Lonely Planet Best Places to Learn to Dive

[supergaijin]

The best places to learn to dive - travel tips and articles - Lonely Planet

Having worked in a couple of these areas... I don't actually agree with many of the comments but it gives a little info of diver training options around the world.

This one in particular I've only seen on Koh Tao:

Strike a bargain – many outfits offer free or discounted accommodation if you dive with them.
Read more: The best places to learn to dive - travel tips and articles - Lonely Planet

 

[Quero]

LP markets to the backpacker/budget tourist demographic, and their list is evidence of that. I've dived in a number of these places, and for backpackers, the comments published about each one are probably are exactly what their readers are looking for.

---------- Post added August 12th, 2013 at 11:19 PM ----------

Oh, and here's a typical post to LP's forum--this was just posted today (emphasis mine)

Hi, I'm interested in doing my divemaster and am looking for advice. I live in Canada and am looking for a place to go do my divemaster i am open to anywhere really the only thing is i am a student and don't have a lot of money. So somewhere with accommodation/food is included and just general cheap living expenses would be great!

This demographic doesn't ever put quality or safety as their primary requirement when they are looking for training locales.

 

[Lorenzoid]

LP markets to the backpacker/budget tourist demographic . . . .

As some of us age and find ourselves with a bigger budget, we still turn to LP to help make the budget go farther. I've been referred to as a "flashpacker"--someone who could travel in comfort if he wanted to--and occasionally does--but generally enjoys the challenge of living on the cheap out of a backpack.

 

[Quero]

That may be, L, but their main focus is on that particular demographic, which explains why they have selected the locales listed in the article they have published. If you ever read the LP forum in the Diving and Snorkeling section, you'll see that the vast majority of those posting questions are in fact young backpackers. LP is a publication that aims to make money, and they have their target audience. Even if others outside that target group purchase the books, they still write with the target audience in mind in order to drive sales of the books.

 

[Lorenzoid]

Quero, I'm not sure what, if any, point I was trying make Though my days of backpacking on a tight budget are behind me, I still use the LP books regularly for general travel advice--I have shelves full of them--and use the LP Thorntree forum, but I usually steer clear of the Diving and Snorkeling branch.

 

[Quero]

I understand, L. I've written a whole stack of books for commercial publication--text books for use in classrooms. My books were mostly written with Latin America as the target market, and while writing I always, always, always had that in mind. Of course I was delighted to see adoptions of the book by schools outside that demographic, but that didn't change any of the marketing campaigns nor did it impact my writing for the next book. Publishing is an industry, and like all business ventures, a publishing company is in it for the profit first and foremost, not for the pursuit of "truth" (not the least of which is because, after all, what is most insightful for one group of readers is going to mislead another group). Thank goodness there are so many kinds of readers, tourists, divers, etc., out there or we wouldn't have the benefit of the variety of guide books for divers that are available!