While diving schools across the island are welcoming back eager divers this month, the industry is yet to fully recover, especially having suffered a ‘massive’ number of last-minute cancellations due to vaccination travel entry rules.

“Whilst this summer is better than last year, we still faced a number of issues and centres are not running at full capacity,” the chairman of the Professional Diving Schools Association (PDSA), Simon Sciberras, said.

According to a 2020 survey, the diving industry was in “dire straits” in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak.

A quarter of schools had to lay off half their winter workforce and, despite the economic impact of the pandemic, the majority of centres continued to pay monthly costs of €4,550.

With almost 8% of the island’s tourism derived from the diving industry, the 56 licensed diving schools were left concerned for the future.

To aid the sector, the government launched a €100 voucher scheme aimed at divers, with a budget of €750,000.

Sciberras said the scheme proved to be a ‘hit’ but also noted that the industry had experienced an increase in cancellations after travel requirements changed in July.

Day after day, more cancellations came in, especially the ones from the UK

“Since people need a vaccination certificate to not quarantine, we saw a massive number of people cancelling their bookings,” Sciberras said.

He said that many young families with children who were not eligible for the vaccine had to call off their trips overnight.

The restrictions led to Sciberras’ centre, Dive Systems, in Sliema, to lose around 30% of its bookings.

“We had this dip in bookings in July, which lasted for two weeks but then it started to build up again,” he said, adding that this month schools started to experience a peak with group bookings. “The fact that groups are booking is already very positive. Last year, all groups cancelled as no one wanted to take the risk. Now we have more group bookings in October too, so this all helps,” he said.

Cancelled family bookings

Sciberras’ comments were echoed by other diving centres.

Max Valli, director at Orangeshark Diving Centre and secretary at PDSA, said that many, if not all, family bookings were cancelled.

“The moment it was announced, day after day more cancellations came in, especially the ones from the UK,” Valli said.

A group of divers preparing their equipment at a meeting point in Ċirkewwa earlier this month.

He said that the UK is one of the top countries for the local diving industry.

“We were all very concerned at first that we would have another quiet summer but people then began to show up and we survived,” the director of the Mellieħa centre said.

Vouchers lend a helping hand

The owner of another diving school in St Paul’s Bay also said that most of the British families had decided to halt their diving travel plans but that the government voucher scheme helped keep the business afloat.

“In the past few months, we had around 50 people coming to our centre with the vouchers,” Luigi Rizzi, owner of Abyss Diving Club, said.

“The numbers are nothing compared to 2019 but it is slowly getting better and we are thankful for the vouchers.”

Working for over five years in the Maltese diving industry, Marcus Kitching-Howe opened ABC Diving centre towards the end of last year.

“We were expecting fewer customers due to the uncertainty in the travel industry but the first summer in operation exceeded our expectations,” he said.

Kitching-Howe noted that, on average, the diving centre sees around 30 to 40 people a week.

He said that while there is still uncertainty regarding travel, the vouchers had boosted the diving business.

When asked what can be done to support the industry, Sciberras called for the COVID-19 wage supplement to continue during the winter months.

“This year saw many incentives, the supplement, the scuttling of a new wreck, with plans for another one next year, but, as an industry, we are asking to help save our remaining staff,” he said.

However, Sciberras was informed that the supplement would end in December, describing it as the ‘worst’ time to cut the sector’s aid.

“We need to make money in four months to sustain us the whole year,” he added.

“We are worried that, once the wage supplements end this year, we risk losing the staff we retained during the virus outbreak.”

He said that the supplement should continue until Easter, in time for next season, where he hopes ‘normality’ will be back.

“We are very worried about this as the supplement has been our lifeline,” Sciberras said.