About 10 resorts, cruise owners and travel agencies from Indonesia give brochures on the marine sales event on Thursday, Sept.10. (Photo: ECNS/Qian Ruisha)
(ECNS) -- Zhu Jing, fit-looking, slightly tanned and sporting a long ponytail, handed out flyers at a diving promotion event in Beijing's Xinjiang Hotel on Thursday night.
Now a diving instructor at Bali Scuba in Sanur, and the only Chinese PADI (Professional Association of Diving Instructors) curriculum director in Indonesia, Zhu was invited by the Embassy of Indonesia in Beijing and the Indonesian Ministry of Tourism to showcase the beauty of the country's diving destinations.
Used to work for a Fortune 500 company in Suzhou, Jiangsu province she got hooked on snorkeling during a trip to Malaysia. Zhu subsequently quit her job and started training in Thailand and the Philippines before she settled down in Bali as a diving instructor four years ago.
She is one of an increasing number of Chinese with a growing addiction to underwater pursuits.
"As Chinese incomes grow, the love for deep-sea exploration has also risen," said Yovanka Slahainenia, information officer of the Embassy's Social and Cultural Affairs. "We're holding the marine promotion event to tap into the Chinese diving community."
Bali has long been 'the' island for China's sea lovers. According to the Bali Statistics Bureau, Chinese made up the second largest group of foreign arrivals between January and July, with a total of 422,256 visitors, up nearly 28 percent year-on-year. Visa relaxation and cheaper air tickets are also fueling the tourism boom.
But Indonesia wants Chinese tourists to know that there are more diving spots that are just as good and pretty as Bali, Slahainenia said.
About 10 resorts, cruise owners and travel agencies from Indonesia, such as Grand Komodo, Pulau Weh Dive Resort, and Pearl of Papua, etc., supplied brochures and promo videos to appeal to dozens of Chinese travel agency representatives who attended the event on September 10.
"We're definitely seeing more and more diving enthusiasts from China, because Indonesia has the best prices, quality and service," said Tan Peck Sim of Grand Komodo, a local operator that offers diving in Raja Ampat, Komodo and other islands.
Indonesia has long been a big marine destiny for Europeans, Australians and Americans, while China's interest in diving is more recent.
According to China Underwater Association (CUA), revenue from dive tourism hit only 450 million yuan ($72.6 million) in 2010. The figure is expected to rise to over 2.13 billion yuan ($344 million) in 2015.
"Chinese are taking baby steps compared with Western divers, with most of my Chinese clients being middle-classed and blessed with lots of free time," Zhu said, adding that every month about 10 to 20 sign up for her class.
Linda Ding, head of the Beijing office of Xpertholiday, a travel agency headquartered in Hong Kong that specializes in dive tourism, said most of their customers are AOW (Advanced Open Water)-certified middle-class divers in their 30s and 40s.
Waters around China are not very attractive to divers for their low visibility, low temperature and a lack of biodiversity. Xpertholiday takes thousands of Chinese divers to spots in Asia each year, with Indonesia being a prime destination, Ding said.
China now ranks fourth among Indonesia's overseas arrivals, after Singapore, Malaysia and Australia, Jordi Paliama, head of Indonesia's Tourism Ministry Asia Pacific tourism market promotion division, said at the event. In 2014, about 697,000 Chinese visited Indonesia. The figure is expected to rise to 1.3 million in 2015.
"Chinese traveler mindsets are changing. They still think Wi-Fi is a must for their hotels," Tan said with a laugh. "But more and more have learned to enjoy the water."
As diving becomes a hit, an increasing number of Chinese train at home or abroad to become instructors.
According to the CUA, revenue from the dive training industry is forecast to reach 95 million yuan ($15.3 million) in 2015, which is a jump from only 20 million yuan ($3.2 million) five years ago.
Lulu Liu, operation manager for Mingrenzhide Diving Club, which was founded two years ago with offices in Beijing, Hong Kong and Shenzhen, has seen over 40 sign up for its training session in September. The club also rented open water sites in the coastal city of Shenzhen to offer better training.
According to Liu, leisure diving courses cost 4,000 yuan ($645) per person, which is pretty affordable. Courses for professional divers are priced at 25,000 ($4,000) yuan.
"We receive quite a lot of trainees with athletic backgrounds," Liu said. "They want to become instructors in overseas countries as they know those who speak Mandarin are in hot demand."
"I never regret quitting my office job and being a diving instructor," Zhu said. "Now I have the sea as my office, and I get to experience the different cultures of Bali."
