Covid Impact: End of 2020

Please register or login

Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.

Benefits of registering include

  • Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
  • A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
  • You can make this box go away

Joining is quick and easy. Log in or Register now!

CAPTAIN SINBAD

Contributor
Messages
2,997
Reaction score
1,153
Location
Woodbridge VA
# of dives
200 - 499
"The coronavirus pandemic train hit hard during the second quarter of 2020 (April to June) with a year-over-year entry-level scuba diving certification decline of more than 70%."

As a dive business / instructor what do you think 2021 will bring?

Thanks.
 
Not an instructor or DM but I see that travel restrictions will remain in place in some form or the other until the end of 2021. It will be that long at least until sufficient vaccinations are in place to make it safe.

Disposable income will also be reduced as the economy stays down, unemployment up, so tourist travel will be down for a long time after that.

If you are a LDS in a non tourist area, you will have to rely on local divers only. Don't expect to see a return to new equipment sales and new certifications but if you work at building a local dive club like environment you may be able to get a good loyal core of divers established that will help you maintain your operation until things return to normal.

Do community outreach stuff, talk to local schools or youth groups like Boy Scouts etc and see if they would be open to a dive module in PE classes. You might not get new students right now out of it but if you light the fire in a kid, they may be back in a couple of years.

If you are an operation in a tourist area, you will be chasing a very limited market in a supersaturated provider environment. Take a good look at your current business and think about either pulling the plug or seriously reducing operations for a year. If you have sufficient trade ti keep the doors open, do so as that will position you the best once the world starts to return to normal, or what will be a new normal.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/perdix-ai/

Back
Top Bottom