GET UP close and personal with the marine life in Maldives, without getting wet. In keeping with the philosophy of “look but no touching” there will be a new way to explore the depths, by the end of 2017.
DeepFlight Adventures’ new personal submarine, the Super Falcon 3S, will begin touring the pristine waters around the Maldives later this year.
It will offer a rare chance for visitors to “fly” along underwater
with the manta rays, stalk the seas with the sharks or even slow down and get up-close and personal with the colourful inhabitants of the coral reefs around the tropical island. Check out this video to see what the tours will look like.
Pivoting their business towards a tourism model offers a whole host of new opportunities, says DeepFlight’s Chief Operating Officer, Robert Chamberlain.
US based Submarine manufacturers DeepFlight had previously targeted the ultra rich through a direct sales model, but demand for exciting new underwater experiences has seen them divert their attentions to the lucrative tourism market.
DeepFlight may be newcomers to the USD236 billion adventure tourism sector, but it has previously brought two high-tech, high-performance personal submarines to market. Chamberlain, however, remarks that creating new technology to explore the seas is not the real challenge.
“The challenge is in finding the right model to create a business that has potential for growth and can be grown predictably,” he explains.
Diving Deep
Maldives, with more than 1.2million visitors a year (as of 2015), is hungry for new underwater activities, and offers Chamberlain an excellent opportunity to showcase his new submarine. Partnered with local operators, OceanGroup, they will offer resort visitors hour-long underwater experiences in its three-seater Super Falcon 3S submarines.
Chamberlain is optimistic that by making a splash in the Maldives, he can grow the brand’s watermark to other watery sights.
While a sustainable tourism model poses a sizable business opportunity, it also allows access to and for potential customers. “It can become a new distribution network and a readymade channel for us to push new products out to the customers — particularly as we expand to more resorts around the world.”
While he is bullish about expansion opportunities, Chamberlain is as waterproof as his submarine regarding future plans.
He has identified 700 seaside resorts as potential markets in coming years.
More information about submarine tours in Maldives: HERE and HERE.
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