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Kandui Villas, a premier luxury surf resort located in one of the world’s prime surfing paradises on the Mentawai Islands in Indonesia, is now attracting more and more surfers from the GCC and the Middle East.
'Initially, our main consumer base came from the US, Australia and Brazil, due to their pre-existing surfing culture,' says Zachary Keenan, managing director of Kandui Villas. 'The resort had remained relatively secret up until a couple of years ago, when word on our world-class waves started to spread. As a result, we are seeing notable increases in interest from originally unexpected regions, in particular the GCC and Middle East. We put this down to the large number of expatriates living within this region.' Keenan says that the surfing culture in the Middle East, in particular UAE and Oman, has really grown over the past few years, with many surf-related businesses popping up and more and more expats introducing the sport to the local communities. 'As a result, over the last two years we have experienced year-on-year growth regarding booking inquiries and interest from the Middle East region, with the UAE being the dominant market, followed by Oman and Qatar,' says Keenan. Kandui Villas opened for business in May 2011, and is a partnership between US and Indonesian owners, with Hawaiian born Jordan Heuer creating the concept and seeing it through to completion. Kandui Villas is the ideal place for singles, couples, and families to enjoy their surfing vacation, providing them memories of a lifetime, he says. In addition to being surrounded by a ‘playground’ of some of the best waves in the world for surfers of all skill levels, Kandui Villas features a number of other activities to entertain its non-surfing guests, says Keenan.These include an infinity pool (said to be the only one of its kind in west Sumatra), a game room with ping pong and pool tables, an exercise room, yoga studio, snorkelling, kayaking, stand-up paddleboarding and fishing. Guests can also experience a traditional Indonesian massage using coconut oil made by local staff, or just enjoy walking on the beach and collecting shells, he says. The property also has modern amenities to cater to the comfort of its guests including wi-fi, and HD flat-screen televisions located in the bar for satellite TV and DVD movies, he says.