MANILA — With over a hundred identified diving spots across the Philippine archipelago rich in corals and marine species, the diving community in the Philippines and the government hope to tap a bigger share of the world's diving market.
The Asian Diving Society Foundation recently organised a symposium about the country's dive tourism to encourage Philippine embassies and consulates abroad to promote and market the country as a premier diving tourism destination.
"Our foreign affairs personnel are the country's front liners abroad and are blessed to be in a position to help introduce the country's dive attractions to interested tourists," said Josue Sim Zuniega, president of the foundation.
Speaking at the symposium, Domingo Ramon Enerio III of the Philippine government's Tourism Promotions Board said that, based on latest available data from the tourism department, the Philippines received 126,200 foreign dive tourists in 2012.
It was higher than the previous year's 59,572, and the 2010 tally of 89,911. Top markets include South Korea, the United States and Germany.
Enerio said the government expects 200,000 foreign divers to visit the Philippines this year.
"It's growing, although not as much as we would like it to," Enerio told Kyodo News after his presentation. "The growth of arrivals is because of the increasing popularity of the Philippines as a diving destination as an effect of government marketing, and also of the investments being made by private sector partners."
"Of course, there is also a much better appreciation by the diving communities about the Philippines, being in the centre of marine biodiversity," he added.
He cited a 2014 estimate by the Professional Association of Diving Instructors -- the largest certifying dive association in the world -- that indicated the global dive market could be as high as 24 million people, with 6 million of those considered as active divers.
Together with data from other agencies, the estimated total active divers all over the world could be as high as 8.75 million.
Enerio said a diver is likely to spend up to 20% more than the amount of money a regular tourist shells out per visit. Aside from such revenue, tourist arrivals also generate employment for local people.
In 2015, the arrival in the country of 5.36 million foreign visitors yielded a little over $5 billion in international tourism revenues and created 4.99 million jobs in tourism-related industries.
Enerio, who also used to dive, summed up in three words the characteristics of the Philippines as a dive destination: rarity, diversity and value.
Rarity is because many underwater sights are unique only to the Philippines, diversity points to abundance in fish and other marine species and value refers to cheaper costs compared with other dive destinations in the world.
He notes that there are at least 2,500 species of fish and about 500 species of corals in the country, higher than in those in the Caribbean or other popular diving areas across the globe.
Among popular dive spots in the Philippines are the Tubbataha Reef in the westernmost province of Palawan, which is a national marine park and a Unesco World Heritage Site; Anilao in Batangas province, south of Manila; Apo Reef in the central-western coast; Apo Island in the central region; and the central provinces of Bohol and Cebu.
Ryoshiro Ejima, a Japanese diver who gave a presentation at the symposium, said he fell in love with the Anilao diving spot after he first explored it in 1982 and quit his job in Kumamoto, southwestern Japan, shortly after to pursue his passion for diving.
"I was shocked. It was very beautiful," he told Kyodo News. "There were many corals and many fish. Everything was exciting," recounted the 67-year-old who has lived in the Philippines since 1985 and went on to open diving shops in various parts of the country.
Having also dived in Japan, Thailand, Guam, Palau and Australia, Ejima, who is currently engaged in television production, regards the Philippines as having the best underwater sites.
He pointed out, however, that typhoons are a major source of threat to the country's marine resources.
Enerio also mentioned some other threats to the underwater habitat, including continuing illegal practices such as the use of dynamites and cyanides for fishing, overfishing and lack of anchor lines or buoys for diving.
Other concerns include unregulated fee structures for diving, especially by local governments, shortage of accommodation facilities for visiting dive tourists, and lack of functional hyperbaric chambers and special medical teams and services for emergency evacuation.
There is also not enough certified local guides and dive spotters as well as a lack of infrastructure for easy and convenient access to diving areas.
Through events such as the diving tourism forum, which Zuniega described as an interagency collaboration effort, all stakeholders are expected to address the identified challenges.
"The symposium intends to provide basic information on dive tourism to enhance our appreciation of the country's dive attractions," Jesus Domingo, assistant secretary of the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs, said at the symposium.
"In turn, it is hoped that this will encourage deeper exploration of our dive sites and industry so that we may all become better diver tourism advocates," Domingo added.
