What Simon says............there's still the East Coast
I am actually writing an article for the next EDA magazine about the future of dive business in the UAE. Unlike the dive industry (who saw it coming), many people/divers were shocked that Atlantis was sold, but many of those same people have played a big role in the "sinking". Fact is that dive centres don't make money on pleasure divers - it's courses, equipment and dive trips that give us bread & butter. The pleasure divers can't cover the costs of boats, engines, rent etc.
Divers who use those independent instructors who charge less, because they have no overheads (I'm not talking about you Simon), take advice from the dive centre but buy the gear online (from huge companies who have completely different purchase prices) and book their weekend trips directly with the supplier (thinking it's cheaper, but in reality just making sure the dive centres don't get the commission) - these are the ones who are shocked now that Atlantis failed, are upset that Al Boom is getting even bigger. In reality they are the reason the dive market is going that way, and one day there'll only be big online companies and dive organisations left; the boutique centres simply can't survive.
It's the way it was with the corner shops when I was a child. Everybody thought hypermarkets were great, until they realized that the corner shops couldn't survive if everybody just went there for milk and whatever they'd forgotten to buy.
Got a bit carried away here; sorry about that. It's just frustrating sometimes to see that people really want the services offered by small dive centres - but they don't want to spend the money.
On that note: I am not whining
It's more a matter of creating awareness on behalf of the dive industry. These past months have been the best in our 12-year history, and we are fully booked every weekend. We are doing fine, but we know that we are extremely fortunate to have such loyal guests, who also do what they can to spread the word
Big thanks to you all here on Scubaboard as well for that
Anyway, enough from me for now............
I wish you all a fantastic Monday, greetings from the beach
Karin
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PS: Simon is still one of the owners of Al Boom. He's a really nice guy - we don't have any problems whatsoever with him or Al Boom; we actually have a very nice and friendly relationship. Probably because we respect each other and cater to very different segments of the dive market...........
