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Scuba Diving Seen as Hedge Against Recession


Photograph, Scuba diving, Puerto Galera

According to dive shop operators that we spoke to within the last ten days, in Puerto Galera, Mactan Island and Subic Bay, the Philippine scuba diving business is solid and shows no signs yet of suffering from the global recession.

Part of the reason for the resilience of Philippine scuba diving was put down to the fact that most international arrivals in the past month had already booked and paid for their Philippine diving vacations long before the recession took hold in the rest of the world. But along La Laguna and Sabang Beaches in particular the resilience was attributed to the “value for money” that scuba divers can find in the Philippines. Apart from the Great Barrier Reef in Australia it is almost impossible to find such marine biodiversity in such a relatively small area of ocean.

At the restaurant of Badladz resort and dive shop in Puerto Galera on Monday we met Australian, “Yes, that’s my real name” John Smith, who confirmed the value-for-money theory, “I’m a wreck diver” pointing to his Truck Lagoon, Micronesia, T-shirt, “I love wrecks but I also enjoy the variety of marine life here in Puerto Galera.

“This is my second diving trip to the Philippines this year . . . I did the Coron wrecks in April . . . the scuba diving here is great and I can find friends more easily here than anywhere else I have been.”

For those with a passion for scuba diving, the Philippines offers great value for money and, with the new infrastructure rolling out into all corners of the country, it is even easier to get to the places of most interest.

Sean Cooney, of Manila headquartered Aquaventure Whitetip Dive Supply, sees the latest troubles in Thailand as potentially boosting certain destinations such as the Philippines, “Any effects we do see from the current financial crisis, I expect, will be offset by an increase in tourists who, for obvious reasons, have decided not to chose Thailand as their vacation destination.”

Watch out here at GetWet for news in January of weekend and weekday getaway scuba diving safaris around Bohol Island using the luxury hotels and resorts on Mactan Island as a base.

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