Bali has abundant, untapped diving destinations

Bali has abundant, untapped diving destinations

Ayu Anggraeni, Contributor, Karangasem, East Bali

Tourism, which provides the bulk of the diving industry's income,
is already one of Southeast Asia's most important money-spinners,
and moves are afoot to further improve infrastructure and make
the respective countries more palatable to international
travelers.

Indonesia, with its 17,000 islands, plays host to 16 percent
of the world's coral reefs and is already known worldwide as one
of the top diving destinations.

Exotic and consummate dive destinations like Bali, Lombok in
West Nusa Tenggara, Manado in North Sulawesi and choice islands
in the Flores Sea and the Banda Sea already figure prominently in
any seasoned diver's logbook.

Discounting the huge majority of the 17,000 islands, which
remain underdeveloped, Indonesia still offers a sizable, untapped
potential. As competition intensifies across the region, tourists
will likely be drawn to the destinations that best market and
manage their tourism products and potential.

At a recent seminar on the potential of the country's marine
potential, organized by the Bali's Marine Journalists
Association, in Sanur, vice president of PADI Asia-Pacific Claus
C. Nimb said that in the past three years, the Asian region had
produced consistently an annual double-digit certification growth
figure, placing Asia as the top-performing region in the world
for recreational scuba diving.

This was based on the issuance of diving certificates provided
to professional dive operators and professional divers.

"Those figures were based on the issuance of certificates from
PADI international dive training and operators, not to mention
those issued by other operators," he said.

Australia and Thailand still enjoy the bulk of the total
certification pool, with 64,800 and 53,000 certifications
respectively in 2002. The Philippines, in the meantime, turned
out 13,700 certifications, New Zealand 11,000, Malaysia 8,500,
Indonesian 8,300 and Singapore 6,400. All these markets, with the
exception of Indonesia, have over the past three years produced
annual growth figures between 2.5 percent and 22 percent.

Among marine sports, scuba diving uniquely offers a three-
dimensional sensory experience, a full range of experiences from
relaxing to high adventure, interactions with other people and
life forms, fish, turtles, dolphins, mantas and enrichment of a
person's sense of purpose and self. "And this is a most lucrative
business," Nimb added.

According to a PADI survey, most divers are between 16 and 40
years of age and 69 percent are male. They are outdoor-loving,
fun-seeking and adventurous individuals with a steady job. During
their diving trips, they prefer middle- to upper-class (up to
US$125 per night) accommodation. The diving individual spends an
average of $2,200 on his five- to 10-day holiday.

According to Cipto A.Gunawan of Bahtera Lestari, a community-
based integrated marine ecotourism and eco-training management
organization, Indonesia has more diving destinations as compared
with Thailand.

But Thailand earned approximately $128 million to $240 million
in foreign exchange revenue from scuba diving and related
activities, while the equivalent figure for Indonesia was only
$13.18 million to $24 million.

"If we managed our diving industry properly, we could earn
about $507 million to $960 million from diving, hotel
accommodation, diving facilities and other related activities,"
Gunawan said.

A number of factors have hampered the development of the local
diving industry. First, a lack of integrated government policies,
which regulate underwater development and protection.

Gunawan noted that the government, as well as the public,
still had little understanding of how to manage and protect our
marine resources.

Local fishermen, for instance, have no understanding of how to
catch fish and marine produce without destroying the environment.

"Traditional fishing practices, which often use potassium
bombs to catch fish, have certainly destroyed the rich coral
reefs and other marine species," Gunawan said.

"Indonesia has not yet marketed its diving destinations in the
international tourism markets," he said. "We promote our products
by ourselves without integrated and government-supported
promotional campaigns," he added.

To make matter worse, Indonesia has only a small number of
professional trainers and dive operators. Inadequate
infrastructure, including roads, proper diving sites and
facilities, have also prevented both domestic and foreign divers
from reaching beautiful diving destinations in Indonesia's remote
islands, such as in West and East Nusa Tenggara provinces.

"Bali has been the best diving destination in Indonesia, with
adequate facilities and a lot of professional diving trainers,"
he said.

However, a series of incidents, such as the Bali bombing, and
the resultant travel advisories imposed by certain countries,
have left the diving industry on the island in a difficult
position.

The Association of Marine Tourism Association's Bali Chapter
has created a number of programs to attract international divers
back to the island.

Among the programs are Dive for Peace, the Darwin-Bali Yacht
Race in corporation with the Australian Yacht Club and ocean
clean up, together with the Singapore Diving Community, to clean
up Bali's beaches and underwater.

Gogo Prayogo, chairman of the association, has called on the
government to help support marine tourism operators, especially
those in Bali, which is the prima donna of Indonesia's marine
tourism.

He also suggested the government ease the complicated
regulations concerning diving and marine sports.

Complicated government bureaucracy in the issuance of various
permits for operators and international divers and sportsmen has
forced them to look to other diving alternatives, he said.

"Compared with those in Thailand and Malaysia, Indonesia's
immigration system and marine policies are the most complicated.
Thousands of divers prefer to avoid Indonesian waters because of
this ongoing problem," Prayogo said.

More importantly, he said, both the government and the banking
sectors were still reluctant to support the development of marine
tourism in Indonesia, despite abundant resources.

"The government has only provided rhetoric. The banking sector
has been unhelpful so far," said an executive of a marine resort,
who declined to be named.