Record IRRA Membership reached at PADI Asia Pacific -  
PADI Asia Pacific surpasses 2007 Annual Membership Goal 4 months early

Sydney, Australia. Sept 1st 2007 - PADI Asia Pacific is pleased to announce that its professional membership continues to grow rapidly as more Asia Pacific dive operators and individuals join PADI, the world’s largest Diver Training Organisation.

August 2007 saw PADI Asia Pacific reach its highest Membership level to date with the significant milestone of 1,009 Dive Centres & Resort Members of the PADI International Resort and Retailer Associations (IRRA). The PADI Membership team continues to focus on enhancing Member benefits and services and working towards achieving a new record at the end of 2007.

PADI Asia Pacific’s 1,009 IRRA Members provide quality diving services to divers and PADI students in the 42 countries within the PADI Asia Pacific region. Find your closest PADI IRRA Member using the Dive Centre & Resort Locator.

The PADI IRRA Team’s focus is to increase business in the dive industry. Our aim is to provide our Dive Centre & Resort Members with access to the tools and resources they need to conduct business in today’s competitive market. Benefits of IRRA Membership are varied and numerous including: A team of 8 Regional Managers in the field, PADI Products and Services, Complimentary web links and listing on padi.com – 1.6 million visitors each month, Brand recognition including use of PADI logos – the most respected diver recognition, PADI Diving Society, Business Education, Member Communications including The Undersea Journal, Surface Interval eNewsletter, Training Bulletins and Special Product Offers.

“We’re delighted to reach this significant IRRA membership milestone for the first time. It’s widely known that we’ve been showing excellent growth for many years and to achieve this record is recognition of the benefits of IRRA Membership and PADI marketing to the diving operators and the industry. We thank our IRRA Members for all their hard work in providing quality service to the diving customer. Our individual Membership also shows outstanding growth and will soon reach the milestone of 19,000 Members in the Asia Pacific region for the very first time” said John O’Brien, Director of PADI Asia Pacific IRRA and Member Services.

Contact the PADI Asia Pacific IRRA membership team at irra@padi.com.au if you own a dive operation and wish to take advantage of the benefits of IRRA Membership to grow your facility or to upgrade your existing IRRA Membership.

Globally, PADI has over 5,600 IRRA Members and 130,000 individual members located in over 180 countries. These professionally run facilities require top class professional divers to staff their operations which are often located in exotic and desirable holiday destinations. If you’re planning a career in diving then make the move to PADI the world’s leading diver training organisation and become a PADI Divemaster or Instructor. Your PADI membership provides you a successful professional career including access to the largest number of professional dive operators worldwide.

Current PADI Members should visit the Employment Page at www.padimembers.com for a wide range of international job opportunities. For additional information on Membership benefits contact the PADI Asia Pacific Member Services' team at memdep@padi.com.au.

About PADI
PADI (Professional Association of Diving Instructors) is the world’s largest recreational dive training, certification and membership organisation. PADI Members (dive centres, resorts, educational facilities, instructors, assistant instructors and divemasters) issue nearly 1,000,000 certifications worldwide each year, making underwater exploration and adventure accessible to the public, while maintaining the highest industry standards for dive training, safety and customer service. For more information, visit padi.com.

For further information visit your PADI Dive Centre/Resort.

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© PADI. 2007, all rights reserved.