.…”