Investors are finally quantifying the worth of Portugal’s surfing industry, writes Dinheiro Vivo this week – concentrating on the incredible success of council-supported competitions that are now attracting thousands to the country every year. The national association of surfers has estimated that surfing has an impact of €400 million on the Portuguese economy, explains the site, and more is in the pipeline “to increase this amount by various zeros”.
The popularity of surf has literally been riding the crest of a wave that shows no signs of breaking. “If in 2013 touristic businesses connected to surfing increased by 26%, in the last year the increase was already 71%,” explains DV, adding that “of those that are registered with Turismo de Portugal, there are already 150 businesses developing this kind of activity”.
Artur Ferreira, vice-president of Portugal’s surfing federation, explained that people are at last “interiorising the potential of surfing, whether as an industry, a form of tourism or for health” and investors will thus appreciate the “secure value” of the sport that is aiming for a slot in the 2020 Olympics.
“We were more and more positioning ourselves to be the European surfing capital,” Ferreira told DV. “Hopefully, in the next 10 years, we’ll be able to talk about all this in a completely different way.”
