Identifying the motivation of qualified scuba divers to visit the Maltese Islands

Abstract

Scuba diving is a niche tourism product depending on the marine environment which is growing in demand worldwide. Malta attracts a significant number of scuba divers every year that visit to explore the Maltese waters. Malta has made it to the top best diving destinations several times and it mainly competes with Egypt and the Maldives. Therefore, this study aims to identify the factors that are motivating scuba divers to dive the Maltese waters and what should be improved to keep providing the best diving experience. There are challenges that need to be addressed to prevent turning into a mass tourism product which will destruct the marine environment and thus ruin the tourism product itself. To protect the marine environment, laws and regulations are already present mostly for fishermen. To gain better understanding, a quantitative approach is adopted by the researcher as described in the third chapter, methodology. This approach includes the use of a questionnaire with most of the questions being close ended. Besides this, the primary research, is accompanied with the secondary research by literature focusing on different diving motivational factors and explains the scuba diving tourism industry while taking diving in Malta into consideration. Results indicated that water quality and temperature are the most common motivators that attract qualified scuba divers to Malta. This was followed by wrecks and the wide variety of diving sites. However, it was noted that marine life is lacking in the Maltese waters and although there are rules and regulations to protect marine life, these are not enforced. Hence, other ways to sustain marine life are recommended while continuing to enforce the existing rules and develop new diving sites. As scuba diving is gaining more popularity, the researcher believes that if tourism economic benefits and the marine environment are balanced, this product will continue to flourish.