STOKE Certified: Initiating sustainability certification in surf tourism.

[Extract] The sport of surfboard riding (surfing) has undergone major growth in particpation in recent decades. Estimates of global surfing participation range from 23 million (International Surfing Association cited in Warshaw, 2004), to 25 million (Aguerre, 2009), through to 35 million participants (O’Brien & Eddie, 2013) in at least 161 countries (Martin & Assenov, 2012). Of course, with this growth in participation has come growth in surfing’s economic value as increasing numbers of enthusiasts become consumers of surfing hardware, apparel, and associated goods and services. Back in 2002, the sport was estimated to generate more than US$10 billion per annum (Buckley, 2002a, 2002b). Given the continued growth in surfing participation and its associated surfing economy since 2002, we can safely assume the economic worth of the global surf industry now far exceeds Buckley’s earlier estimates. Although surfing hardware and apparel form the core of consumer interest, researchers cite surfing tourism as a major contributor to this economic activity (Barbieri & Sotomayor, 2013; Dolnicar & Fluker, 2003; Martin & Assenov, 2012; Ponting & McDonald, 2013; O’Brien & Ponting, 2013; Ponting & O’Brien, 2014).