AUSTRALIA - Asia-Pacific competition blamed for dive firm demise

ABC tropical north Queensland, 20 October 2006

New and improved Asia-Pacific dive operations are being blamed for a downturn in dive tourism in the Whitsundays.

Col McKenzie from Dive Queensland says the closure of Whitsunday dive school Pro Dive reflects the shrinking number of backpackers visiting the region for scuba diving training.

Outgoing Pro Dive general manager Alan Irving says Whitsunday dive operations need better marketing to compete with overseas destinations.

Mr McKenzie says the region's dive industry needs to compete with the new Asian markets on quality rather than price.

"What we're seeing is that the dive industry in Queensland is trying to promote itself with its own money and we're competing against foreign governments to do that and we have seen a decline of about, say, 30 per cent in the diving industry at a time when the increase in Thailand, for example, has been something like 40 per cent," he said.

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