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A selfie photo taken by Chinese diving enthusiast Ryan Gao during a trip to Papua New Guinea in July. Photo: Ryan Gao

Update | China’s diving enthusiasts happy to be all at sea on picture-perfect holidays

Easing of visa restrictions and inexpensive flights abroad see mainland's rising middle-class travellers revel in ocean holidays - with a difference

I love to explore the amazing underwater world – it’s just like the second universe of the world
Ryan Gao, Kunming diving enthusiast

Like many tourists, Ryan Gao loves taking photographs when he is on holiday, but he does not take the typical kind of pictures – because most of his time is spent underwater.

His combined passion for diving and photography meant he did not think twice about spending more than 100,000 yuan (HK$126,000) last year on two underwater housings to make his digital cameras waterproof and underwater lighting.

The 28-year-old from Kunming, on the inland province of Yunnan, even quit his job at a bank a few months ago so that he could spend all his time diving around the world.

For the past two years Gao has been taking diving holidays to destinations such as Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines in Southeast Asia and also the Maldives, Papua New Guinea and Ecuador.

“I love to explore the amazing underwater world – it’s just like the second universe of the world,” Gao said.

He is one of an increasing number of wealthy mainland tourists who are now interested in experiencing underwater holidays.

Many nations around the world, including the United States, Japan and South Korea, have extended the length of visas and lowered the threshold for travel approval to attracted mainland travellers.

The greater availability of inexpensive flights has also helped to entice the nation’s rising middle-class travellers to choose holidays with a difference – beneath the surface of the world’s oceans.

The annual survey, Chinese International Travel Monitor, produced by Hotels.com, the online accommodation booking website, questioned 3,074 eligible respondents across the country. It found that about 30 per cent of respondents prefer resorts and beaches, while 10 per cent love to take part in adventurous activities and outdoor pursuits.

It doesn’t take too long to fly from the mainland to any of the southeast Asian islands, which is one of the reasons diving has been growing in popularity on the mainland
Denys Yao, diving company co-founder

Sandy You, a Guangzhou-based agent supplying underwater cameras and equipment, said most of her clients were people from higher income levels, including entrepreneurs, traders and financial investors, who were eager to discover exciting places to go diving and photograph the beauty of the underwater world.

She said that two years ago few mainlanders were interested in buying expensive products made by SeaCam, a luxury underwater photography brand; a SeaCam camera package, including a camera, waterproof housing and lighting, can cost about 100,000 yuan, while rival brands offer similar equipment that costs between 40,000 yuan and 60,000 yuan each.

“Now there are a group of loyal SeaCam users who buy the company’s products on the mainland,” You said.

She is one of the first mainlanders to focus her business efforts on the growing passion for diving among the nation’s wealthier population.

Figures from Chinese Underwater Association show that revenues generated from the mainland’s diving-related tourism are expected to exceed 2.13 billion yuan this year, compared with only 450 million yuan in 2010.

Revenue from the diving training industry is also on the rise and is forecast to reach 95 million yuan this year – up from 20 million yuan only five years ago.

Denys Yao, co-founder of ScubaCrew, a diving company based in Shanghai, bought a diving resort on Malapascua Island in the Philippines in May.

The resort includes 19 rooms, a training centre, four dive boats and – importantly – a Chinese restaurant, while a three-metre-deep training pool is now under construction.

It is part of the former financial analyst’s expanding diving business, which includes five diving training centres on the mainland, and the sale of diving equipment.

About 3,000 diving enthusiasts, mostly from the mainland, are already taking part in training courses at his centres each year, with each three-day course costing about 2,500 yuan – an affordable price for many tourists now travelling abroad.

“It doesn’t take too long to fly from the mainland to any of the southeast Asian islands, which is a huge benefit for mainlanders who love diving, and one of the reasons the activity has been growing in popularity,” Yao said.

The Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI), the world’s leading scuba diver training organisation, has also recognised the large annual increase in the number of qualified divers from mainland during the past few years – up 41 per cent in 2014 compared with the year before, which followed a 71 per cent increase in 2013 compared with 2012, said Tommy Pan, regional manager of PADI Asia Pacific.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch  has predicted that about 174 million mainland outbound tourists will spend US$264 billion by 2019.

It means that Pan is optimistic about the emerging diving-related industry on the mainland.

“As an increasing number of mainlanders become certified divers they will return their hometowns and help to promote the activity so more and more people will develop a passion for diving,” Pan said.

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: Divers happy to be all at sea on picture-perfect holidays
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