Nihiwatu Beach, Sumba, Indonesia

The hotel's new owner, Chris Burch (the US retail entrepreneur and co-founder of Tory Burch), lounges in an Adirondack chair nearby. He's on the island to formalise his relationship with Nihiwatu's creators, Claude and Petra Graves.

The deal should extend the resort's visibility beyond the surfing community, while ensuring future profits will be channelled into The Sumba Foundation, which is the philanthropic concern Graves will continue to help drive.

This includes tackling the very real issue of malaria, so far reduced by 86 per cent within a 20km radius of Nihiwatu with a convincing strategy overseen by health director Dr Claus Bogh.

But that is not the only strand of the foundation's work: it has already provided 172 villages with clean water and is also addressing education and malnutrition.

Evidence of success in every village I visit is brought into sharp relief by those island communities that haven't yet been reached by the foundation. Indeed, there's still much to do: another five to eight years work and about £5 million, says Bogh, and there's a chance malaria can be eradicated island-wide.

It's a bold statement, and one the resort's new owner says he will take on board. First, he has to ensure Nihiwatu turns a decent profit - and attracts the kind of traveller who might engage with local issues. For this, Burch will rely heavily on another shareholder, James McBride, the South African-born former manager of The Carlyle in New York, who originally brought Graves and Burch to the table.

'When I first came here, the rawness and the tribal culture felt like Africa,' says McBride.

'Then I dug deeper and began to understand the foundation's goals and the islanders, and that changed everything. I had to help make it work.

Matira Beach, Bora Bora, Tahiti

    Bora Bora is an island in the Leeward group of the Society Islands of French Polynesia, an overseas collectivity of France in the Pacific Ocean. The island, located about 230 kilometres (143 miles) northwest of Papeete, is surrounded by a lagoon and a barrier reef. In the centre of the island are the remnants of an extinct volcano rising to two peaks, Mount Pahia and Mount Otemanu, the highest point at 727 metres (2,385 feet).

Bora Bora a major international tourist destination, famous for its aqua-centric luxury resorts. The major settlement, Vaitape, is on the western side of the main island, opposite the main channel into the lagoon. Produce of the island is mostly limited to what can be obtained from the sea and the plentiful coconut trees, which were historically of economic importance for copra. According to a 2008 census, Bora Bora has a permanent population of 8,880.

Bora Bora like the Gwyneth Paltrow of beaches: a little too perfect to be believable. But the spell that this small island in French Polynesia has cast on probably every traveler ever to dip a toe into its soft sands or calm waters has yet to be broken. Bora Bora is a heavy tourist destination -- luxury resorts and budget bungalows dapple the white sand perimeter. But its best spot, Matira Beach, reminds you why places like this become popular in the first place.