RedSeaDiver2
Contributor
Thinking about the discussion over in the Egyptian liveaboard fire thread, it has just occurred to me that we (the scubaboard community) have an opportunity to do some good by perhaps thinking more about where we go for our diving holidays - perhaps by factoring into our destination choice decision some thinking about which destinations are more in need of our tourism dollars. There are some countries where the people and the economy has been badly affected by lack of tourism during COVID and the effects of the Ukraine war such as much higher grain prices. Some countries have fairly competent governments but unfortunate circumstances, other countries have incompetent governments and the people are forced to suffer because of that. An example of the former is Egypt - the Morsi government is doing a lot of good work in some difficult circumstances (tourism before COVID used to be 10% of Egypt's GDP, and Egypt is the biggest importer of grain in the world), and an example of a country that is doing it hard because of an incompetent government is Lebanon - COVID, the massive port explosion, and other factors have combined to completely destroy the Lebanese economy - but it does have what looks to be some pretty good tech diving in the 40-60 metre range for tech divers.
One of the problems with the dive industry in Egypt is that many of the "name" operators are based in Europe and when you book and pay for a dive holiday with them the money gets sent to a European bank account rather than into Egypt's economy.
Should we as a community start to think more about where we holiday and who we support, and perhaps try to identify good local dive companies in various countries to help better support their economy?
One of the problems with the dive industry in Egypt is that many of the "name" operators are based in Europe and when you book and pay for a dive holiday with them the money gets sent to a European bank account rather than into Egypt's economy.
Should we as a community start to think more about where we holiday and who we support, and perhaps try to identify good local dive companies in various countries to help better support their economy?