In Wakatobi, Southeast Sulawesi, many tourism industry players have been actively involved in realizing sustainable marine tourism by applying various principles and efforts of environmentally friendly and responsible tourism in every tourist activity. One of them is intensively carried out by "Wakatobi Dive Trip", one of the dive operator companies established since 2009 and engaged in providing diving, snorkeling, cultural tourism, meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions.

The Man Behind Wakatobi Dive Trip's Eco-Business

Wakatobi Dive Trip's commitment to eco-friendly tourism, which continues to be carried out until now, cannot be separated from the role of its founder and director, Seto Ariyadi. Armed with experience as an environmental education facilitator in a non-governmental organization, Seto built a marine tourism business that supports environmental conservation.

Wakatobi Dive Trip has guidelines to educate tourists on things not to do when diving, including; not touching, disturbing, moving any objects in the sea, not stepping on coral reefs, not throwing anchors in coral reef areas and not throwing garbage in the sea. It is hoped that this education will be able to provide understanding and awareness to tourists to always protect the environment and be responsible for the waste they bring when they want to do activities.

Thanks to this experience, in 2017 Seto Aryadi took the initiative to develop the Wakatobi Dive Trip with the Signing Blue program, an initiative of the WWF Indonesia Foundation which was formed to accommodate tourism actors and tourists to realize responsible marine tourism through the Marine Tourism Improvement Program (MTIP).

For Wakatobi Dive Trip, there are many positive impacts gained by joining Signing Blue. Both in improving service standards to tourists, as well as in responsible environmental management.

Commitment to Clean the Ocean from Plastic Waste

Wakatobi Dive Trip has also become more accustomed to introducing environmentally friendly behavior to tourists since 2017. Starting from small things such as ensuring that the fish consumed while traveling are not bombed or tranquilized and are not protected fish species. In addition, Wakatobi Dive Trip also provides free drinking water refills that require tourists to bring tumblers / drinking containers and buy snacks from local community kiosks without packaging. It is also beneficial to improve the economy of the surrounding community.

In addition to diving to enjoy the beauty of the underwater, tourists who use the services of Wakatobi Dive Trip are also given education to apply "LISA" (See Trash Take) to all tourists and employees.

For Wakatobi Dive Trip, keeping the marine environment clean from plastic waste is very important. Keeping the sea clean can foster the interest of tourists to return to dive at the same dive spot. This is because the underwater beauty is still maintained and not polluted by the sight of plastic waste.

As a dive operator that focuses on diving services, it is certainly a plus for Wakatobi Dive Trip to continue to clean plastic waste attached to coral reefs in order to maintain the sustainability of the dive operator business. Trash that is collected is then brought ashore to be disposed of in the trash. Wakatobi Dive Trip also actively campaigns against waste on social media such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Today, many tourists are choosing dive operators who apply environmentally friendly principles to every activity carried out. Indirectly, by choosing an environmentally friendly dive operator, tourists also contribute to preserving the sea and are able to reduce the impact of wider marine damage due to the impact of tourism.

"We get the plus point of including the Signing Blue logo in every promotional media and exhibition that we participate in. In addition, Wakatobi Dive Trip is always committed to supporting sustainable and responsible tourism efforts in reducing the impact of environmental damage that can pollute the sea. Hopefully, Wakatobi Dive Trip can be an example for other dive operators in preserving the marine environment," Seto said.

Wakatobi Dive Trip to Star Fish 3

Based on the results of MTIP Monitoring conducted by the WWF-Indonesia team, Wakatobi Dive Trip has experienced an increase in rating as a tourism operator that implements sustainable marine tourism standards, namely from star fish from 1 to 2.

Wakatobi Dive Trip to Star Fish 3

In an effort to increase Wakatobi Dive's star fish to star fish 3, it still needs to complete documents on environmental principles such as practicing or implementing responsible tourism. Among other things, evidence documents that show the percentage value of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) to revenue (0.6-1%), the number of relevant employees receiving direction/instruction/education to practice the best standards of protection of marine animals and ecosystems, the number of relevant employees (>50%) who understand the steps to be taken when encountering injured/stranded/entangled/accidentally caught animals during tourism activities, data on reports to the authorities on the findings of violations found in the field, >=50% of employees understand and implement a responsible tourism destination management plan, seafood products and types used meet at least the criteria for environmentally friendly products according to the Seafood Guide, training documentation for >=50% of employees to consistently practice high standard waste management and guidelines to minimize the impact of noise, light and air pollution.

=50%) who are trained/instructed to become companions for parties with special needs, documentation of media used for local business promotion, documentation of programs/activities to support local community entrepreneurship and documentation of discussion or deliberation activities. While documents that need to be completed on the principle of effective management such as the number of employees who are able to provide services (as many as >=50% of employees) and a list of employees who have and are receiving training.,>