Size Of The Technical Diving Market

[kensuf]

Interesting presentation from Brian Carney

 

[KevinNM]

Interesting. This suggests that OW training is a key to enlarging the market. Both presenting the opportunities and producing divers with better starting skills.

 

[sheeper]

it was an interesting presentation and confirmed what many of us suspected. Tec is a small community with little growth. Us industry professionals need to do a much better job of creating and nurturing new open water divers. I see many tec instructors who don't want to "bother" with OW but that is exactly how we grow the industry!

 

[mdb]

SCUBA diving has been in decline for the last decade or more. In 1980 new diver certifications in the US were about 250,000 per annum- last year, according to DEMA 142,000. The population in 1980 was 250 million people; now 330+ million people. Far fewer % diving.

 

[Bennno]

SCUBA diving has been in decline for the last decade or more. In 1980 new diver certifications in the US were about 250,000- last year, according to DEMA 142,000. The population in 1982 was 250 million people; now 330+ million people. Far fewer % diving.

Wow, really? Why do you think that is? Wasn't diving more expensive back in the day compared to peoples income?

Internationally it should have gone up though, no? I'm thinking of all the backpackers that go to Thailand, Australia and destinations like that.

I would love to know PADIs and SSIs cert numbers. I hope some other agencies will share their number in the future. This TDI presentation is the best piece of 'market research' I have seen for the scuba industry.

 

[kensuf]

It was eye opening for me. I primarily teach cavern, intro, and full cave courses. I teach these because I've seen too many poorly trained cave divers damaging our systems, and I want to raise the bar and produce better quality cave divers. I do not do this for a living, and try to limit my teaching to a course or two a month.

When I saw that for each year over the past five years, on average, there were only 320 cavern divers certified world-wide, I was stunned. While Cavern is a cornerstone of cave diver training, it's an "every man" course -- it can be taken with only slight modifications to regular open water (non-tech) dive gear. Because it is also a safety course, it's the only course in the cave diving matrix that I will actively encourage and recruit people to take.

I honestly expected the number to be much higher than 320 world wide.

 

[Jack Hammer]

When I saw that for each year over the past five years, on average, there were only 320 cavern divers certified world-wide, I was stunned. While Cavern is a cornerstone of cave diver training, it's an "every man" course -- it can be taken with only slight modifications to regular open water (non-tech) dive gear. Because it is also a safety course, it's the only course in the cave diving matrix that I will actively encourage and recruit people to take.

I honestly expected the number to be much higher than 320 world wide.

I would suspect that number is for cavern certifications only and does not include those who took cavern and intro together or went zero to hero.

 

[Lorenzoid]

I would suspect that number is for cavern certifications only and does not include those who took cavern and intro together or went zero to hero.

And then there is GUE, which skips right over a cavern course.

 

[Jax]

Reduction of new blood into expensive sports is wide-spread.

The Baby Boomers who entered the market are now retiring, having health problems, and reducing their participation.

Skeet is another sport so affected. Skeet shooters are actively pushing the sport, supporting High School Shooting teams. Arizona supports the Scholastic Clay Target Program - Arizona Game & Fish Department - Shooting. The National Skeet Shooting Association makes sure all their big shoots have places to recognize youngsters; the big names all take time to mentor and assist the new shooters.

Consider what Tec / Cave diving offers.

 

[Bennno]

I honestly expected the number to be much higher than 320 world wide.

This is only TDI though.