Is it good that scuba diving is not popular!

[Laurie S.]

I hope it becomes more popular. My husband is a MSDT and he can use the work. . If a dive site gets too crowded, we just take our boat and go to another that the local shops don't use due to the distance.

 

[Z Gear]

Although I agree on a few points mentioned like the reason some might not even be interested in diving whether it be physical ability or fear in general of the water, as well as the financial means to initially begin. The one thing I would like to clarify is that while yes diving may have more divers than a few decades ago, it does not really mean it is popular. I believe most of these divers are not driven to have the desire to dive by what the industry has done to lure them into the sport/activity but by friends and family constantly sharing their experiences with them and thus making it very appealing to try.

Since I compared it to a sport like surfing I would like to add that this sport has been transformed in the last few decades. It has captured the attention of the population. The sport its self is very difficult to master. Many I know are eager to try it and want to learn to rip or glide on natural ocean power. But they quickly find out it is very hard work. While diving is much less demanding physically it is still not known to many how easy it really is. Aside from the costs involved, I believe there may be a misconception that many have when it comes to diving. Most relate it quickly with horror stories of the bends and other mishaps. While the risks are there, they have in my opinion been an underlying message that most out there have put a stigma on this sport/activity.

---------- Post added January 11th, 2015 at 12:51 PM ----------

You have made a great observation Z Gear. I had never really thought about keeping the sport a secret of sorts. The industry numbers, from the sources I have looked at, show that the numbers have been flat for a while now. I would venture to say that we have another year or two of this trend while everyone continues to rebound from 2008. Like many other, I am torn. If more and more people get into the industry, I could likely sell more gear and actually retire one day.

Yeah I know we would all sell more gear. I think it wouldn't be such a double edge sword for me if I did not correlate it to surfing, in my case.I cherish days that are not crowded at my local surf break. My purpose of the thread was to see how others felt on this. It seems quite obvious that most favor it becoming more popular.

This is a surprise to me, because I actually thought most divers (not manufacturers.boat operators, and retailers) would be overwhelmingly not be in support of having this activity/sport become popular.

---------- Post added January 11th, 2015 at 01:16 PM ----------

As Yogi Bera once said "Nobody goes there anymore... it's too crowded."

Is it "good" that it's not popular? Hardly.

Are things like uncrowded dive sites a bit of a silver-lining? Sure.

Things like uncrowded dive SHOPS, uncrowded dive BOATS, uncrowded dive CLASSES, uncrowded dive RESORTS... not so much.

The industry as a whole has not "done a great job at keeping this a niche sport/activity." They've done a sh***y job of marketing it. As a marketer I've long held that the word "niche" should be banished from general business language, since no one seems to know what the word actually means. More often than not it's employed as an excuse for poor performance by a brand, company, or even an industry.

Derived from an Old French word ("nichier" which means to "create a nest or home") the word niche actually means "a well defined place of prominence, usually to display an object of art or value."

Denotatively the word has nothing to do with the idea of "small" in any specific way, although it has come to mean that connotatively.

If we are going to use the term "niche" in marketing, we should at least define it as what it really means: "we can't get out of own way."

Which brings up another topic. If the overwhelming consensus is that scuba diving is not popular and that there is plenty of room for it to expand and grow in popularity. Then with all the tools we have today to expose this sport/activity why hasn't someone come up with a marketing campaign to effectively touch the masses.
The industry ( manufacturers, boat operators/resorts, retailers,instructors,show promoter, etc...) as a whole has not united in this effort, they are dealing with this as individuals when they should collectively form an alliance to focus on a common cause. It takes a collective effort and unification on a grand scale to make a lasting impression on the mass population, in order for it to have a turn around. I don't believe the economy alone will be the key for this to really change. There might be a spike of new growth when the economy is better but it will not revolutionize the industry.

Frank G
www.zgearinc.com

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

I guess there is a plus diving up on the Northern Coast of California (SF north), I rarely run into other divers during the winter, and even during the summer crowds, there aren't that many divers out unless I run into a North Coast Divers function. At Lake Sonoma, locally, I have yet to see another diver, and even up at Lake Tahoe in the summer, in my experience, its mostly uncrowded by divers.

Most divers up in NorCal go down to Monterey and points south to dive, I do occasionally go south for warm water, lobster, and easier scallops.

Diving could get much more popular without me seeing many more divers here.


Bob
-----------------------------
The day I can't dive anymore, I will really need some other good reasons to stay alive. DarkAbyss

Northern California (north of SF) will NEVER be crowded just because of the very nature of the coastline and the automatic barrier the conditions create that keep most people out. I don't think we'll ever need to worry about it too much. Even if scuba diving increased by three times, most people still wouldn't set foot up here, nothing in our area would change.
I do wish scuba diving would be more popular overall if for nothing more than I would like people to get as excited about diving and to see the same things I see underwater. Share the excitement. I would consider it validation for someting I love so much.
I kind of wish our area would become more popular just because I think it's beautiful, wild, and untouched. I sometimes fantisize about a local dive tour industry being born, but looking at reality I know it would never be possible.

In some ways we have the best of both worlds: Some day possibly more people getting into scuba, and my area never seeing that pressure.

 

[RJP]

Since I compared it to a sport like surfing I would like to add that this sport has been transformed in the last few decades. It has captured the attention of the population. The sport its self is very difficult to master. Many I know are eager to try it and want to learn to rip or glide on natural ocean power. But they quickly find out it is very hard work. While diving is much less demanding physically it is still not known to many how easy it really is. Aside from the costs involved, I believe there may be a misconception that many have when it comes to diving. Most relate it quickly with horror stories of the bends and other mishaps. While the risks are there, they have in my opinion been an underlying message that most out there have put a stigma on this sport/activity

I think there are two things at work here. Surfing has the benefit of a cultural allure among even non-surfers, as well as some connections/overlap with skateboarding and even snowboarding. You can dress like a surfer dude, act like a surfer dude, etc without ever getting on a board. Look at all the people in the middle of the country that have never even seen a wave in person wearing rip-curl and oneill clothing, etc. Short of a t-shirt with a dive flag on it from some dive shop... there are no "extenders" in the scuba industry. Add in the surfer images of hot, tanned, toned guys and gals in bathing suits... compared to the typical diver in a drysuit with snot hanging out of his nose...

So there is no positive media/cultural press or imagery... and if you DO hear about diving in the news it's usually because someone died.

 

[tomfcrist]

I think scuba is plenty popular. It's not a spectator activity, and appeals to those that aren't necessarily athletic but desire adventure. However, it appeals just as well to the uber athlete that can't get enough of their adrenaline high. There aren't a ton of base jumpers or mountaineers out there either.

I think if you looked at percentage of a population that claim to be surfers, you would find that there are less of them overall than there are divers...
Surfers tend to stay near the waves, whereas scuba divers are everywhere. I was amazed how many people identified themselves as divers when I asked at the shipyard in NN.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

I find that there is a two sides to this subject that I can't quite decide which is better. Whether you are a consumer, manufacturer or retailer it always beneficial to have mass market appeal. Obviously for the manufacturer and the retailer this means more people and more sales. For the consumer it should also mean more demand which brings in more competitive prices and thus helps the consumer in this area. While this is all sounds great it also has consequences that I am not sure I would like. It kind of reminds me of surfing.

As a surfer I enjoyed surfing uncrowded local breaks for a while. Then even in my time that I started, which was in the early 90's the crowds of new guys and girls giving it a try went crazy. I think it was after the movie "Point Break". Every year I would see the amount of newbies (surfers call them kooks) would get bigger. Some would just try it for a summer or two and then give up, mostly because they couldn't hack it. It was just to frustrating for them. That sport takes a lot of effort before you can get the surfing bug to bite you. The movies and culture have done a good job of growing that industry. But most of the time I wish it was just a hidden sport like it was before.

Part of me thinks the same of scuba diving. I don't want to see a zoo of people at my local dive site. I am kind of torn on this one.

Do you want a lot more people to know more about diving ? Or would rather keep it as the mysterious hobby/activity, those guys do.

I am not complaining but for some reason the industry as a whole has done a great job at keeping this a niche sport/ activity.They really haven't tapped into to the mass market and ironically if there is a sport or activity that has the potential for highest merchandising, scuba should be on the top of the list. Because it actually has the most gear.


Frank G
www.zgearinc.com

At one time diving was sort of marketed to mainstream consumers. During the 80's and 90's there was a huge push get more people into the sport by changing training techniques and making it more family friendly. Gear manufacturers were making gear more comfortable and easier for people to use, etc.
This lead to many places around the world starting charter and dive operations, hotels, resorts, etc.
I'm really not sure how many of those people were just trying scuba and it didn't fully take them under the spell, so they lost interest and gave it up after a few years.
There always was and always will be the dedicated hardcore diver that will dive no matter what, anywhere anytime, which is what the sport started with. But there isn't enough of them to sustain the industry as we know it today. The way the industry is set up right now, it requires a steady flow of new divers coming in that equals or exceeds the flow going out. What we're seeing is a higher flow exiting the sport than coming in for one reason or another, probably economics for the most part, and maybe cultural reasons for another part.
I also don't think there is any way to retain interest and activity in the sport by people who really aren't that into it. If they don't want to do it they aren't going to do it. There's no way to beg them to stay if their done, and it's silly to think you're going to somehow hypnotise them by strategic marketing and make them sleepwalk in a trance into the local dive shop to spend thousands on classes, gear, and trips before they know what hit them.
But if that's what people in the industry want then great. I personally don't see anything sustainable about that approach.
Scuba diving seems to be a good example of a revolving door industry.
Maybe it's possible that scuba diving has come and gone as the "Try me" sport.
I'm sure at one time people who made wooded spoked wagon wheels were having this exact conversation when their sales went down because the motorized auto came out and made wooded wagon wheels obsolete.
Not that scuba is anywhere near obsolete, but perhaps we're beating a dead horse here thinking people somehow forgot what scuba diving was and it will be "rediscovered". I'm sure the majority of average people know about it, but just don't have any interest in it.
It takes a special person to be a diver, not everybody is cut out for it.



I'm of the mindset "It is what it is".
Anything worth anything sells itself.

 

[KevinNM]

I think there are two things at work here. Surfing has the benefit of a cultural allure among even non-surfers, as well as some connections/overlap with skateboarding and even snowboarding. You can dress like a surfer dude, act like a surfer dude, etc without ever getting on a board. Look at all the people in the middle of the country that have never even seen a wave in person wearing rip-curl and oneill clothing, etc. Short of a t-shirt with a dive flag on it from some dive shop... there are no "extenders" in the scuba industry. Add in the surfer images of hot, tanned, toned guys and gals in bathing suits... compared to the typical diver in a drysuit with snot hanging out of his nose...

What's odd is that the stats I found showed that you had pretty much exactly the same percentage (and vaguely similar numbers) of the first time participants in both scuba and surfing in 2012, in the low 20% range. (This assumes I don't totally misremember them). This suggests a pretty high attrition rate with both.

 

[RJP]

I think scuba is plenty popular. It's not a spectator activity, and appeals to those that aren't necessarily athletic but desire adventure. However, it appeals just as well to the uber athlete that can't get enough of their adrenaline high.

The "adventure" positioning and messaging is part of why scuba is NOT that popular, and actually does more to keep non-divers away than attract them. Here's a piece of data from some market research I conducted in December with more than 500 non-divers and divers. Clearly non-divers do not see themselves as adventure-seekers.

However, if we're going to be honest... diving is not particularly adventurous. Or at least not all diving is or has to be. Standard-issue "look at all the pretty fishies" can be as quiet, calm, and zen-like - non-adventurous - as anyone would like.

I'll share additional data later this week demonstrating the negative impact that conveying the "adventure" message has on non-divers... and why THAT needs to change if the industry is to attract more non-divers.

 

[TMHeimer]

My selfish viewpoint is that I really don't care about the number of divers, but it depends on where/when you dive. There's rarely anyone else at any of the shore sites I dive in Nova Scotia. Same for when we snowbird on the N. Gulf of Mexico (too cold for the locals). Though I do wish at times there were more people interested in charters down here (I'm in Ala. now) in winter so there would be more boats going out to choose from. As well, I get all the DMing I want at our local shop (which pretty much has a monopoly). I'm happy the way things are.

 

[RJP]

At one time diving was sort of marketed to mainstream consumers. During the 80's and 90's there was a huge push get more people into the sport by changing training techniques and making it more family friendly. Gear manufacturers were making gear more comfortable and easier for people to use, etc.
This lead to many places around the world starting charter and dive operations, hotels, resorts, etc.
I'm really not sure how many of those people were just trying scuba and it didn't fully take them under the spell, so they lost interest and gave it up after a few years.
There always was and always will be the dedicated hardcore diver that will dive no matter what, anywhere anytime, which is what the sport started with. But there isn't enough of them to sustain the industry as we know it today. The way the industry is set up right now, it requires a steady flow of new divers coming in that equals or exceeds the flow going out. What we're seeing is a higher flow exiting the sport than coming in for one reason or another, probably economics for the most part, and maybe cultural reasons for another part.
I also don't think there is any way to retain interest and activity in the sport by people who really aren't that into it. If they don't want to do it they aren't going to do it. There's no way to beg them to stay if their done, and it's silly to think you're going to somehow hypnotise them by strategic marketing and make them sleepwalk in a trance into the local dive shop to spend thousands on classes, gear, and trips before they know what hit them.
But if that's what people in the industry want then great. I personally don't see anything sustainable about that approach.
Scuba diving seems to be a good example of a revolving door industry.
Maybe it's possible that scuba diving has come and gone as the "Try me" sport.
I'm sure at one time people who made wooded spoked wagon wheels were having this exact conversation when their sales went down because the motorized auto came out and made wooded wagon wheels obsolete.
Not that scuba is anywhere near obsolete, but perhaps we're beating a dead horse here thinking people somehow forgot what scuba diving was and it will be "rediscovered". I'm sure the majority of average people know about it, but just don't have any interest in it.
It takes a special person to be a diver, not everybody is cut out for it.



I'm of the mindset "It is what it is".
Anything worth anything sells itself.

Oh ye, of little faith!

:d