Filming the Great Barrier Reef: HelloDive and Entrada Travel Group bring Cairns to Chinese audiences
HelloDive and Entrada Travel Group brought the Great Barrier Reef to Chinese audiences with a seven-day filmed journey, earning over 10 million views across streaming platforms and in-flight entertainment.
In September 2018, Entrada Travel Group invited HelloDive to Cairns for a special filming project featuring two of their liveaboards. Joining the trip was PADI’s Asia Market Executive, underscoring the industry-wide support behind the initiative. The collaboration aimed to showcase the authentic diving experience of the Great Barrier Reef to the Chinese market through HelloDive’s original program To Sea The World.
The production unfolded across two journeys. The first followed a Chinese diver as they completed their Open Water certification in Cairns. Guided by a Chinese-speaking PADI instructor, the storyline took viewers from the classroom and pool training sessions to a two-day, one-night certification trip onboard Ocean Quest. This direct, first-person angle offered Chinese audiences an inside look at how accessible and rewarding it is to become a certified diver on the Great Barrier Reef.
The second journey took place aboard Spirit of Freedom, one of Cairns’ most renowned liveaboards. Over four nights, HelloDive’s team captured the beauty of the Coral Sea and outer reefs, spotlighting the high-end liveaboard experience available to international divers.
Together, these two storylines presented a complete seven-day journey that became the first Chinese-language media production to comprehensively portray diving on the Great Barrier Reef and beyond. The finished program was streamed across multiple mainstream Chinese platforms, achieving more than 10 million views. It was also featured on China Eastern Airlines’ in-flight entertainment system, giving the story an even broader reach.
The project not only raised the profile of Cairns as a world-class dive destination but also strengthened ongoing cooperation between Entrada Travel Group and HelloDive. To this day, the footage continues to be used at dive shows and industry promotions, underscoring the long-term impact of the collaboration.
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