As the Novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak spreads, more than 50 countries or territories have imposed travel restrictions and tightened visa requirements for people travelling from mainland China.
Despite the challenges and pressures that all industries are currently facing, the efforts made by some dive operators have been impressive.
Here are some success stories from our fellow dive shops in Thailand.
JK Dive Center
Many Chinese travelers have extended their holiday in Phuket. The team at JK Dive Center has made an extra effort to hand out Go Dive brochures and flyers at local hotels, travel agents, and restaurants. As a result, they have been booked out for most of February.
Peps Dive Thailand
With millions of people across China under lockdown, the team at Peps Dive Thailand started to do live streaming on Kuaishou, a popular live broadcasting app in China, to keep their customers occupied and connected to scuba diving as well as to the ocean.
The dive shop manager, Sun Chao, said this trial turned out to be a huge success as at one point they attracted over 10,000 audiences and received very positive feedback from their previous customers.
Ban’s Diving Resort
The Course Director, Joey Zhou, from Ban’s Diving Resort, has shared his tips for keeping his Chinese instructor team busy. Each Chinese instructor has encouraged their Chinese students to continuously share social media updates about diving and things they do in Koh Tao during their Open Water Diver courses. This significantly helped the dive shop pick up referral bookings.
Asia Divers
Recently, Asia Divers in Koh Tao had a young Chinese couple complete their Open Water Diver course. When they decided to extend their stay in Thailand, they came back to the dive shop to enquire about coned courses as they both had such a great experience. And guess what? They now have completed their PADI Rescue Diver courses, and are even considering to join the next available Dive Master course.
PADI President & CEO, Drew Richardson, has put together the below video for all dive shops affected by the Novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak.
Again, we would like to thank all members for your support and effort in this challenging time. Here’s some new PADI eLearning & Diver Acquisition Chinese Marketing Toolkits to help with your marketing efforts. Please contact your regional manager if you have any questions or need any further support.
