The “Handbook for Dive Controller Training Course for Tourism and Coral Reef Ecosystem Sustainability” totals 97 pages, and includes laws and regulations related to marine tourism activities as well as “best practices” in keeping tourists safe while protecting the environment, especially corals.
“The handbook is aimed at setting the standards for all tour operators, including dive tour operations, to follow,” explained DMCR Phuket office Director Watcharin Na Thalang .
“It is directly aimed at tour guides, dive leaders, dive instructors and tour company operators to understand more and correctly about coral reef resources,” he said.
“We want to raise awareness about coral reef and marine environment conservation, and point out best practices in dive tourism management and relevant laws,” Mr Watcharin explained.
The handbook is free and available in Thai and English.
“We are thinking about making the book available in other languages in future,” Mr Watcharin said.
Mr Watcharin rated all aspects featured in the hand book as “important’.
“It sets out the model practices that all tourism operators should follow,” he said.
“We hope that in the future the practices in the handbook will become industry regulations published in the Government Gazette, but for now we are looking at this book being accepted and practiced by tourism operators in Phuket and the Andaman region.
“We also, hope that local people accept and agree with the practices laid out in this book,” he added.
To download the full handbook in English, click here.
To download the full handbook in Thai, click here.
To download “Laws, regulation, rules related to diving” (Section 6) in English, click here.
To download “Standards for dive tour operations” (Section 7) in English, click here.