Why aren't more people taking up scuba diving?

[RJP]

so my observations on "barriers to entry" for scuba are simple:

There's no lack of barriers to entry. Every industry has them. Most focus on getting OVER them, rather than trying to knock them down (or worse... simply accepting them.)

Two key questions:

1. Are there any barriers that the industry is inadvertently putting up based on the way that scuba diving is positioned currently?
2. What are the MOTIVATORS to entry that we can use to help new divers get over the barriers?

We've kicked around "what is diving" extensively here on SB over the last few years, and I've been very contrary to the majority of SBers (ok, the whole industry) in terms of at least what diving should NOT be positioned as.

I'm convinced that we're keeping more people away from diving with its current positioning than we're attracting.

I used to merely believe it... but now I'm convinced.

(Market research has that effect on me.)

:cool2:

 

[widget]

There's no lack of barriers to entry. Every industry has them. Most focus on getting OVER them, rather than trying to knock them down (or worse... simply accepting them.)

Two key questions:

1. Are there any barriers that the industry is inadvertently putting up based on the way that scuba diving is positioned currently?
2. What are the MOTIVATORS to entry that we can use to help new divers get over the barriers?

We've kicked around "what is diving" extensively here on SB over the last few years, and I've been very contrary to the majority of SBers (ok, the whole industry) in terms of at least what diving should NOT be positioned as.

I'm convinced that we're keeping more people away from diving with its current positioning than we're attracting.

I used to merely believe it... but now I'm convinced.

(Market research has that effect on me.)

:cool2:

You are probably right, the question is tho, can it be changed and can it be changed quickly enough to save the industry.?

My opinion is it cant and I dont say this lightly, I made a living from this industry so its very close to my heart, but I also have a very good idea of how it ticks and the forces that drive it.

Before it all sounds too depressing let me just say I doubt scuba will ever disappear, it has grown beyond that position, but its downsizing (some might say rightsizing) at a rapid rate and for those who can hang in, or who are prepared to ride the storm in the hope of coming out the other end unscathed, things may change, I hope so, but I fear things will get a lot worse before they start getting better.

Although I am the first to agree new blood is vital to the survival of scuba, I am not sure focusing on why new feet are not walking through the door is helpful, there could be any number of reasons and few of them can be changed by the industry, cyclical trends, a time poor people, lack of disposable income, other interests etc are well beyond the control of any small industry, Apple may be able to convince a skeptic to buy an I-Phone, but a pretty picture of Brand X been used in gin clear water or a Glossy ad for Vacation spot Y is UNLIKELY to convince someone they need to take up scuba as a sport / Hobby.

So too, unless you have been living under a rock for the past 40 years, you will in most instances know about Scuba, so asking theses folk why they dont join a course is like asking me why I dont go hunting - I know about it, I know what it offers and I know about its ethos, but I simply dont have any interest in it, and no amount of positioning or motivation from the hunting industry is going to change my mind. I will never go hunting. I think its much the same with scuba.

Perhaps, (and I suggest this in earnest) we should rather be asking why Scuba has such an abysmal retention rate to find out where the problem lies (although I think I have alluded to many of them already) - these are folk who saw something they liked, went through a process to get involved, devoted the time and resources, only to fall out after the second open water dive. Why? - in my opinion, unless we can answer THAT question and address those issues we will never be able to keep divers active and participating, or bring new feet in through the door.

 

[sheeper]

There's no lack of barriers to entry. Every industry has them. Most focus on getting OVER them, rather than trying to knock them down (or worse... simply accepting them.)

Two key questions:

1. Are there any barriers that the industry is inadvertently putting up based on the way that scuba diving is positioned currently?
2. What are the MOTIVATORS to entry that we can use to help new divers get over the barriers?

We've kicked around "what is diving" extensively here on SB over the last few years, and I've been very contrary to the majority of SBers (ok, the whole industry) in terms of at least what diving should NOT be positioned as.

I'm convinced that we're keeping more people away from diving with its current positioning than we're attracting.

I used to merely believe it... but now I'm convinced.

(Market research has that effect on me.)

:cool2:

agreed rjp! the industry seems adept at creating barriers instead of making it easy. I think my first dive cert cost all of $49.95 (in the US and in a major city). I spent less than $100 on adequate equipment. taking economics into account and normalizing for todays dollars, todays costs are between 2 and 3 times what they were when I started. I'd like to think the industry needs a different model.


Maybe the dive agencies need a club mentality. Sign up with an agency "Dive International Consortium for Scuba" (DICS ) for XX dollars annually and you get a basic OW class and can dive for $99 thru any of their participating shops that includes your gear.This would be for basic OW, limited numbers of dives, other restrictions apply, etc. Various discounts on gear would also be available with marketing between the agency and the manufacturers. Think of a basic agency branded regulator from ScubaPro or a agency branded basic air computer from Cressi. this might get a lot more people diving a lot more often as it becomes "easy" and more affordable. a cost and pricing model could be defined that builds the base of new divers. I see so many people who "taste" the sport but get turned off by the cost and by the lack of easy. The dive industry competes against a lot of other easier and cheaper recreational dollars.

Not realistic, I know.

 

[Hank49]

Not out where I was.

And probably not where I am now. We don't have….thankfully….wall to wall dive shops up and down the whole coast.

 

[redacted]

agreed rjp! the industry seems adept at creating barriers instead of making it easy. I think my first dive cert cost all of $49.95 (in the US and in a major city). I spent less than $100 on adequate equipment. taking economics into account and normalizing for todays dollars, todays costs are between 2 and 3 times what they were when I started. I'd like to think the industry needs a different model.


Maybe the dive agencies need a club mentality. Sign up with an agency "Dive International Consortium for Scuba" (DICS ) for XX dollars annually and you get a basic OW class and can dive for $99 thru any of their participating shops that includes your gear.This would be for basic OW, limited numbers of dives, other restrictions apply, etc. Various discounts on gear would also be available with marketing between the agency and the manufacturers. Think of a basic agency branded regulator from ScubaPro or a agency branded basic air computer from Cressi. this might get a lot more people diving a lot more often as it becomes "easy" and more affordable. a cost and pricing model could be defined that builds the base of new divers. I see so many people who "taste" the sport but get turned off by the cost and by the lack of easy. The dive industry competes against a lot of other easier and cheaper recreational dollars.

Not realistic, I know.

You mean less folks trying to make a profit at diving and more folks just enjoying it?

 

[RJP]

You are probably right, the question is tho, can it be changed and can it be changed quickly enough to save the industry.?

My opinion is it cant and I dont say this lightly, I made a living from this industry so its very close to my heart, but I also have a very good idea of how it ticks and the forces that drive it.

You've swerved into the point raised earlier in the thread: the dive industry is too inwardly focused. "A fish has no idea that it's on water."

It's too "close to my heart" for most to be objective. Most think they know what makes it tick... but they only know how it ticks currently, and they only know the forces that drove it "in the past."

The past is gone.

99% of the world does NOT dive currently, and therefore has no context for the past or "how it's always been done." Accordingly, it's absolutely possible for anyone who wants to take the time to understand what to do - and do it - to start effecting change tomorrow.

Is that quickly enough?

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

There has to be a percentage of the population that can be divers and would love it. I went for the first 36 years of my life not knowing I would ever love diving this much and make it a permanent part of my life forever. I never gave it a thought really that "I" could do it until something clicked one day.
The trick is to somehow tap into those people, and not necessarily a broad cross section of moneyed-up yuppies that "might" be divers. Most of the "might be's" are good for one initial sale of goods, a trip or two, then they move on. We need more permanent participants and those people may not even know yet that they could be great permanent divers.
How do we find and isolate those types?

 

[RJP]

agreed rjp! the industry seems adept at creating barriers instead of making it easy. I think my first dive cert cost all of $49.95 (in the US and in a major city). I spent less than $100 on adequate equipment. taking economics into account and normalizing for todays dollars, todays costs are between 2 and 3 times what they were when I started. I'd like to think the industry needs a different model.

It does need a different model, indeed. But you're not going to like it...

:d

Actually... done correctly you WILL like it. By definition. Because you'll move from D1 to D2 as well. Or leave the market. Or, more likely, with a better demand proposition there will be a range of providers satisfying all price points.

 

[widget]

You've swerved into the point raised earlier in the thread: the dive industry is too inwardly focused. "A fish has no idea that it's on water."

It's too "close to my heart" for most to be objective. Most think they know what makes it tick... but they only know how it ticks currently, and they only know the forces that drove it "in the past."

The past is gone.

99% of the world does NOT dive currently, and therefore has no context for the past or "how it's always been done." Accordingly, it's absolutely possible for anyone who wants to take the time to understand what to do - and do it - to start effecting change tomorrow.

Is that quickly enough?

Hmm, I hear you, I cant say I agree but I hear you. From my experience, its not even that easy to convince the mom and pop store down the road to implement unknown change, their nose is to the grindstone doing what works for them today so they can pay the bills, to effect lasting meaningful change it needs to be internationally driven, not domestically USA or Europe or Asia or.......and it needs to take place from the top and filter down so that the Mom and Pop store can adapt, and they will if it works, but all this takes a long, long time, most likely a generation sadly.

 

[kr2y5]

It does need a different model, indeed. But you're not going to like it...

Actually... done correctly you WILL like it. By definition. Because you'll move from D1 to D2 as well. Or leave the market. Or, more likely, with a better demand proposition there will be a range of providers satisfying all price points.

Why is the supply price increasing with quantity? It is not obvious to me. Sure, if you have 1000 people competing for 10 seats at a football game, you can sell tickets for more, but are the same forces at play in the scuba industry? We tend to hear that products are crappy and prices are high because the market is so small... I am having hard time reconciling this popular wisdom with the curves you plotted.