Surf pros attract $7 million to North Shore each year
By Will Hoover
Advertiser North Shore Writer
He's in his early 30s. There's a good chance that he's foreign. He's involved in the professional surfing business, traveling the global circuit each year along with more than a thousand other promoters, contestants, media types, film crews and fashion marketers in the international surfing industry.
Advertiser library photo • Dec. 2, 2002
For 32 days each winter he and his colleagues descend on the North Shore and drop a cool $7 million before taking off.
Tournaments such as the Rip Curl Cup that feature such athletes as Andy Irons are becoming significant revenue boosts for the North Shore and the state as a whole.
He is the fabled character that drives the North Shore economy when the surf's up. He — and more frequently, she — is the statistical composite that emerges from a new study examining the economic impact of surfing on the North Shore.
These preliminary conclusions come from economic consultant Mike Markrich, who in 1988 produced an in-depth surfing impact report for the state through the University of Hawai'i Sea Grant College Program. He hopes to complete a similar study this year covering the entire state, with support from the Hawai'i Tourism Authority.
Markrich's recent observations are by no means the full picture of what surfing means to the North Shore's economy, but they do shed light on how surfing dollars power Hale'iwa and the surrounding area.
"It has a huge effect on the North Shore economy — rentals, food, souvenirs, clothing, lodging," said Markrich, who focused much of his attention on a cadre of about 1,200 core surfing insiders who follow the big-time global contest circuit and bring outside money and attention to the state during their North Shore pilgrimage.
"When these people come to Hawai'i they stay an average of 31.55 days. They come often and stay longer. About 17 percent are first-time visitors; 83 percent are repeat visitors.
"Their total expenditure is $7.3 million during the six-week period of the Triple Crown. This works out to about $700,000 in tax money that they bring to the state."
Advertiser library photo • Dec. 26, 2001
Markrich is doing his study at the urging and commission of Triple Crown executive producer Randy Rarick in response to comments made in November by Steve Pezman, publisher of The Surfer's Journal.
The power of the North Shore's big winter waves is illustrated each year when spectators flock to such beaches as Waimea Bay to watch the surf — as well as the contests that the waves generate — roll in.
When asked how much money surf contests bring to the North Shore, Pezman said there's no way of knowing.
"First of all, there is no data," said Pezman. "The statistics don't exist."
Markrich says his study should change that. To date he has surveyed 250 wave enthusiasts who attended Vans Triple Crown of Surfing this year. The report should be completed next month, Markrich said.
In the years since his 1988 study, surfing has gone from being a marginal sport on the fringes of respectability to an international phenomenon and the focal point of a multibillion-dollar resort surf wear industry, he said.
A recent Vans Triple Crown market research study reports that women have become such a vital component driving the surfing market that they are targeted by two separate demographic groups: the 14-to-17-year-old crowd, and the 30-plus bunch. Nearly 9 million women in North America say they want to learn to surf, according to the report.
"It's now a global sport," said Markrich. "Now the sponsors are global. You're looking at this key demographic of 14-to-30-year-olds. These are young people who want to surf in Hawai'i because the North Shore is the ultimate test of skill and ability and exposure."
Manuel Menendez, executive director of the city's Office of Economic Development, said Markrich's preliminary findings seem to be consistent with what his office has concluded about the surf market on the North Shore. Still, he admits the process is not an easy one.
"It's all kind of hit or miss only because there's not a significant hotel structure up on the North Shore," said Menendez.
Advertiser library photo • Dec. 3, 2002
Markrich insists he's not making value judgments on the pros and cons of surf contests in an area that's known for its endless conflicts surrounding the subject.
After the Rip Curl Cup was completed, friends of the winner, Australian Joel Parkinson, carried him victoriously out of the surf.
"I look purely at the economics of the Triple Crown," he said. "I didn't look at the regulations for the contests. That's a separate issue. Maybe there are those who object to the bigger picture."
One person in that category is Gil Riviere, who heads the Let's Surf Coalition, a recreational surfing organization that favors limiting North Shore surf contests.
Riviere takes issue with Markrich's figures.
"But like any numbers, what do they really tell us?" Riviere said. "I don't dispute that the Triple Crown generates money. But that's not the issue. The issue is on the whole picture — how much money is generated by surfing because of the waves? Let's not discount the recreational vacationing surfing. People are coming here. They're spending their money. And they're not all sitting on the beach watching the Triple Crown."
Randy Rarick concedes that Riviere makes a valid point. But he disagrees with his conclusion.
"Gil's right," said Rarick. "People do come here to recreational surf, or they drive to the North Shore just to watch big surf.
"But my point is the TV, magazine, movie and other media exposure focused on the Triple Crown generates the interest for people to come to the North Shore. If you didn't have the surf contests promoting the North Shore nationally and internationally, why would people come?
"The exposure creates the demand."
Reach Will Hoover at whoover@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8038.
