about opening a scuba diving business

Question
hello im a student from malaspina college in bc canada . I was wondering if you could help me . im doing a project on opening a dive centre from scratch as part of facilities management . i am currently doing the processing plans and this includes doing a PEST analysis( political economical social demograhs and technology) im kinda of stock on the policial aspect of this and i was wondering if you know of any politcal factors that may affect the starting of a dive shop ? thanks for you help

Answer
Some areas require local licenses, that authorities only issue to legal residents (not foreigners) and are costly.  Often in 3rd world countries, Asia, Africa and Latin America, corruption in some places can be an issue and require foreign investors to pay fees in excess of local residents.

Europe now has very strict legislation in place that affects dive operations and can be seen as a barrier, for example any tank containing a gas other than air (even 22% nitrox!!!) requires a special valve, special buildings for mixed gas operations.

I hope this helps, it is a very broad question and without looking at a very specific region it is difficult ogive a specific answer.

Warm regards,
Andy