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The average surfer “hit the waves” 33 times a year. PIC: Moonwalker
Wednesday, 6 September 2006
Sporting Interest
The level of overall interest in surfing has dropped over the last 12 months compared the previous two years. The latest information has overall interest down to 26% which is down from the last two years of 29%.
While this is small percentage drop, interest in surfing is still higher than netball and horse-racing and the same as basketball and snow skiing. The range of interest levels since 1997 when surfing interest was first included in the survey has been from 26% to 29%
Participation
Participation has dropped slightly in the past year to 12 % from 14% the previous year and 13% the year before that. Since Surfing has been included in the Sweeney Report, surfing participation has “floated” from 11% to 14%.
This years figure continues to maintain that there is a significant interest in surfing. Other sports with similar participation rates are cricket and snow-skiing but surfing has a slightly higher participation rate than netball, touch football and sailing. The participation levels since 1988 when surfing was first included in the survey has been from 9% to 14%.
Female participation rates
The level of female participation has remained the same over the past 12 months with women making up10% of the surfing community. While the survey has not recognized any “increase” in female participant rates, anecdotal evidence would suggest that it is still the fastest growing market in surfing.
How often?
In relation to how often, the average surfer “hit the waves” 33 times a year with 88% of surfers who responded to the survey averaging 36 or more sessions per year.
Event attendance
As with most of the figures in this years report, figures are slightly down on previous years. They do highlight the fact that there is an ongoing commitment by the public to watch surfing events. This year a surfing event was attended by 6% of the survey group, which is the same as netball but greater than sports like motorcycle racing, boxing, cycling, golf and triathlon.
TV viewing
Since the year 2000, watching surfing on TV has maintained a pretty constant market. This year the percentage of the survey group that watched surfing was 17%, down on the last two years at 19% but still maintaining a healthy market share.
Press
Reading about surfing in the newspapers returned a lower percentage than last year. This year 2% of respondents read about surfing in newspapers but when it comes to print media, the surfing industry is well serviced by specialist magazines where most “surfers” will seek information about events.
Interest by capital city
Hobart this year registered the highest interest of 32% of respondents then Brisbane with 30%. This is a drop of some 7% from the west but other factors like the very “cool” summer in Perth may account for the drop.
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