In mid-2020, with international flights suspended because of COVID-19, Timor-Leste’s dive operators and the Market Development Facility (MDF) released a promotional video called A message from Timor-Leste. It mixed underwater footage with a message to the global diving community that local operators would stay positive and be ready to welcome divers back.
Background
- Dive operators in Timor-Leste are small local businesses. Working alone, they had struggled to market the country as a dive destination.
- In 2018 MDF, an Australian Government-funded programme, brought them together as the Dive Operators Working Group. The group had started a joint destination-marketing campaign that was beginning to bring results.
- Bookings for the 2020 season were cancelled when flights stopped.
Plans the group had put on hold
- An international underwater photography competition
- Training for whale-watching operations
- More destination marketing
- Raising awareness of marine protection, including pushing to limit the damage construction projects do to dive sites
- Better working relationships with the government agencies responsible for marine conservation
Diving in Timor-Leste has since restarted. See our list of dive operators for current options.
Further reading
- Timor-Leste Tourism Photo Competition (MDF, 2021)
- Opportunities & Prospects for Growing Marine Tourism (2020)