Tina Mai - V
The road to An Englishman’s love spawns diving industry
An Englishman’s love spawns diving industry | |||||
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In 1995, Jeremy P. Stein traveled to Nha Trang in the central province of Khanh Hoa. He was soon captivated by the sea, and a year later, set up Nha Trang Rainbow Divers. Stein’s business is the first and only dive center in Vietnam and is ranked by the world’s Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI) as one of the top 30 of 500 dive centers around the world. Stein said he had no experience with diving until his first dive off Nha Trang, when a local fisherman gave him plastic goggles and explained how to breathe underwater. It was love at first sight. Stein began to dive every day to find fascinating coral reefs, home to millions of sea creatures. After one week, diving and Nha Trang had captivated him and he decided to open a diving school right on the beach, even though that meant leaving his girlfriend in England. Stein said the beautiful tranquil sea off Nha Trang helped him discover his passion for sea adventures and he had to do something in return. After 12 years of building Rainbow Divers into a renowned dive center in Vietnam and overseas, Jeremy is now a PADI “course director,” the highest qualification a diving instructor can achieve. With its international dive team gathered from 10 countries, Stein’s Rainbow Divers has become synonymous with professional training and diving standards. Nha Trang Rainbow Divers also holds diving courses in seaside towns around Vietnam such as the central town of Hoi An and the southern islands of Con Dao and Phu Quoc. Jeremy said every year Nha Trang received about 25,000 to 35,000 groups of dive tourists. These tourists often stay several days and spend quite a bit of money. Many dive instructors, such as Jeremy, said Khanh Hoa Province should invest more in this lucrative business, which can charge between US$20 to $200 for diving services, to boost the local tourist industry. Nha Trang City has more than 100 instructors working at nine dive centers and six out of 21 instructors at Rainbow Divers are recognized by PADI as professional instructors. PADI is the world’s largest recreational diving membership and diver training organization founded in 1966. It is a US-based corporation with branches in Australia, Canada, Switzerland, Japan, Sweden and the United Kingdom. PADI offices cater to over 130,000 professional individuals and 5,300 dive centers and resorts in more than 180 countries and territories. Source: Lao Dong | |||||
