Philippine dive industry...to progress or not to progress.

[dingho]

sorry to see you (pakman) get my message very WRONG! please re read the 2 message. i do not belong to the D.O.T., not belong to any private sector, i work freelance. and I am surprise to find out the government (D.O.T.) is working very hard in promoting the philippines dive tourism, need private sector HELP, but only few like to assist in giving us the promotion material, or join the PCSSD, D.O.T., almost w/o private surport and they did a very good job. i wish you could love the Philippines, if you dive here, and I think you did. if you are a foreigner, what ever you though, is O.K. but if you are a Filipino, this is the only country you have. that's why I alway said White pinoy (Tim of Ocean Deep, Frank of LLBC, Chris of Sea Explorer, Johnny Dive and many more etc.)love the Philippines more than the Malay pinoy!!!

 

[bisugo767]

Dingho, thank you for dropping by and giving us your take on what the DOT is doing to help promote the dive industry. It is sad though that only a handful of private businesses participated in the China show. I am not sure if there is one but all the dive ops in the Philippines should band together and create a dive association and help promote Philippine diving. Not only that, a united body of dive ops will help foster healthy competition, raise the standards of dive ops in the country, foster brotherhood among businesses, help promote each other through networking and referrals, and through one concerted effort attend shows in the US, Europe and Asia. It is difficult for an average dive shop owner to be able to afford taking trips abroad to promote just his or her business. It is just too much expense. But, if it is a collective of dive shops then it now seems to be possible. I thought there was some kind of dive operators association based out of Cebu? I am not sure but I thought there was. Can you confirm this? If there are a handful of dive associations representing various local dive ops, then it will be easier for the DOT to reach everyone and let them know of any upcoming marketing and promotional events.

I am glad that you decided to participate in this discussion. In this thread and another thread, there is some really good discussion as to why the Philippines do not get to much exposure in North America. (I know I may be hi-jacking my own thread but the two threads are related in a way). Please check it out. There are a lot of valuable information here that will help guide DOT in their promotional efforts. I do know that you are only a volunteer and I salute you for your efforts. I wish I could give something back to the "Inang Bayan" (Mother Country) through promotion of local tourism but I have not dived the Philippines yet so I do not know what I can bring to the table. Eversince I was a kid, I am already enthusiastic about learing how to scuba but scuba , then and now, is a very expensive sport for the common Pinoy. I only learned to Scuba when I moved to Canada and at a later age. But, sadly, some of the best tropical diving is back home. I guess you can't have them all.

Phil (bisugo767)