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Portuguese Surf Industry’s Rising Tide
Portugal was one of the worst hit countries in the 2008 Global Financial Crisis. The wave-rich nation remained in crisis until 2014 but backed by strong investment from the government and tourist board, the country has emerged as one of the globe’s top surfing meccas now hosting a number of high-profile surfing events and WSL EMEA CEO Francisco Spínola is based in Lisbon. Recognising the strength of its natural resource, the government and tourist board invested heavily in the promotion of not just tourists surfing in Portugal, but also a healthy competitive surf scene, backed by a strong surf industry. We commissioned native surf industry employee Nuno Príncipe to take a deep dive into just how Portugal – a nation without a Championship Tour stop in 2008 – now sees surfing as the country’s number two sport, behind football.
The European surf industry is booming and Portugal has been on the rise as a surf industry player for the last 10 years. Since the Championship Tour returned to the country in 2009, Portugal has seen remarkable growth in the popularity of surfing. The Portuguese stop is part of the European leg and, on some days, around 30,000 people watch from Supertubos beach in Peniche making this one of the WSL’s biggest on-beach audiences (along with Brazil). Each year a total of around 140,000 spectators attend the event.
Despite the hard times presented by the COVID-19 pandemic, within just five months, Portugal will have hosted two major WSL events: the WSL Countdown Series in September 2020 and the second stop of the 2021 Championship Tour in February (and probably also the big wave event in Nazare). It’s remarkable. A lot of locations saw tour cancellations, however Portuguese fans have a couple of reasons to be stoked. This demonstrates the strength and efforts of the event’s organisers who want to turn this situation around and keep surfing at the highest possible level. Usually February is a good winter month in Peniche with Supertubos experiencing strong swells and offshore winds. Before making the decision to move the event from Autumn to Winter, Ocean Events organisers had a close look at the history charts from previous years at Supertubos as well as talking with local surfers to understand whether the move would be the right one. They know it’s winter; they know it could be stormy and rainy, but the organisers and Peniche City Council see this as an opportunity to show the world that Portugal has good waves early in the year. It’s also an opportunity for people to visit the country, not only to watch the event but to have an enjoyable holiday (if permitted by the authorities due to COVID-19 restrictions).
“Portugal will be the epicentre of the surfing world in February,” said WSL’s EMEA GM, Francisco Spínola to Público newspaper. “In essence, it’s replicating what we’ve been doing in October, in Peniche. If we manage to transfer that visibility to February it will be another significant boost in tourism and to the economy in this continuous effort to reduce seasonality.” In February 2020 Supertubos saw several classic sessions with amazing barrels and even the current World Champ Ítalo Ferreira swung by to get barrelled. With Peniche being the only Championship Tour event in Europe, let’s hope conditions are the same for 2021.
Supertubos, Peniche. Photo credit WSL/ Pedro Mestre
The Tourism Boom
As a result of the global financial crisis from the 2008 banking crash, Portugal remained in a crisis situation until 2014. From 2014 on, tourism became a priority for our government and our tourist board saw large fiscal investments to suit. The beaches and waves of Portugal were included in this, with the goal being to show off the wave quality, beach and landscape beauty, gastronomy, culture, pleasant weather, and the country’s security. In addition, the increase in tourism would showcase how welcoming the Portuguese people are to foreigners.
In terms of surfing, for years, Portugal has been a relatively well-kept secret, only revealed to the world due to a fortunate combination of factors: the exit from the economic crisis; the growth in tourism (surfing being one of the key factors); the Championship Tour in Peniche and the Qualifying Series in Cascais, Azores, Ericeira, Santa Cruz and Costa de Caparica and Pro Junior and Longboard in Espinho; the popularity from Nazaré having the biggest wave in the world; and the teamwork from the people who lead surfing in Portugal and the government’s investment in tourism campaigns have all played their part.
Portuguese surfers have always been well aware of the local wave quality and weather conditions. It’s no coincidence that Australian surfers feel at home when visiting, it’s also no coincidence that the Americans call Portugal the “California of Europe” and the Azores and Madeira islands the “Hawaii of Europe”. The website – www.portuguesewaves.com – was created precisely to introduce the world to Portuguese waves and boost their visibility in terms of tourism while positioning Portugal as a top surfing destination, inviting international surfers to visit the country.
In 2019, Portugal was voted the ‘World’s Leading Destination’ by the World Travel Awards, considered the Oscars of tourism, for the third time in a row. Lisbon, the capital, was elected the ‘World’s Leading City Break Destination’ and Madeira Island was, for the fifth time in a row, the ‘Best Island Destination in the World’. Along with this recognition, Portugal is one of the safest countries in the world, elected as the safest in Europe the European Union and third in the world by the Global Peace Index (GPI) only behind Iceland and New Zealand.
In 2018, the Portuguese tourism board invested 1 million euros in surfing events such as the CT in Peniche, Nazaré Challenge (Big Wave World Tour event), QS10000 in Ericeira and QS3000 in Santa Cruz.
There are over 900 companies providing services directly related to surfing. A study from 2015 made by the National Surfers Association (ANS) pointed to a revenue of 400 million euros per year.
Nazaré. Photo credit WSL /Pedro Mestre
Peniche – Follow The Leader
As you would expect, the Championship Tour event is the one that brings the most visibility and biggest return on investment to Portugal. The CT event was launched in 2009 in Peniche and since then there has been a drastic change for the better in the region’s tourism.
A socio-economic impact study made by the WSL, with the help of the tourist board, local schools and institutes, indicates that the event in 2015 generated economic profits of 10.6 million euros. According to the study, 100,000 people visited Peniche and watched the event over ten days and that attendees to previous editions were split 66.4% Portuguese and 40.3% foreigners. Portugal’s event generates some of the WSL’s highest internet traffic, sitting fifth place.
The research data produced by the team showed that daily expenses stood at 77.42 euros per person, with the foreign visitor spending more than a Portuguese visitor. The total income was 7.7 million euros which can be broken down into 5.2 million by international visitors and 2.5 million by Portuguese visitors. Considering the calculated 10.6 million, for the local economy, it is estimated that 1.3 million euros are indirect profits thus generating a tax revenue of 1.2 million euros.
Surf as tourism and the international visibility given by the event are already part of a strategy for a new reality across Portugal’s western region. Revenue is not the only associated positive impact. As a result, new businesses in the hospitality and sports sectors have created new jobs and generated new avenues of income for the local economy. The media return for the CT event in 2014 was over 28 million while the hotel occupancy rate in Peniche was around 100%, compared to times outside the event window where it decreased dramatically. Peniche now almost ceases to suffer from seasonality; its hotel and catering industry, as well as employment, increased substantially as new units, surf schools, surf camps, shops, tours and tourism experiences were created.
One key factor to tourism was the vision of Peniche’s former city hall mayor, António José Correia, who has supported having WSL surfing events in Peniche since 2005 2001 (first as QS and then CT). His proactive character and contagious stoke to have the world’s best surfers in his town granted him the ‘Coolest Mayor on Tour’ title by the WSL and CT surfers. Other Portuguese city council presidents saw the benefits to the Peniche local economy by hosting the surfing event and followed their example, completely supported by the tourism board. In reality, Peniche and all the other WSL event locations in Portugal saw their local economies grow stronger with new businesses, opportunities and jobs directly or indirectly related to surfing.
There is no longer a tough and long seasonality in Peniche. The location offers excellent conditions all year round. Surfers like to go to Portugal during the high season and outside the summer season. So, as a result, you have surfing and employment all year long.
2019 saw Portugal and the WSL push towards a QS3000 event in Costa de Caparica in springtime, raising the bar on joining Santa Cruz by hosting an event of the same importance. This makes use of a back-to-back event strategy, offering a kind of 2-for-1 package where surfers can compete at both events across two weeks while saving money on flights and accommodation. This 2-for-1 offer will make the QS Spring leg more attractive and inviting for all. It will also give the chance for people enjoying their Easter holidays to watch some of the world’s best QS surfers. There’s also an event in Espinho, a European Pro Junior event and Longboard Open event, which makes Espinho a top spot too. Due to the pandemic in 2020 the 7th edition of the event took place in October, being the only European Pro Junior surf and Longboard Open event of the year in Europe, crowning the champions in world class waves. This one was for the books since Tahitian Kauli Vast dropped a perfect heat score of 20 points in the quarterfinals before winning the event and clinching his third European Junior title.
So now, Portugal has important international events happening across the year, however the summertime – the worst for wave season – is left for regular tourism. September kicks straight off with the QS6000 in Azores, the QS10000 in Ericeira and then winter swells see Nazaré roar to life and the aforementioned CT stop in Peniche now in February.
Peniche 2019 winners. Photo credit WSL/ Pedro Mestre
Impeccable Waves, Year-Round
Consistent wave quality all year long is a competitive advantage, especially when accessible via short travel distances. Portugal offers world-class waves for all surfing levels going from the Carcavelos and Costa de Caparica beach breaks to the pointbreaks and slabs of Ericeira, to the barrels of Peniche or world’s biggest waves in Nazaré. If you go further north you can find the endless rights of Figueira da Foz and by taking a little bit more time on the road you can surf the cool beach breaks in Porto, Espinho and Viana do Castelo. Or by going south there’s the punchy beach breaks coupled with the warm weather and amazing landscapes of Costa Vicentina and the Algarve. And if you want to feel a tropical island vibe, surfing in warm waters just fly to the Azores or Madeira islands.
In 2011, Ericeira received prestigious recognition as a World Surfing Reserve (the only one in Europe) for its wave quality. It’s a world-class surf zone consisting of approximately 8km of coastline. It hosts outstanding surf break quality, including iconic spots such as Ribeira d’Ilhas, Cave, Pedra Branca and Coxos, among others.
For decades, Nazaré was a place forgotten in time where you would barely see a living soul on the beach during winter. Only a few bodyboarders would venture out onto its waves. Nazaré City Council brought big wave rider Garrett McNamara to explore the waves. This decision paid off with incredible photos and videos that shocked the world and culminated with the Guinness World Record in 2011 for the biggest wave ever surfed (a record beaten by Brazilian Rodrigo Koxa in 2018). Since then, Nazaré has been the centre of big wave surfing worldwide with the best surfers in the world searching for glory and world records. Nazaré is also the stage for WSL’s event in the Big Wave season.
For decades, Nazaré was a place forgotten in time where you would barely see a living soul on the beach during winter. Only a few bodyboarders would venture out onto its waves on some days but not on the days of giant waves. Nazaré City Council, along with a communication service company as sponsor, brought big wave rider Garrett McNamara to explore the waves. This decision paid off with incredible photos and videos that shocked the world and culminated with the Guinness World Record in 2011 for the biggest wave ever surfed (a record beaten by Brazilian Rodrigo Koxa in 2018). Since then, Nazaré has been the centre of big wave surfing worldwide with the best surfers in the world searching for glory and world records. Nazaré is also the stage for WSL’s event on the Big Wave Season.
Big Waves at Nazaré. Photo credit WSL/Pedro Mestre
A Growing Surf Industry To Match
The WSL’s General Manager Francisco Spínola being based out of Lisbon since 2019 acts as a key indicator for other industry players and surf brands to look at the country’s business potential. Firstly, Portugal has some of the world’s most important events spread across the majority of the year, featuring some of the world’s best surfers with thousands of people watching in person on the beach or watching online. Secondly, the goal now is to develop the local and national surfing industry by generating awareness, creating new brands, jobs, services, and supporting surfing brands. And all of this is done with one eye on the future and the other on sustainability. It’s a win-win situation for everybody: surfers, brands, sponsors, city halls, tourism, government and the country’s economy.
Portugal is currently the world’s most searched country on the internet when it comes to the topic of ‘surfing’ after having reinforced its standing in global leadership, according to a study made by Bloom Consulting, a company specialising in brand strategy for destinations. The goal is now to convert this media boom into greater economic, strategic, and business value for the country. For the tourism board President, Luís Araújo, the goal is to have “the main brands, companies and relevant projects look to Portugal as a potential destination for their headquarters and decision centres,” he said to Expresso newspaper. He also said: “Portugal appears to be more influential in the surf industry at the international level which implies that more jobs will be created, greater economic value will be generated and a greater media return is also expected”.
The tourism board wants to strengthen the industry itself and its different economic agents as a whole (surfboards manufacturers, technical gear, apparel, accessories, etc…), in order to promote a more sustainable future for the sector. In terms of brands, there’s some that were born in Portugal and have international visibility such as Deeply, Semente Surfboards, Janga Wetsuits, Lapoint Surf Camps, Polen Surfboards, Dream Sea Surf Camp, Matta Shapes, and Indie Campers (West Coast Campers), among others.
At 33 years old, Despomar is Portugal’s biggest surf company that has two business channels with more than 300 clients in distribution and servicing 34 own stores in the country, employing more than 300 people and distributing brands such as Billabong, Element, FCS, RVCA, …Lost, JS, VonZipper and Xcel, among others.
There are new Portuguese brands coming out, like Brusco from big wave rider Nic Von Rupp, or JAM Traction from professional surfers Marlon Lipke (former CT surfer) and Gony Zubizarreta. Surf Out Portugal is a trade show that creates the space and opportunity to discuss how surfing will evolve in the future. It’s an event that gathers several brands, entities and other stakeholders from the surfing world, inviting all surf enthusiasts for an immersive experience out of the water.
Frederico Morais. Photo credit WSL/Pedro Mestre
United we stand, divided we fall
There’s no point in a country being lucky enough to have fantastic natural resources if the wrong people are in charge. Teamwork has been the secret of Portugal’s strength, a small country with people of great vision and ambition who work for surfers and the development of surfing. Francisco Spínola is the WSL EMEA CEO, Francisco Rodrigues is the National Surfers Association President and João Aranha is leading the Portuguese Surfing Federation. All of them were competitors back in the 90’s, all of them live and breathe surfing, all of them know what the best direction is for developing surfing in Portugal. They are doing for surfers what they didn’t have in their high times as surfers.
The teamwork between these three organisations and the Portuguese government resulted in Portugal being the first country in the world after lockdowns to have an official surfing event: The MEO League (Portuguese Surfing Championship) and managing to have all five stages from June to October, crowning Portuguese champions in this crazy year was truly remarkable. At the time of writing, it was the only National Championship league to happen during the pandemic.
Even if you have world class waves, it’s still important that the surfers represent your country are at the highest level. Tiago Pires was Portugal’s greatest ambassador amongst the world’s best surfers competing on the Championship Tour between 2008 and 2014. Frederico Morais followed his footsteps and entered the surfing elite in 2017 and requalified in 2019 winning the QS. Vasco Ribeiro clinched the World Junior Championship title in 2014. There’s a whole new generation of surfers coming through inspired by these two three.
So… what now?
Once lockdown was over and flights started returning, 2020’s summer under the ‘new normal’ was a positive one. Even though this year is incomparable to previous years, summer 2020 still saw lots of tourists. Portuguese nationals were tourists within their own country and holidayed domestically, helping out local companies and economies. From everyone being desperate to get outside, outdoor activities saw a boom; surfboards, wetsuits, accessories, skateboards, and bikes registered high sales and some of them ran out of stock. Up until the beginning of 2020, recent years would go down in the books as some of the best times ever for surfing in Portugal. The country was at Europe’s forefront of surfing tourism and events, but now, with the COVID-19 pandemic nobody really knows what the new reality will be as everything’s dependent on flight restrictions, new lockdowns and security measures. But one thing is certain: with solid teamwork and a huge will to push surfing to reach its best again, Portugal will do everything to be one of the most important surf industry players, not only in Europe, but in the world.
