A quest to boost diving tourism

A dive company is on a quest to boost diving tourism in Brunei by bringing aspiring divers to witness one of the kingdom's most unexpected treasures.

Local company Oceanic Quest, a Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI) 5-Star dive centre, wants more Bruneians and tourists to take up scuba diving in Brunei and see for themselves the sheer beauty of Brunei's very own deep water marine life.

The company believes that the diving experience in Brunei can be as competitive as with diving in Langkawi in Malaysia or Phuket in Thailand, or even as far as the Maldives.

Having recently started up in the Sultanate early this year, the company hopes to do more to make scuba diving as one of the country's main attractions for tourists and locals alike, and urged that government support is highly crucial in achieving this goal.

"Professional diving has existed in Brunei for years now, with some dive centres still active and continue to lure in more members to explore the Brunei seabeds. However, the industry still struggle in getting more worldwide exposure, and Brunei is yet to be recognised as a lucrative scuba diving destination," said Steven Ty Ng of Oceanic Quest, who prefers to be called Steven by all.

"Brunei has its majestic mosques, its preserved rainforests, its rich culture and heritage. But there is as much attraction at the bottom of its sea as there are on land. The underwater attractions here are certainly worth diving for and we feel that many of the best-travelled divers in the world have yet to discover this secret garden," he added.

Steven personally described Brunei's reefs as 'the hidden secret of Borneo'. He said Brunei has a secret and it's one only scuba divers can uncover.

"The abundance and beauty of the corals on the country's pristine reefs are unrivalled in the South China Sea, and easily stand up to comparison with those on Australia's famous Great Barrier Reef. Not many people know that. They really have to see it to believe it," added Steven, who has over 16 years of experience in the field and has visited among the many popular diving sites around the world.

Steven said that the Brunei government has to recognise diving as part of tourism.

"There has been quite a lot of interest from both locals and foreigners about the diving environment in Brunei. In fact, Brunei's dive community is growing with an estimated 10,000 members," said Steven.

"The diving centres in Brunei such as ourselves would gladly carry out the heavy marketing to further promote the country's underwater reefs and attract more divers from around the world, but we still need government support. They could start by setting up infrastructure, such as proper jetties and roads for dive boat launching, which would improve accessability for us and divers," he added.

He also said that the government can further help make dive tourism more sustainable by declaring some diving sites in Brunei to become protected marine park which could evidently protect the marine life.

"Having a designated marine park and enforcing regulations to protect divers and the marine environment alike would help to promote diving as a safe sport for tourists and experienced divers to pursue. It would also help to protect the fish and marine life that grow around shipwrecks and oil rigs, which are an attraction to divers," he said.

Steven said that the company is currently working together with the Fisheries Department on plans for a Marine Protected Area for Brunei's waters, as well as participating in ocean cleanup activities for the department's reef-check programme.

"I am confident that with proper marketing and proper infrastructure, we can groom this industry to be a money-making industry. We have seen how the Malaysian and Thai tourism, through their diving attractions, have actually contributed to its economy indirectly and directly. I don't see why we are not capable of doing the same," he said.

Based in Serasa, Oceanic Quest offers PADI certified diving courses for new diving members and organise specific dive trips for club members at affordable rates. PADI is the world's recognised and leading scuba diving training organization.

Steven said diving is a year round, with the best season being March to November, where the water temperatures are between 27 to 29 degrees Celsius.

"Brunei diving is diversified. Experienced divers will find plenty of interest while those wanting to learn can do so in a safe yet hardly explored environment," he added.

The company also hoped to recruit aspiring photographers and photojournalists into scuba diving.

The Brunei Times