World Surf League championship tour to return to Snapper Rocks in 2025

South east Queensland's well known surf break Snapper Rocks is to return to the World Surf League (WSL) championship tour as of next year.

A four-year agreement between the WSL, the City of Gold Coast and Tourism and Events Queensland (TEQ), will see the event will return to Coolangatta from 2025.

Snapper Rocks was the season opener for the elite surfing tour for two decades until the event was axed in a major shake-up to the schedule during the COVID pandemic.

The WSL took a break from competition during the first year of the pandemic and when it returned in 2021, the Gold Coast lost its hosting rights because of a dispute between the Queensland Government and WSL over COVID restrictions.

For the past three years Snapper Rocks has instead hosted the opening event of the WSL's second-tier competition, the Challenger Series, as part of a revamped format for professional surfing.

The championship tour contest was an important part of the social fabric and surf culture of Coolangatta - a region that has produced more world champions than anywhere in the world.

Three-time world champ and two-time winner at Snapper Rocks, Mick Fanning, said losing the event had been a heartbreaking blow to the community.

Fanning told the ABC "to not have it here was so sad, not only for us surfers who want people [to] surf our waves, but also for the kids growing up seeing what the benchmark is and what is actually possible at their home break.”

TEQ has predicted the event's return to the Gold Coast will attract 14,000 fans and inject $2.9 million into the local economy.

The 2024 Australian leg of the WSL includes stops at Bells Beach in March and Margaret River April.

According to Experience Gold Coast, the city's peak tourism body, Snapper Rocks will be the third stop on the tour's 2025 Australian leg after events in Victoria and Western Australia.

Image: Snapper Rocks. Credit: World Surf League.