Is the industry picking up?

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CAPTAIN SINBAD

Contributor
Messages
2,997
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Location
Woodbridge VA
# of dives
200 - 499
To the dive business owners (but anyone else can comment,) how are things going in your respective areas? Do you feel that the dive industry is picking up after the last year Covid slump? How do you foresee the post-Covid journey for you?
 
The couple of shops I get fills at locally say things are still pretty slow. Will pick up when the travel does.
 
On both questions, pretty much same as always. Courses were cancelled during Covid, of course. Other than inability to cross the U.S. border, my diving here was unaltered during Covid. We're talking like it's completely over......The border is still closed (yes I know you can fly across).
 
One of the dive shops I use in Central Florida has stated they have not been this busy in over a decade. They are absolutely flooded with students. Another Shop I go to is empty.

A boat owner I take student's out on has stated, Biden's CG rules of number of divers on a CG boat, is holding them back. Now this was last month, I will ask again on Thursday.
 
My shop is currently overloaded with both dive students and swim students. We are in a small-ish metro area, so when the tri-city parks and rec departments shut down their swim lesson programs for longer than we did, we became the only game in town. Even now that everyone is fully open again, we had to add an entire day to our swim schedule to keep up with demand. We are currently doing 2-3 try scubas and 2-3 open water classes a month, usually with 3-5 try scuba students and 6-8 open water students. We have had to bring in an extra instructor a time or two for check out dives because we had so many students.

We had to cancel a bunch of trips in 2020, but we've sent out a bunch of full trips this year and added a ton to our schedule (nearly 50% increase over 2019) and they are filling up fast. People want to get away.
 
We've been absolutely slammed for the last six or so months, but we're not dependant on tourism and we don't do much (if any) shop travel. Alaska was also the first state to roll out vaccines for everyone.

I think that it will slow down as the summer moves on and that unthawing feeling wears off. Like a lot this last year, it's super hard to predict, and it feels like we're just looking a month or two ahead, not six months or a year.
 
To the dive business owners (but anyone else can comment,) how are things going in your respective areas? Do you feel that the dive industry is picking up after the last year Covid slump? How do you foresee the post-Covid journey for you?
Wow.. things must be different that far north. In Florida, you can't get a seat on any boat without booking months in advance right now. Every dive shop I've been in has had more people in them than I've ever seen at any one time. Hotels and restaurants and anything that caters to tourists are also just as slammed. We need more boats and captains down here desperately.
 
The charters in southeast FL are filling up most weekends and even during the week, shore diving sites like BHB are busier than ever, and hotels and restaurants are hopping. Things have improved significantly in South Florida. Even here in "quiet" southwest FL tourism is way up, tourism-focused restaurants and hotels are packed and the dive shop I use in Naples says they have never been busier. Classes are booked, local trips they coordinate are booked, and the only challenge is getting some inventory due to the well documented supply chain backlogs.
 
One of the dive shops I use in Central Florida has stated they have not been this busy in over a decade. They are absolutely flooded with students. Another Shop I go to is empty.

A boat owner I take student's out on has stated, Biden's CG rules of number of divers on a CG boat, is holding them back. Now this was last month, I will ask again on Thursday.

There have been no Federal Coast Guard (CG) limits on capacity on charter boats that I am aware of. Early on in 2020 there were local (state or county) limits but those were not Federal/CG limits. The only CG guidelines were for measures to minimize the spread of COVID (masking, cleaning, etc.).

Correct me if I'm wrong and please share the guidance that shows the capacity limitations.
 
we had a decent season last year dispite all the covid restrictions. i think a lot of our business was from people receiving gov assistance making more money than they did when they were working.

this year however has started off with a wimper. my area has been basically in full lockdown since before christmas. for quite awhile, we were one of the worst hit areas in the country per capita.

just recently they began loosening restrictions. but we still have no access to indoor pools for example.

hopefully things will start to pick up. i am doing my first ow dives with a student this thursday.

it is too bad too because we have had a fantastic spring and early summer this year. i hope it continues.
 
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