What Motivates Qualified Scuba Divers to Visit the Maltese Islands?

Malta attracts a significant number of scuba divers every year with the aim of visiting the Maltese waters. In 2019 they amounted to almost 7% of all the visitors to the Maltese Islands. Malta has been identified as one of the best diving destinations within the Mediterranean. Yet this influx and other stakeholders pose a challenge to its sustainability which suggests the need for a management policy. One way to ensure this is to examine the factors that motivate divers to come and dive in the Maltese waters. To gain a better understanding, a quantitative approach was selected. Data was collected from the main stakeholders in the scuba diving industry. This was compared with data obtained from existing literature that looked at the various factors that may motivate divers to visit a particular place, including the Maltese Islands. The outcome suggests that water quality (in terms of pollution and consequently fish life) is a determining factor. Other significant factors were the sea temperature which one could associate with a higher level of comfort when diving in warmer waters. The variety of the diving sites was also indicated as significant. Interestingly, many of the respondents commented on the need to have clear regulation with respect to the protection of marine life and indicated that enforcement is a key factor in preserving the marine environment. This suggests that divers place much more importance towards sustainability today hence becoming a significant motivating factor in selecting the region to visit.