This dissertation explores the emergence of surf tourism as a significant aspect of rural communities. It uses an inductive qualitative approach focused on Tofino, British Columbia, Canada as an example to provide an in-depth exploration of a rural community effected by this phenomenon. Qualitative interviews were conducted with a snowball sample of key informants to address the following research objectives: (1) What factors have influenced the evolution of surf tourism in Tofino; (2) How might the evolution of surf tourism in this case study relate to the Tourism Area Life Cycle (TALC); (3) What is the impact of surf tourism on the broader community development of Tofino? Analysis of the Tofino data elicited following themes: (1) For some, surfing is a desirable lifestyle, reflecting in some ways the concepts of specialization, serious leisure, and community’s identity; (2) Surf shops are a community hub for local surfers and surf tourists; (3) Pacific Rim National Park plays a critical role in the region, contributing to surfing and the surf tourism industry, but has yet to fully engage with surfers or the surfing industry; (4) New and more affordable equipment technology has brought increased access to cold-water surf and surf tourism, reducing what may have constrained the early development of surf tourism; (5) Considerable increases in the supply and demand for surfing in Tofino have occurred, tempered by the increased number of surfing competitions and other new tourism segments that exist in the community; (6) Increasing safety issues may undermine the growth of surf tourism; (7) Limits to surf tourism growth are evident regarding facility and physical carrying capacity; (8) As a result of the considerable growth of surfing in Tofino, recreational crowding, and conflict are in evidence, as are coping mechanisms; (9) ‘Localism’ exists in Tofino, but perhaps less so than in other destinations which have a fixed beach break; (10) Surf tourism has the potential for positive and negative impacts on First Nations communities in the region; and (11) Local government plays an important role. These themes were then analyzed and linked to the following theoretical concepts: serious leisure; specialization; leisure constraints; localism; violence; conflict; crowding, carrying capacity, amenity migration, the Tourism Area Life Cycle (TALC); and, rural tourism. This led to some intriguing findings. For example, unlike most other popular surf tourism destinations, crowding is not so apparent in the surf because the surf breaks in the Tofino area are primarily beach breaks that constantly shift as the bathymetry of the ocean floor changes with tides and currents, resulting in constant wave changes. This contrasts with fixed break conditions found elsewhere, so in Tofino it is easier to avoid other surfers by simply moving to another part of the wave. When the Tofino findings were compared with TALC, some similarities and differences were noted. Factors that appear to be consistent with the TALC model are: increasing numbers of tourists, changing type of tourists (e.g. more mass tourists, compared to the early days of surf tourism), increasing numbers of tourism facilities, increased levels of marketing, increased levels of interaction between visitors and local communities (perhaps leading to instances of conflict, and localism), and increased economic benefits to the community. However, one possible departure from the expected trajectory is impacts on the natural environment, which have increased in some ways, but are improved in other ways. There has been some environmental change in terms of the growth in the town of Tofino, and with the development of lodgings near to the surrounding beaches. However, much of the larger landscape, remains largely intact or less impacted than what might have occurred without the presence of Pacific Rim National Park, and the Clayoquot Biosphere Reserve. Further, the TALC model suggests that the development of tourism will lead to lesser local control of development. The Tofino findings suggest that there remains a great deal of local control and that local government support the tourism industry, including surf tourism. It was noted that the emerging surf tourism refers to several concepts found in the general nature tourism literature, such as crowding, conflict and carrying capacity, but the surf tourism literature tends to overlook the complexity of some of these concepts. For example, future surf tourism research might consider more explicit examination of the various dimensions of conflict described in this study, including in group and outgroup conflict, interpersonal conflict and social values conflict. There is little evidence of the incorporation of these concepts in the surf tourism literature. Finally, the data exposed a high level of social capital within the surf community and also between surfers and non-surfers as a facet of a close-knit rural community dependent to a degree on surf tourism as a social driver manifesting in mutual cooperation, trust and reciprocity occurring in social institutions such as surf-shops. / Graduate

The study presented in this thesis discusses the topic of ASRs through the use of a specific case study constructed at Boscombe, UK. With the main aim to provide an impartial and independent study into the environmental, social and economic impacts of an ASR. The research presented is therefore multidisciplinary in nature, the separate components utilise key techniques from the geophysical, numerical modelling and socio-economic disciplines are combined to present a significant contribution to the knowledge and understanding of ASRs. Whilst previous studies have focused on one of these disciplines, there are no independent detailed studies of a constructed ASR utilising an multidisciplinary approach. The ASR concept and structures are still in their development infancy, the subject has received cursory independent review in the literature. There have been few successful projects, those that have survived structurally in the ocean are not being used primarily for surfing. The Boscombe ASR is an example of high overspend, poor management and construction, loss of geotextile SFC and users deem the project a failure. The consequences of not correctly planning, managing and overseeing the construction has resulted in a poorly viewed project of limited success. All stages of this project could have benefited from thoughtful planning, thereby avoiding this outcome. If lessons are to be learnt from this project then the planning and management are key areas of the process that need addressing. Ensuring that any future ASR projects are securely integrated with the coastal zone management plan will provide sustainability and success. The DPSIR framework approach can be used to highlight and address the causes of problems in the project. This framework enables the various disciplines to be discussed in relation to each other; links can be identified between the environmental, social and economic impacts of the ASR construction. Strict protocols will increase the success of any ASR project. The final crest height of the Boscombe ASR was 0.5 m higher than the final design height, this is a fundamental design flaw that should not be occurring in modern coastal engineering practice. It is suggested that guidelines are written based on this research for the design and construction process of an ASR. The recommendations and guidelines for ASR monitoring are provided by this research. The emphasis for future projects should lie in the final design and in monitoring, baseline field data should be collected to understand the environmental state change and socio-economic impacts. Planning and government proposals should be accompanied by extensive stakeholder engagement ensuring transparency for the project and ownership within the coastal community. The exclusion of stakeholders at key decision points created distrust and misunderstanding towards the Boscombe ASR project. Avoiding unrealistic expectations within the surfing community and wider coastal community was discussed throughout this research, and by others in the literature. This research agrees with these statements, the issue of poor surfability would be improved by a greater area to manipulate the bathymetry. However this would come at a greatly increased cost in geotextile SFCs, which the current construction method is certainly not capable of delivering successfully. It would be recommended in this case that an alternative construction material was used that is resilient to the marine environment and readily adaptable given poor performance. Further testing of materials, both geotextile SFCs and alternatives, are required for the successful advancement of ASR technology.