Soon you will be surfing with 150 of your best mates in the lineup

Well, the bloody cat is out of the bag and now not only will surfers from around the globe be flocking to Nias. So will their wife, kids, aunts, uncles and all thirty cousins all on a 10-night extravaganza week after week like Bali maybe the grandparents will come too. The Jakarta Post this week reported that the Indonesian government has, “its sights set on transforming Nias into an international tourist destination.” In an article titled ‘Nias to be world-class surfing destination’ which means for people wanting to escape the circus that has become of Bali, the search must go on to find more secluded areas.

During the recent Sail Indonesia festival on Nias, Luhut Pandjaitan, Indonesia’s minister of planning and policy co-ordination, said, “We see Nias as one of the most popular regions for surfing. We have organised international surfing competitions here. The tourism minister is also present here. We are determined to make Nias better.” Sail Indonesia aims to intensify development and promote tourism in remote regions of Indonesia. This year’s organisers called Nias “Indonesia’s best-kept secret”.

The Indonesian government plans to increase the trickle of visitors to Nias by removing bureaucratic hurdles to development, in an effort to, “make it easier for foreign investors to realise their investments”. “It will improve the country’s investment climate,” said Pandjaitan. “It will have a positive impact on tourism.” In 2017, Jokowi drafted a tourist strategy to create “10 new Bali’s” across Indonesia, a plan that aims to replicate the economic effects of tourism in Bali. Pandjaitan said the government, “planned to turn the region into a world-class surfing hub…to attract more tourists.”

The only people who claim that crowds enhance the surfing experience are government officials, tourist bureaus, and the WSL. Travelling surfers and undoubtedly local surfers will not feel the same amount of enthusiasm to the proposal. Nias has been a ‘world-class destination’ for forty years, turbocharging development and replicating Bali at Sorake Beach will forever alter the experience. And we wonder which experience will that be Canggu, Seminyak, Kuta, Sanur or Uluwatu? Only time will tell!

Photography © Austin Mullen follow him on Instagram.