Panorama that can easily be found in this maritime country. With 95,181 kilometers long beach or the second longest in the world, spread out heaven with a variety of reef fish on the surface (pelagic) and bottom waters (demersal), caves, so the mountain beneath the sea.
Waters of Bunaken Island, North Sulawesi, is a small example of the nirvana that. Divers could run into with exotic fish, such as napoleon (Cheilinus undulatus), and the giant green turtle (Chelonia mydas). Hukurila Beach in Ambon, Maluku, and Wasage beach on the island of Buton, Southeast Sulawesi, fans will be served adrenaline challenge landscape caves under the sea.
In the southwest Mangehetang Island, Sangihe, North Sulawesi, divers can see the mountains under the sea in waters shallow enough to the point of the mountain crater at a depth of 8 meters.
"Almost countless dive sites in the country. The potential is so vast and each point offering spectacular diving underwater unique and different, "said Steven, who joined in peselam Club Professional Association of Diving Instructor (PADI).
Diving lovers club
Diving tours in the country started to develop since the early 1980s. Special interest also led to the birth lovers clubs diving, diving training center and tourist resort with a dive operator services that objects offer a great dive.
With the emergence of tourism objects dive, people's interest to know this sport continues to grow. The growing public interest is at least reflected in the exhibition and Extreme Deep Indonesia 2010 in Jakarta, Indonesia on 12-14 March 2010. With the entrance ticket Rp 20,000 per person, from morning till night thousands of visitors from within and outside the country crowded the booth shops scuba gear sales and travel agents.
Submarine service providers to use the momentum to the exhibition offers natural beauty ready to "exploit". A number of leaflets, DVDs, and books on tourist resorts and dive objects distributed free to visitors.
If the countries on the continent capable of stimulating the tourists with exotic artifisialnya building, not an exaggeration to dive operators and tourist resort services raise sea superiority in this equatorial country to tourists.
Biological diversity of fish resources in Indonesian waters is very high, reaching 37 percent of all fish species in the world. An estimated 2000 species of fish and 700 species of a total of 2,000 species of sponges that live in coral reef ecosystems in Southeast Asia.
More than a third species of whales and dolphins, and six of the seven types of turtles that live in the world can be found in the sea waters of Indonesia. This exoticism put Indonesia as one of the world's best dive sites.
Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries released, cover coral reefs in Indonesian waters ranging from 51,020 square kilometers. Coral reefs are still in good condition and very well estimated to be around 30 percent, or an area of 15,306 square kilometers.
According to the Marine Eco Tourism Development Consultant Cipto Aji Gunawan, the distribution of coral reefs that are not evenly distributed, the coral reef area that has the potential to become tourist submarine is estimated that only approximately 30 per cent or 4592 square kilometers.
However, every square kilometer dive object capable of producing income estimated 600,000 U.S. dollars per year. With that assumption, said Cipto, the potential velocity of money each year from diving tourism could reach 2.75 billion U.S. dollars per year. The amount is close to half of total foreign tourist in Indonesia in 2009 for 6.3 billion U.S. dollars, or Rp 65 trillion.
With the calculations that, there's no doubt that the management of diving tourism can be counted on to boost tourism. In fact, Indonesia ranks only fourth in Southeast Asia during a visit of foreign tourists (tourists) in 2008. Singapore occupied the first rank with an average of 15 million foreign tourists per year, ranking second and third place in Malaysia 10 million foreign tourists per year and Thailand's 10 million foreign tourists per year.
The question is, how serious dive tourism management efforts in Indonesia?
Compared with neighboring countries such as Thailand and Malaysia, the development of diving tourism in the country is still behind. In 2006, for example, the number of diving tourists in Indonesia range from 30,000 people had at the time of diving tourists in Thailand has reached 250,373 people and in Malaysia as many as 44,480 people.
Dropping it, among other things, triggered by the lack of accessibility to the tourist attraction. Compare this with the Caribbean Islands, each square kilometer diving attractions in the country able to reap revenues of 3 million U.S. dollars per year because of the ease of access and adequate infrastructure.
Director of Buton Resort and Dive Center John Fletcher argues, the natural beauty of the underwater world is very attractive for investment. He counted at least 72 point dive in the waters of Buton Island is now managed by the private sector.
"The potential that still needs to be polished experience with easy access to transport to attract more tourists," said a British man, whose previous profession as a consultant researcher and marine conservation of Indonesia's forests.
Diving tourism development not only bring in tourists, but also can be relied upon as cogs local economy. Unfortunately, not many dive tourism industry in the country are managed by community-based. Most of the tourist submarine business is currently managed foreign investors and often without involving the local population.
In Lombok, for example, diving tourism business is almost entirely controlled foreign investors. Foreign entrepreneurs penetrated even to cultivate business in the tourist submarine remote locations.
The lack of involvement of local residents in the cultivation of marine tourism potentials often trigger conflicts between communities and entrepreneurs. The conflict was more pointed when diving attractions continue to bring in money, while residents and local fishermen still sunk in poverty.
Dean of Faculty of Human Ecology, Bogor Agricultural University Arif Satria argued, problems that are often stuck in the development of marine tourism is a conflict between employers and the local fishermen. The conflict was often resulted in feuds with the businessman to fight antarpenduduk.
Dive tourism industry so that benefit the local economy, the government is required decisiveness in determining maritime tourism zoning area that does not conflict with the area of livelihood of local fishermen.