Resumen de Regulating �Nirvana�: : Sustainable surf tourism in a climate of increasing regulation
Indonesia's Mentawai Islands are widely regarded as a surfer's �Nirvana.� This paper uses qualitative interviews and participant observation to explore the politics of surf tourism recreational capacity management in the Mentawais, and the wider implications for Mentawaian host communities� involvement in the surf tourism economy. While much of the Mentawaian surf tourism industry was vehemently opposed to a recently introduced capacity management model, the market responded favourably. There appear to be immediate advantages for government and local communities in incentivising low-volume, high-yield land-based surf tourism development, and social carrying capacity measures such as vocational training and cultural interchange emerge as viable adjuncts to purely physical carrying capacity regulation.
