Waning SCUBA Participation

[Cert1967]

Why 'waning participation'? Perhaps it is the shop itself? Often a visit to the LDS isn't a pleasant experience for many folks.

Someone on SB said

“So, let's circle back to the dive shops. It sucks right now for many (most) of them, yet some are absolutely awesome and profitable. They have a choice, rethink everything and change to a profitable model or go out of business. They get far too much reinforcement to stick with the old model from the various vendors/reps and industry "experts" who can't picture any other model working. So we hear "where are they gonna get certified?" and "where are they going to get air?" Strangely enough those have to be in my mind the lamest head in sand worries in existence. people that really want to dive will find a way and where there is fun diving, there will be air fill (and the compressor companies sell to those with the money, they could care less about the dive industry BS, the dive industry is a small % of their business.“​

 

[mdb]

I think the “local diving” theory is very well justified. Now that it has been mentioned, travel diving to colorful coral reefs and warm blue water is what is marketed, and not local diving.
Local diving however can mean a lot of different things.
I also think the general population is very intimidated by scuba diving and everything about it. Starting with the training, to the gear, to the mystery of the ocean and going into the unknown environment, then there's the stigma of sharks, tales of equipment failure (true or not).
I have run into more people that say they would NEVER try scuba diving because the thought freaks them out, “what if something happened?!”

There has always been this and there will always be this.
Not everybody is capable physically or mentally to be a diver.

The perceived “decline” we’re supposedly seeing is the rinse out of people who got caught up in the 80’s and 90’s diving boom when the popularity of scuba was artificially pumped. A lot of resorts were being developed and gear was rapidly changing and adapting to accomodate just about everybody and all skill levels. It was the newest hottest thing. A lot of those people are older now and have moved on. It’s actually going back to normal. What we saw 20-30 years ago was a spike, not a normal participation level.
The sad part, in regards to the dive industry as a whole, is that in order for capitalism to work it must continue to grow and expand like a pyramid. If it stalls or just maintains a steady pace then it’s not considered profitable it’s just paying wages. That’s not the true spirit of capitalism and making money. The thing is, maybe scuba diving never should have been looked at as a cash cow, it’s the wrong business for that.

During the late 60's through the early 80's the dive biss was growing @ 10%+ per annum.

I was a manufacturers rep and was fortunate to open new stores, help older stores increase
sales, and just enjoy the spirit of optimism.

Training was more than a weekend course. It usually involved weeks of classroom and pool work.
4-5 open water dives were standard for the basic certification.

Local diving was encouraged.

The result was new divers who became active divers and proudly introduced their friends and family
to diving.

 

[Midwesterndvr]

I think it’s a generational change in how young people spend their recreational time and money. Although before my time maybe the 70s and 80s were the high point in diving but the industry participation will level out. It could be like bowling in the 50s and 60s.

 

[TMHeimer]

Eric S-- I like your part about the 80s/90s "spike". Seems logical. Any others agree?

 

[Midwesterndvr]

Agreed, and well said.

 

[Fibonacci]

I'd say that covers it.
Given the expense and the time commitments to diving, and so many other vacation alternatives, a person really needs to experience that "wow" factor to keep coming back.

Unless they've got the passion for diving that most posters on this board probably do, and enjoy diving just for the experience, they'll get their checkout dives done, eagerly anticipate their first real open water dives on a "quality" dive site and come up after the dive thinking "What am I missing here, it just wasn't that great".

Eventually even passionate divers like us are probably going to see less value in it as well. I'm not sure what's going to happen first- am I going to hit the age where I won't be fit to dive, or will it simply be not worth doing it anymore.

No need to buy brand new gear.

I've always bought my gear used. Quality serviced gear, as good as or better than the stuff you spend insane amounts of money for. I just hooked up a buddy with recently rebuilt serviced regulators, older model air integrated dive computer and ScubaPro BCD with integrated regulator- the entire rig and computer was $750. Add another $100 for a good mask and fins .

Been following this thread with interest, I think Bladder makes some good points above...

In Australia there is a great deal of pressure on newly certified divers to buy a complete set of gear as a 'package' offered as part of the OW course... which sometimes includes AOW straight after OW (!).
Boat operators are increasingly demanding a certain qualification level for particular sites or NO dive. More $$$.
New divers have unrealistic Blue Planet expectations (especially after spending all that money) and often drop out <12 months later.
OR become attracted to Tech Diving or Rebreathers where it seems far more about the equipment than the actual diving
There is strong LDS pressure on divers here (both new and old) about having the latest 'life support equipment'... my LDS is aghast I service my own vintage and modern equipment!
I regularly see complete sets of dive gear on eBay or Gumtree for a fraction of the purchase price, which often fails to sell as the market seems quite saturated lately.

So perhaps this is why freediving and spearfishing are more attractive to Millennials than SCUBA...
They can backpack into very remote beaches in Indonesia with minimal gear (and not be reliant on dodgy local air fills) rent a beach shack and have a far more experiential time not locked into a very expensive, highly structured and fairly short LOB trip... and see many of the same fish!
Sounds like a real adventure to me

 

[aquacat8]

Diving the Great Barrier Reef, which I will probably never be able to afford, sounds like a real adventure to me... screw Blue Planet! Can’t feel the water on your skin. The fact is some of us hit the water and our Gills open up, and rapid mutations occur, and we gave to regularly get our gills wet or we dry up, and others are Land Mammals, and they realize it pretty quickly, and that $ they spent to get certified is a sunk cost.

 

[aquacat8]

Have to get gills wet, not gave=typo

 

[woodcarver]

Our lds seems to be one of those that is adapting. Recently opened a new shop with a better pool (not in a better place for me, farther away), but way nicer than the old building, more showroom space. Started an online store (getting better as they go). Competitive prices with other online outlets. Great staff that is actually helpful with gear choices, even if it isn't a line they carry.
Probably not enough people in the Colorado Springs area to support another shop. Used to be another, but they closed quite a few years ago. Not sure how many are in the Denver region.
As Boulderjohn has pointed out in some of his posts on SB, there really isn't any local diving in Colorado, yet Colorado is said to have more divers per capital than any other state. Apparently, we all travel to dive. Part of the fun for us, but it does limit how often we can get wet unless we do another set of training dives in Blue Hole (shudder). Even that is 5 hours of driving, one way. So pretty much need to go for the weekend.
I think dive shops need to see it more as a service business than a goods business. Some do a great job of customer service, but I've been in some that made me feel like I was a bother. Reputation for great service keeps people coming back and bringing new customers with them.
Those of us that dive need to be the ambassadors that bring new divers into the fold. The margins appear thin to me with a small, widely spread out target market. Makes advertising difficult and expensive. We, divers, are part of "the industry". And I'm referring to those of us who are not professionals as well as those that are. If we don't help recruitment, the sport will shrink (won't ever go away), and become more expensive for those of us that continue to dive regardless.
By the way, I am also one of those that didn't start until I was 50+...one of very few regrets.

 

[Marie13]

I attended the Great Lakes Shipwreck Festival in Ann Arbor today for the first time. Gray beards were the majority by far. There were some younger people, but at almost 49 I was on the younger side of attendees.

As a side note, I wonder how many of the women attending actually dive the Great Lakes. Not many, I reckon. Figure they were probably there with the diving husband.