12 Jun 2025

SURF PARK SUCCESS: THE KEYS TO LONGEVITY

With surf park numbers almost doubling in 2024, it’s clear the industry is taking off. As more parks open, and more people frequent them, key factors will define which providers thrive in the coming decades.

At Surf Lakes, we have a theory that there will be over 1000 surf parks around the world one day. With only 20-odd open at the time of writing, this number might sound a little enthusiastic. But allow us to present some key stats for consideration:

There are 25-35 million surfers in the world today.
47 million Brazilian viewers watched the Paris Olympics surfing broadcast on 5^th August, 2024.
Surfing is seeing huge growth
There are over 6000 ski resorts worldwide
Over 38000 golf courses worldwide
Over 3000 amusement parks worldwide
The number of open surf parks almost doubled in 2024

If only one-third of the world’s surfing population books a monthly surf park session, that makes over 10 million sessions to cater for per month. Break that down to the hour (assuming a 12-hour operating window) and you’ve got over 25,000 sessions to fill per hour.

Given that most operating surf parks cater to less than 50 people per hour, there is a huge opportunity in the market to satisfy unmet demand.

With scarcity often comes a premium, and because of this session shortage, some surf parks currently offer pricing at a point that excludes many patrons.

Of course, this industry will also feed itself, as the surfing population is set to grow with the adoption of surf parks. With new parks opening in regions that haven’t traditionally had access to surf, a new portion of society will be introduced to the sport.

Coastal cities are becoming increasingly crowded, with an estimated 15% of the world’s population living on 4% of Earth’s landmass.

Despite the 25 million surfers that already exist today, that number equates to less than 0.5% of Earth’s population. Meaning, 99.5% of people have never tried surfing! If this doesn’t speak of untapped market potential, we’re not sure what does.

With surf park numbers almost doubling in 2024, it’s clear the industry is taking off, and (with no shortage of adopters) should sustain critical mass comfortably into the coming decades. Then comes the challenge of keeping punters entertained and winning their repeat visitation.

All this points to a lot of surf parks opening over the 21^st century. There are a handful of technology providers in the surf park space. Some of the earliest models have already come and gone as new technology supersedes them. As more parks open, and more people frequent them, key factors will define which providers thrive in the coming decades.

Key Factors for Wave Tech Longevity:

Quality
Safety
Productivity
Catering to progression
Ability to host events
Efficiency

Quality

Wave quality polled as the number one factor to drive surf park visitation in Surf Park Central’s 2023 Consumer Trends Report. Walls are the enemy of wave quality. Wave science is a complex world with variables that can fluctuate wildly. Once walls are introduced, the seiche effect becomes a real challenge. Anyone who has sloshed the dishwater over the edge of the sink knows the concept.

By removing walls, Surf Lakes’ open 360-degree design allows for the highest quality waves to be created. Perfect tubes, unhindered by rebound or seiche. This is only part of the challenge, though. The lakebed also needs to be engineered to mould those lumps of water into rideable waves. Surf Lakes has invested millions into refining this technology through computational fluid dynamics research and trials.

Safety

Unfortunately, those pesky walls also add a safety risk. Concrete always wins when it comes up against softer substances like skin or fibreglass, and repairs (whether administered by the ding doctor or a traditional one) are never a welcome addition to a surf session.

While some parks have found a way to remove walls, the floor of these facilities will always remain. Given the erosive nature of waves, the floor needs to be durable. Again, not something you want to collide with. While there’s no failsafe solution to this issue, the deeper the better to avoid surfers hitting the bottom.

Herein lies a real challenge. Waves require shallower water to break, so how can a surf park be designed to break in deeper water? The answer is groundswell. While wind swells manipulate the surface of the water to create surface-level waves, groundswells travel inside the water and react to the bottom contours before rearing up and breaking. So, any facilities (like Surf Lakes) that generate groundswell are giving surfers a better chance of avoiding a slam on the bottom by creating waves that break in deeper water. While this is helpful, it by no way guarantees surfers will avoid hitting the bottom, especially in the hollower waves where wave intensity and bathymetry leave little space for complacency. But hey, at least the tide won’t creep out while breaking over jagged fire coral, right?

Productivity

While wave quality is currently the number one factor, productivity will be the deciding factor for future surf park success. Even with current surfer numbers, there’s not enough supply to meet demand, but with the growth forecasts looming, the industry needs to cater to much larger crowds, and the sooner the better.

As wave quality meets expectations, the next challenge is to meet booking demand. Some providers currently combat this by charging a premium and trading on exclusivity. However, if surf parks are to cater to the masses, there needs to be a leap in productivity.

Surf Lakes’ 360-degree method of producing waves in a lake environment with concentric swell lines means 10 different breaks are activated with every pulse of the machine. This equates to over 2000 surfable rides per hour, servicing 200 surfers and catering to five ability levels simultaneously. To put this into perspective, a single Surf Lake could cater to more surfers per hour than a WaveGarden, Endless Surf, KSWC, AMW, and Surfloch combined. This is the quantum leap required for the future of surf parks. And with all those surfers comes a lot of surfing, which leads to…

Catering to Progression

People will always push boundaries, so while equipment and mindset have evolved, so has surfing’s ceiling of possibility. Adding consistency and repetition to this mix means progression is inevitable. But each new surfer must pass through the range of progression before they think about inventing new tricks or challenging the status quo. This is why surf parks have so many different wave types to cater to all ability levels. The learning journey needs to support progression to ensure surfers stay engaged and challenged along the way. Variety is the friend of the surf park, and a great range of features and wave types have been developed over recent years.

Simultaneous variety means that all levels are available at the same time. This allows Surf Lakes to cater for all abilities at once. This full market reach is unique to Surf Lakes and will become a powerful business driver as it removes scheduling headaches and caters to all.

Existing surf parks have done a fine job of creating novelty options for advanced surfers, and this will keep evolving as the surfing does. Air sections will be a necessary feature of all surf parks, as will rippable walls and deep barrels. Once wave production becomes bountiful, the canvas for repetition will lend itself to R&D ventures that explore the possibilities of fin design and twin board shapes that may incorporate snow or wakeboard features for switch riding and a range of styles and tricks that haven’t yet been considered.

Despite all these exciting possibilities, the holy grail of surfing will never change. As the great Gerry Lopez said, “The more things change, the more they stay the same.” And there’s one thing that surfers will never tire of – getting relentlessly barrelled. So, returning to wave quality yet again, a great tube is essential to every successful surf park.

Hosting Events

When people find a good thing, they naturally want to bring family and friends. They plan their weekends there. They may even want to work remotely, host their own events or organise a special occasion to bring everyone together.

To host events, surf parks need to have adequate space, facilities, and operations. If this can be provided near a body of water, then people will gravitate to the location to spend their time. An atmosphere with waves breaking in the background where visitors can eat, drink, relax and socialise will lend itself to a huge range of events. From the MICE sector and corporate functions to private events like weddings, birthdays, bucks’ parties and then you’ve got a whole swathe of community and competitive events that can be hosted.

For surfing events, surf parks open a new venue option to brands and leagues looking to run contests in a controlled environment. We’ve already seen a range of surf comps run across different surf parks with great attendance, viewership and media capture.

Further afield in the surf industry, whether a brand is looking to launch a new range or test drive a new product, a controlled environment with perfect waves on repeat will always lend itself to quality content capture and team days.

Efficiency

Energy use is a big factor in both running costs and environmental impact for surf parks. Some parks have made great inroads and even achieved carbon neutrality, which is a fantastic sign for the industry.

Sustainability is one of Surf Lakes’ core values, meaning all licensees will be required to meet STOKE certification to ensure environmental standards are met.

The Surf Lakes design maximises efficiency by generating 14 rides per pulse of the machine (8 primary rides on the reefs and 6 learner rides on the inside). Furthermore, the Surf Lakes machine is designed to run on 100% electricity, allowing operators to harness renewable energy sources for daily operations.

As a unique category of surf park technology, Surf Lakes only uses a fraction of the energy that pneumatic technologies on the market use. And the commercial machine will likely reveal further efficiencies.

Surf Lakes’ Island Concept

The Surf Lakes island concept (pictured above) demonstrates a real estate development where residents of private waterfront homes can enjoy half of the lake, while the public enjoy the other half. This exciting new mixed-use approach guarantees real estate uplift, and patronage while catering to a range of demographics. With plenty of waves to go around

Community

Placemaking is essential to fashion an atmosphere that draws repeat visitation, but once the landscaping and design is addressed there needs to be more substance to the customer experience to pull people back. By supporting progress and rewarding visitation surf parks can roll out membership platforms with loyalty programs that punters are proud to be a part of. Gamifying sessions, incorporating media and allowing customers to form online communities or groups presents a fantastic route to encouraging interaction and user generated content.

Insider offers and experiences that can’t be bought are the holy grail of these platforms and by using ambassadors/collaborators and creating unique opportunities for members, surf parks can provide some truly unique offers.

Key Takeaways

As the surf park industry booms, there will be winners and wipeouts. The technology providers that listen to their audience, produce lots of high-quality waves in a supportive and challenging environment that provides atmosphere, excitement, and community will find themselves in a great position to cater to the masses and develop new communities that people gravitate towards.

Surf Lakes’ vision is to create a healthier world through surfing communities and technology. Each of these parks takes significant capital to get them up and running, but once operational, the rewards more than justify the means. Surf Lakes is currently taking investment at invest.surflakes.com if you’d like to own a piece of surfing’s future.

For developers and licensees looking to set up their own parks, you can complete the form below, and our team will be in touch.