Governmentality and surf tourism destination governance

Abstract

Surf resources are critical to thousands of coastal communities as the natural resource base for many tourism services that spur development. There is, however, almost a total lack of formal surf-break management around the world, despite many surf resources becoming crowded, which leads to nuanced resource conflicts with social, economic and environmental implications. Managerial approaches and surf research, we argue, could become more effective by incorporating a nuanced understanding of the scales and process that govern behavior in surf tourism. This conceptual article first applies tourism destination governance (TDG) to outline the many stakeholders and scalar dimensions involved in governing surf tourism. To expand this normative analysis, Foucault’s governmentality framework is used to discuss different informal governance regimes (sovereign, disciplinary, and neoliberal) that conduct behavior at surf-breaks. The intersection of TDG and typologies of governmentality then help to discuss empirical cases demonstrating how governmentalities operating both at the surf-break and at wider scales, often overlap to either reinforce one another and powerfully condition behavior or compete and make governance ineffectual. This elaboration of surf tourism destination governance (STDG) opens up a new research agenda for surf tourism scholarship also applicable to other forms of tourism dependent upon contested natural resources.

Keywords:

• Community participation
• crowding
• nature-based tourism
• surf tourism
• tourism governance
• Foucault

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Leon Mach

Dr. Leon Mach is a Resident Lecturer in Environmental Policy and Socioeconomic Values at School for Field Studies’ Center for Tropical Island Biodiversity Studies in Bocas del Toro Panama. He is also the co-founder of a study abroad company called SeaState and a founding member of the International Association of Surf Academics. His research interests include: resource governance; sustainable surf tourism; cultural tourism; and volunteer tourism.

Jess Ponting

Dr. Jess Ponting is an Associate Professor in sustainable tourism at San Diego State University and the founder and Director of the Center for Surf Research, and founder of the International Association of Surfing Academics. His research interests include: the sustainable management and operations of surf tourism - particularly in less developed country settings; the social construction of tourist spaces; and the nature of simulated nature-based tourism experiences.