Beaches constitute a multidimensional system embedded within a wider context formed by coastal zones comprised of subsystems (e.g., physical, natural, sociocultural, managerial, and political, which includes regulations) that interact among themselves [
7]. In these settings, safety and security are traditionally considered a quality attribute of a local tourism destination as an evaluation of preference or priority for recreational beach users [
8,
9] and reputation of a tourism destination [
3]. Regarding specifically surf tourism, safety is also an important indicator of sustainable surf tourism [
4,
10], including as social indicator of sustainability [
11].
The present study was part of a larger research project created to satisfy local authorities’ need for information. More specifically, this study analyzed and compared surfers and bathers’ perceptions of safety, existing conflicts between beach users, and conflict management strategies on beaches. In addition, respondents were asked how local authorities can improve their level of engagement with surfing tourism and manage this activity more sustainably. The information collected provided significant insights into the best way to develop an efficient local surfing tourism plan.
1.1. Literature Review
Territories are living organisms that need supplies, security, and functionality to be viable [
19]. The world is currently characterized by space-time compression [
20], resulting from the great expansion of consumption across societies, including travel and tourism [
21]. In this context, processes that foster multi-party consensus in environmentally sensitive tourism destinations are crucial [
22].
Sustainability is a key factor in natural areas, such as Aljezur, with a focus on preserving the environment and natural resources whose quality depends on tourism development strategies [
23]. However, development is a political concept [
24], and conceptualizations of sustainable tourism development, including those promulgated by international organizations (e.g., the United Nations World Tourism Organization [UNWTO]), are subject to criticism guided by ideological paradigms [
25].
Tourism can be viewed as a system which includes some key elements such as tourists, suppliers, tourist products (e.g., natural resources, accommodation, supplementary services, etc.), and the ordering/regulatory bodies that have key roles in planning and management for tourism development (Cornelissen, 2005, cited in [
11]).
Some experts have argued in favor of adopting responsible tourism models as a form of tourism that assumes responsibility of its economic, social, and environmental impacts, with the path of achieving sustainability [
26]. UNWTO as a major stakeholder in tourism assumes this way as a tourism paradigm not exempted of a neoliberal perspective and the protection of tourism as a consumer industry [
27]. In this approach, tourists assume citizenship responsibilities [
28], thereby “living and acting like the world is ‘home’” [
25] (p. 106). Quoting Young and Nussbaum [
29] (p.111) “if tourists contribute to structural or global injustices, even simply by being part of a network or structure that connects them to sources of injustice, then they are responsible to do something about it.”. These models are characterized by the social commitment of consumption of local products, sharing and learning processes rooted in host communities, and contributions to ecosystems’ conservation and regeneration [
26].
Consensus between tourist groups as major stakeholders [
30] must be improved to ensure sustainable, responsible tourism. Problems frequently arise from the lack of local regulations that reflect this consensus as part of each territory’s system [
31]. The world today is further characterized by universal heritages, such as biodiversity and environmental conservation. Education for world citizenship and peace, the fight against poverty, and the strategy of smarter power, therefore, should be based on forms of “soft power” and “soft law” [
32]. These call for a shared, committed exercise of power by a plurality of agents through persuasion based on common principles, causes, and values [
33].
Some international organizations focused on tourism, the environment, and sustainability (e.g., Institute of Responsible Tourism [
34]; UNWTO [
35,
36,
37,
38]) have issued “soft law instruments” (e.g., charters, recommendations, codes of conduct, and manifests). This approach aims to inspire changes in policies, business practices, and consumer behavior. These manifestations of goodwill have in common being a form of gobermedia (media government) [
39].
Promotion and support of sustainable tourism is made more effective by the establishment of appropriate legal frameworks being, as they are particularly important, facilitated by different institutions [
40]. International legislative approaches to sustainable tourism law have evolved in response to the ratification of conventions (i.e., binding agreements) mainly generated by the UNWTO (e.g., the Convention on Tourism Ethics [
38]). Responsible tourism is seen as a normative principle, so, according to this convention, tourists and host communities should show mutual respect and minimize risks. In addition, public authorities must provide protection for tourists and their belongings, particularly international tourists.
More specifically, governments should facilitate the introduction of specific means that provide information, prevention, security, insurance, and assistance consistent with these visitors’ needs (Art. 1, nº 4). The convention also states that:
All the stakeholders in tourism development should recognize the role of international institutions in the field of promotion and development, and the protection of human rights, the environment or health with due respect for the general principles of international law. (Art. 10, nº 2)
The underlying assumption of this kind of international soft law is that the relevant stakeholders can be linked through social exchange mechanisms that control tourism’s perceived impacts [
41] at the community and individual level [
42].
According to this approach, perceptions of surfing tourism’s effects in Aljezur should be identified, observed, mapped, and controlled by local authorities as the municipality’s representatives. This must be done with epistemic instruments and data collected on the destination’s attributes and surfing tourism’s impacts, as well as information, safety, and management systems. Bathers and surfers are understood as users who converge on specific spots for recreational purposes, thereby forming “common destination communities” [
43] (p. 330). Thus, procedural mechanisms are needed to reinforce dialogic interactions between producers and sufferers of harm [
44] and new ways of relationality (i.e., caring for human and non-human others).
The relevant epistemic instruments are a major focus of academic research. In 2015, many universities in Australia, Argentina, Canada, Chile, Iran, Japan, New Zealand, and Thailand created academic groups concentrating on legal sustainability [
45]. These academics have tackled various tasks such as the definition of information categories as a way to promote local regulations and risk assessments. All these groups have expressed support for international adventure tourism standards, including the International Organization for Standardization’s ISO 21103:2014 (see
https://www.iso.org/standard/54861.html, accessed on 2 September 2021). This is a safety management system approach that encourages providers to analyze adventure tourism activities, understand participants’ requirements, define processes that ensure safety, and keep them under control.
Safety, in this context, is seen from a wider perspective in which the economic, social, and environmental issues that arise are related to worldwide risks [
43]. Researchers have specifically considered how tourism consumption in destinations can produce new or enhanced meaning for locals [
46]. In addition, scholars have examined the demand for local regulations that arises based on a minimum consensus between stakeholders about the use of space.
In the present study, surfers and bathers on beaches in protected natural environments evaluated issues such as safety, security, perceived conflicts between users, and conflict management systems. These beaches are “invited and created” spaces as opposed to “closed spaces” [
47] (p. 35) from a knowledge-power perspective. The relevant spaces are the result of an accumulation of social norms, rituals, and practices embedded in local power relations [
48] and epistemic instruments that increase the level of dialogic interaction, participation, and sustainability in tourism. Dialogic interactions are required to ensure the needs are acknowledged by a consensus between all stakeholders who could potentially be affected.
Sustainability is simultaneously a process and value system based on participation, discussion, and accountable public entities that produce results by strengthening democracy and destination communities [
43]. In this sense, tourism destinations are also a result of procedural processes of acquaintance, continual improvement, and control mechanisms, which can define epistemic communities [
49] and prepare them to face the challenges of a cosmopolitan risk society based on knowledge [
43]. Therefore, the present study conceptualized sustainable tourism in protected areas as participative [
50]. In this approach, efforts to “care for people and places come first” (Apo, 2004 cited in [
25] (p. 66)), which are strengthened by continual methodological improvements of group recognition, user empowerment, knowledge about contextual conflicts, informed relationships, and local control.
1.2. Study Context: Aljezur Municipality
Aljezur is a village that is the focal point of a rural municipality located in one of the most important tourism regions of Portugal, the Algarve, in the extreme southwest corner of Europe. This municipality has 5884 inhabitants living in an area of 32,350 square kilometers [
51], which is a low population density. The municipality is located entirely in the natural park of Southwest Alentejo and Vicentina Coast, and Aljezur’s beaches are well known in the region for their exceptional surfing conditions. The beaches comprise approximately 50 km of still-intact coastline with a great variety of spots notable for their environmental quality, quality and regularity of waves, and proximity between beaches, thereby facilitating surfing throughout the year.
Because it is a natural park, land use in the municipality is subject to strong environmental restrictions stipulated by Portuguese legislation. Consequently, the beaches on which tourism and recreational activities occur, including surfing, must obey these regulations and different maritime, tourism, and environmental government authorities. However, the absence of the standard “nature sports charter” creates problems related to institutional voids and a lack of rules guiding local governance.
This charter is governed by Regulation Plan of Southwest Alentejo and Vicentina Coast, which stipulates that the charter defines the places where sports activities can take place (e.g., surfing). The charter also establishes the criteria for how these activities are conducted to control the intensity with which places are used and their recreational carrying capacity and to maintain the compatibility between activities and the park’s nature conservation aims (Art. 52º nº 1 and Art. 81º nº 3 of Regulation Plan nº 11/2011 published in the Portuguese Republic Diary on 04 February 2011). The charter’s absence means the local authorities (i.e., the municipality of Aljezur), surf schools, surfers, bathers, and beach users in general must self-regulate based on their knowledge of practices and solutions regarding the use of space and related management problems.