Quick survey for divers - Help me with my university marketing project

[Subcooled]

The questions do not match U.K. diving. Most diving is planned and executed by the individual or a club. Commercial operators normally only take trainees looking to dive in warm water.

Same for Finland. Diving is organized by associations that have their own compressors and mixed gas solutions and boats (or whatever dinghy they might afford). We still need someone to repair and test our drysuits, service regs, do hydrostatic testing...

We have dive shops that don’t offer training, it’s no longer profitable

Same

All dive shops in the area support commercial dive operations

There used to be several dive shops or dive equipment manufacturers/sellers here, but the only one that only catered for rec divers is now gone. It had very little sales.

 

[Jonn]

I travel from Edmonton, Alberta to Victoria, BC twice a year for cold water diving. I’m doing that right now. Think I’m the only one though, the scene has not recovered post covid. Been begging my local Edmonton shops to get back into west coast tours for years now, no luck. Industry on the island is also shrinking.

 

[Wants2divemore]

Done.

For the question about cost of a local 2-tank boat dive, you should have a N/A option. There are no local boat dives offered in my area. The closest boat diving is NJ wreck diving (a 1.5 - 2 hour drive) which I wouldn't consider local.

 

[TrimixToo]

I’m a student working on a marketing project for my COMM_V 365 course. Being a diver I choose to model a fictitious dive shop for my business! I'll be exploring diver habits, travel preferences, and what people value most in dive shop services. The goal is to better understand how divers engage with local shops and destination diving experiences.

your input would be a huge help! The survey takes about 5 minutes and will only be used to further develop my final project.

Thanks for supporting a project and helping gather real-world insights.

COMM_V 365 Research Project

(Mods, please direct if I'm in the wrong area for something like this)

Submitted. However, note that I have every facility a dive shop does, all to myself, and some the average shop does not have. I have a compressor, mix my own gas, rebuilt my own regs, plan my own travel, and so on. I'm about as far from being a regular dive shop customer as you are likely to meet, and several people on the board are the same. If you are interested, and want the background, I know a former very successful dive shop owner pretty well. If you PM me I can ask him whether he will spend some time talking to you. If you actually want to open a shop his advice would be invaluable.

 

[Ontwreckdiver]

What if I told you there is a place you can wreck dive and cave dive in the same day, all within this great Country! (bonus points for not needing to rinse your gear after the ocean wreck, because the cave is fresh)

Are you referring to the cave in Tobermory?

 

[TMHeimer]

Oh absolutely! Some big proponent of that I suspect is marketing (or the lack thereof). Secondary cause, likely training and comfort (in water) and utilizing or availability of a drysuit.

For tech divers, many have drysuits and travel heavy. Personally, I always bring by suit to Mexico and Florida without a second thought. So for them, the secondary issue isn't likely the cause.

Question for you: Although we are all familiar with the cold water locations you just mentioned, can you think of any of the attractions to those spots? For example: In Malta everybody know the Um El-Faroud Wreck, In Florida the Spiegle Grove, Oriskany, or N. FL for the caves, Mexico there is El Pit Cenote, California has Catalina Island, and so on, many of these landmark destinations for divers.

My curiosity also lies in wondering if Marketing can play a role in popularizing cold water destinations.

I haven't been to those areas. I can say there are a number of wrecks off the East Coast of Nova Scotia, numerous that are close to shore. I've only been to 3 or 4. My experience was that all the divers on these charters were local. I don't know about marketing cold destinations-- would this be by advertising in warm water locations?

 

[Slym]

I travel from Edmonton, Alberta to Victoria, BC twice a year for cold water diving. I’m doing that right now. Think I’m the only one though, the scene has not recovered post covid. Been begging my local Edmonton shops to get back into west coast tours for years now, no luck. Industry on the island is also shrinking.

That's too bad! Such beautiful diving there too! I wonder what made the slump happen, certainly economy has a factor there, quite an expensive city.

Are you referring to the cave in Tobermory?

Negative. In BC, tight sidemounty stuff near-ish Nanaimo

Submitted. However, note that I have every facility a dive shop does, all to myself, and some the average shop does not have. I have a compressor, mix my own gas, rebuilt my own regs, plan my own travel, and so on. I'm about as far from being a regular dive shop customer as you are likely to meet, and several people on the board are the same. If you are interested, and want the background, I know a former very successful dive shop owner pretty well. If you PM me I can ask him whether he will spend some time talking to you. If you actually want to open a shop his advice would be invaluable.

Certainly what I sort of expect: as you get further down the list of certs, the less dive-shop reliant you are. Even somebody without a compressor likely needs minimal shop support. I really appreciate the the help! Certainly the "one-day" goal, part of the reason I'm taking what I'm taking, so Thank You!

 

[Slym]

I haven't been to those areas. I can say there are a number of wrecks off the East Coast of Nova Scotia, numerous that are close to shore. I've only been to 3 or 4. My experience was that all the divers on these charters were local. I don't know about marketing cold destinations-- would this be by advertising in warm water locations?

Not quite, but you’re on the right track! I think presence at major dive trade shows could help reach warm-water divers, but I wouldn’t focus advertising dollars directly on tropical destinations.

Instead, I’d target cold-water regions with higher diver density and stronger socioeconomic bases, places like Calgary, Toronto, Seattle, or New York. Divers in those areas are already equipped and comfortable with drysuit environments, so the appeal of a new cold-water destination would be more accessible to them.

That said, the destination shop should still be equipped to support visiting warm-water divers with rental drysuits, training, and guided experiences, but the primary external audience would be cold-water divers looking to travel, not tropical ones.

 

[Cthippo]

If you want an example of this, look at God's Pocket Resort up in the Inside passage. They market themselves as a cold water diving destination and do bring in tours from shops.

 

[Edward3c]

Do you both mind elaborating more, for both my own curiosity, and perhaps a research note I can add in my final report? To clean up my questions to you both:
1. In the UK (and France), how would the tourist diver select a destination and subsequent shop for support, versus how a local diver and their training regiment and recreational dives be supported locally?
2. What factor might be important to the local diver in your community, when looking to travel away from their LDS for a trip?

Do you both mind elaborating more, for both my own curiosity, and perhaps a research note I can add in my final report? To clean up my questions to you both:
1. In the UK (and France), how would the tourist diver select a destination and subsequent shop for support, versus how a local diver and their training regiment and recreational dives be supported locally?
2. What factor might be important to the local diver in your community, when looking to travel away from their LDS for a trip?

We have thousands of wrecks around the UK, including the scuttled WW1 German fleet in Scapa Flow. Apart from hard corals we have a diverse marine environment. The best way for a tourist (either UK or overseas) to access dive sites is to contact a dive club, some dive shops will do escorted trips, but they are oriented to novice divers. A few, less than 5, dive shops in the U.K. have attached ‘clubs’, but they’re a captive pool of customers for training courses and expensive dive trips. One dive shop charge £75 for a shore dive clubs and individuals do for free.

1.
UK club diving is self-contained. For example, I’m a Cox’en assessor, I can qualify club members to operate and drive the RHIB[1], and a compressor instructor so we can run our own compressor. Some bigger clubs operate their own Hard Boat{2] and even have a bar. Cylinders are inspected by dedicated test houses, not many dive shops can afford the certifications or equipment required.

Commercial diving is in industries like; oil & gas, scientific research, construction, ship cleaning or inspection or surveying. A PADI/SSI el at instructor (someone getting paid to teach scuba) must have an annual HSE[3] medical, a written risk assessment, a standby diver and surface cover. Why teaching scuba isn’t normally profitable. Each year there are a few who got their instructor qualification overseas and think they can teach in the UK, only to find themselves in Court.

The dive shops round Glasgow make most of their revenue providing services to companies and doing air quality testing.

2.
A fare few dive shops organise overseas trips, as do many dive clubs. Dive shops use Travel Agents, if they plan the trip themselves, they fall under the UK Travel Package Regulations, dive clubs can arrange there own overseas trips as they don’t fall under the regulations.

Independent divers looking to dive abroad can use specialist travel agents, like Regaldive, but a growing number book direct with overseas operators.


1. Rigid Hull Inflatable Boat.
2. Hard Boats are limited to 12 passengers/divers. To carry more the boat must have lifeboats and safety equipment for 250 passengers.
3. Health & Safety Executive.