Egypt’s Chamber of Diving and Watersports (CDWS) held its annual dinner in Sharm el Shiekh on 2 December to celebrate its achievements of the last 12 months and outline future aims.

The number of diving accidents recorded throughout the whole of Egypt has dropped by nearly a third since the completion of the first CDWS audits to ensure 298 diving centres and 127 safari boats comply with ISO standards. CDWS chairman Hesham Gabr told delegates at the organisation’s annual dinner that the number of diving accidents had dropped 27 per cent in 2009 compared to previous figures.

The annual event, which was also attended by the Egyptian Tourism Minister Mohamed Zoheir Garana, South Sinai Governor General Mohamed Hany Metwally and members of the Egyptian media, also heard from the CDWS chairman about the need for a new international marina in Sharm el Sheikh. Mr Gabr said a new marina was essential and had to be on a par with those in Europe to increase the tourism potential within the diving and watersports industry.

It was agreed by the Tourism Minister that a committee from the Ministry of Tourism (MOT) and other relevant authorities would visit Sharm el Sheikh on 22 December to study possible locations for a new marina.

Outlining the achievements of the CDWS over the last year and discussing future aims, Mr Gabr said moves continued to stop illegal operations in the diving and watersports sector from operating without an official MOT licence. He also highlighted pressing conservation issues: this included a call for a ban on commercial fishing in the Gulf of Aqaba to protect the environment as well as stronger measures to prevent illegal fishing.

The chairman ended his well-received speech by thanking the diving media throughout Europe and Russia for its support in highlighting to the diving community the importance of diving only with CDWS member centres when visiting Egypt. He particularly highlighted the work being done with online diving portals, such as www.taucher.net and www.scubaportal.com, without whom, he said, it would be very difficult to fight illegal operations promoting themselves on the Internet.

Tourist Minister Garana told delegates that the MOT would do everything in its legal power to stop all illegal operations working in the diving and watersports sector. Minister Garana added that the Ministry of Tourism (MoT) priority was to ensure better education, knowledge and tourism services provided by personnel working in the diving and marine sectors.

South Sinai Governor General Metwally began his speech by underlining the Governorate’s commitment to ensure all its departments worked together to improve Egyptian tourism in all areas. He said the main aims were to tackle difficulties in the tourism sector, protect the environment and to introduce further safety measures for both Egyptian and foreign tourists in the South Sinai.

The head of the CDWS Technical Committee took to the microphone to highlight current CDWS priorities, such as ensuring: all operations working in the diving and watersports sector complied with international standards for service providers; the protection of the marine environment; and the continued training of Egyptian personnel working in the sector and increasing their technical skills to meet with safety and service standards required.

Following the speeches, Mr Bassel and Mr Gabr presented CDWS awards to recognise the achievements of skills trainers throughout 2009, as well as to the entities collaborating with CDWS to help achieve its goals.
CDWS members gathered together at the General Assembly in Sharm el Sheikh on 6 December to discuss present issues, challenges and future plans together with the board of the CDWS and Ministry of Tourism (MoT) representatives.

Chairman Hesham Gabr opened proceedings, outlining the major focus of the work of the CDWS and how the organisation needs more full time staff to deliver a greater service to its members. Presenting to the delegation of CDWS members at the Maritim Conference centre in Sharm el Sheikh, Mr Gabr said he had put forward a proposal to the Egyptian tourism minister to secure funding for more staff and projects for the next five years.

‘The existing structure of the chamber is not a sustainable one,’ he told the assembly. ‘To enable us to do all the work required we to need a completely new structure. Currently, we do not have the financial resources to do all the things members would like to see happen.’

CDWS is currently the only tourism chamber that receives funding from the MoT. All other chambers, such as the Egyptian Hotels Association and the Egyptian Travel Agents Association, have to pay a contribution to the MoT through membership fees. Various proposals to increase the financial stability of CDWS, such as compulsory two Euro fee for all tourists, were being looked at. CDWS has held 130 meetings with government officials of various levels in its efforts for the diving and watersports industry.

Board member Omar Adly talked of the on-going schemes to increase skills and knowledge of individuals working in the diving and watersports industry, such as skippers and compressor operators. CDWS is currently assisting the organisation of the training for boat skippers, with courses being enforced by the Egyptian Maritime Authority.

The head of the CDWS Technical Committee, Zeyad M El Bassel said he was pleased to announce that the CDWS had earned permanent membership in the European Underwater Federation (EUF). Following the assessment of auditors working in Egypt, the EUF has proposed that CDWS helps in the training of auditors of other countries, including Malta, Cyprus and the Philippines. The CDWS has also been requested to take responsibility of auditing dive centres throughout the Middle East.

The CDWS has seen the EUF certification of 143 diving centres out of 161 in South Sinai; 155 dive centres out of 173 in the Red Sea Governorate; and 127 safari boat operations.

The CDWS Technical Committee has so far pursued 144 investigations, which included complaints, technical violations reported by members and from tourists. Other on-going projects for the Technical Committee, said Mr Bassel, included the development of safer areas for divers where there is heavy surface traffic. Together with the National Park and headed by CDWS volunteer Rolf Schmidt, the popular site of Ras Katy in Sharm el Sheikh will see the start of a number of trials to zone off diving and boat traffic areas.

‘If it works well, we will move to different site projects,’ Mr Bassel told the delegation.

CDWS financial auditor Mohamed Abdel Kerim Fekry presented the financial report for the year, running from beginning of July 2008 to 30 June 2009. Full reports, covering all CDWS financial details for this period, were made available to all members in attendance.

Votes on bylaws of the CDWS saw the majority of CDWS members – 74 out of the 76 in attendance (one member abstaining and another incorrectly marking the ballot) - agreeing to:
* Accept the financial report presented to members.
*Accept the current bylaws of the CDWS
* Agree to changes in the financial procedures. These would help prevent delays in CDWS transactions, such as the distribution of cheques.
Source: (www.cdws.travel)