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Leisure Activities in Marine Environments

In recent years we have seen a veritable ‘explosion’ in the use of the sea for a growing variety of marine leisure activities. This is now a truly global phenomenon that can be seen from Iceland to South Africa, Australia to Florida. Activities in the sea have always been part of coastal tourism, from paddling and swimming to sailing and diving to angling and boat trips. However, in the past decade or two we have seen the invention of new activities and the developments of variations on traditional marine activities. We now have coasteering, wild swimming, paddle-boarding, RIB and banana boats and sea kayaking, all giving tourists further opportunities to get pleasure from the marine environment. Many of these activities also reflect a change in marine leisure with an increase in active rather than passive activities and an increase in adventure activities. This has, inevitably, increased the risk level of sea-based leisure activities in some ways. Several of the more adventurous new activities also involve travelling further from land or to less developed areas of coast, increasing the risk further. Interestingly, it appears that many tourists become ‘hooked’ on some sea-based leisure activities once they have experienced them on vacation. From that point onwards their desire to continue to participate in an activity will often influence their choice of vacation destination. The innovative developments we have seen in terms of sea-based leisure activities have led to a huge increase in participation in marine leisure activities. This has been stimulated by, and reflected in, the investment made in equipment and infrastructure for such activities by governments, commercial operators, and hotels and resorts.