The 2024 Data on Surf Park Dwell Times

By Jess Ponting

At the Surf Park Summit this year, we promised to share data from our 2024 Consumer Trends Survey with our community in bite-sized chunks. Over the coming months, I plan on sharing a cross-tabulated analysis of the broad range of questions posed in the survey, broken down by user groups and individual surf parks.

Those who attended the Surf Park Summit will have seen the sample size and demographic data below. We even shared the average surf park dwell times of 2,069 surf park users who completed the survey (representing 48% of the total number of responses). What we didn’t get to at the Surf Park Summit was exploring how the data breaks down across different surf parks. The results allow us to consider the links between different dwell time profiles of different surf parks, what this might mean for onsite spending (this data is coming soon), and how it relates to different wave generating technologies and their strengths and weaknesses, different markets, different travel times, and different business models.

For those who missed Surf Park Summit, the 2024 Consumer Trends Survey secured 4,310 responses, easily the largest sample size across the four data sets we have captured over 10 years. 

The table below summarizes some key demographic data points across the data sets. Note that the methodology used was snowball sampling (this was not designed to be a representative sample, although the large response rate lends credibility). We placed the link to the survey as far and wide as we could, offered incentives to complete the survey, and asked partner organizations to support us. Special thanks to Firewire, Rob Machado, Dan Mann, Taylor Jensen, Blair Conklin, The Wave Bristol, Wavegarden, Fireside Surf, YourWave, STAB, Surfline, Chris Cote and many others for supporting the effort to maximize responses.

The following heat map shows the global distribution of the 4310 responses to the 2024 Surf Park Consumer Trends survey. Several geographies, notably the US, Europe, Australia, Brazil and New Zealand delivered useful sample sizes, though the majority of responses came from the United States.

Within the United States, most responses came from California though there was also significant representation of the east coast from Florida all the way to Maine. A significant number of responses also came from Hawaii.

Across all 2069 surf park users and all surf parks, the breakdown of surf park dwell times was as follows in the graph below.

The survey asked those who had visited a surf park which was the last surf park they visited. Seventeen responses were provided along with an open ended response for parks not included. Those listed were: WSL Surf Ranch, Waco Surf, The Wave Bristol, URBNSurf Melbourne, URBNSurf Sydney, Wave Park, Alaia Bay, Praia da Grama, Surfland Brazil, Surf Stadium, Palm Springs Surf Club, Skudin Surf, The Lineup at Wai Kai, Fireside Surf, Good Surf, Lakeside Surf, and O2 Surftown Muc. Of the 17 listed surf parks, seven had response rates high enough to include in our analysis (more than 50 responses) response rates are included so you can assess the relative reliability of the analysis. These seven parks are Surf Ranch (501 responses), Waco Surf (191 responses), The Wave (392 responses), URBNSurf Melbourne (218 responses) and Sydney (85 responses), Alaia Bay (60 responses), and Palm Springs Surf Club (52 responses).

The following graph represents a breakdown of the 1500 responses from the seven surf parks with more than 50 respondents. Respondents were asked how long they stayed at the last surf park they visited. Clustered together on a graph it is plain to see the Australian URBNSurf properties have the shortest dwell times, followed by The Wave which does significantly better, then Alaia Bay and Palm Springs, with Waco Surf and Surf Ranch securing the longest dwell times – perhaps as a result of their relative distance from major source markets and the business models employed (both have onsite accommodation).

It is also instructive to see this data focussed on each surf park property individually and assess comparisons between properties based on the different geographic, demographic, and technology driven advantages and challenges they contend with. For example, while the fact that almost no visitors to Surf Ranch stay for less than two hours given its rural location, it may be surprising to learn that Waco Surf has the highest percentage of overnight visitors. However, Waco self-reports that 70% of their visitors are from out of state, perhaps increasing the incentive to stay longer and surf more sessions as a long drive or a flight may have been involved in getting there. URBNSurf’s modest dwell times may be a result of their proximity to large populations of surfers within relatively short travel times and lack of onsite accommodation. The Wave Bristol, Alaia Bay and Palm Springs Surf Club are doing something, or have other features that encourage longer stays. Is it longer travel times or better amenities, FnB offerings, and additional activities?

We’d love to hear your thoughts and theories on what explains the significant differences between surf park dwell times. We’ll be able to crosscheck some of these theories as we present more data in the coming weeks including average travel times to individual surf parks and the average spend on surf and different types of ancillaries.