The changing Scuba Industry

[CuzzA]

Which page has the "growing population" stats? What I see is household income > $50Kpa on >75% of all charts and more like 90% on the first two. AFAIK population growth tends to be inversely proportional to that particular metric.

I also have a sad feeling that where population and income are both growing there are hordes kicking the crap out of the reefs... but nowhere as much as dredging, land-filling, shark-fin-fishing, <insert more here> the crap out of the reefs.

The number of new certified divers has remained constant according to DEMA. We know the population of people continues to grow. Google population growth. So if the level of interest was also consistent we would expect to see a growing number of new certs with more people. So, from that I suspect interest in the sport is not growing. Which in my opinion is a good thing from an environmental perspective. Not good if you want to open a dive shop as you're just sharing the same amount of customers, unless of course you can get new people above and beyond the number of people who would likely get certified anyway.

 

[dmaziuk]

The number of new certified divers has remained constant according to DEMA. We know the population of people continues to grow. So if the level of interest was also consistent we would expect to see a growing number of new certs with more people. So, from that I suspect interest in the sport is not growing.

My point is that "we know" it continues to grow in Indo-China and Africa. The certs are in US/EU. From that pdf, the diving demographic seems to be people with > $50Kpa income, and unless you can show that their population is growing, "we know" nothing.

 

[stuartv]

The number of new certified divers has remained constant according to DEMA. We know the population of people continues to grow. Google population growth. So if the level of interest was also consistent we would expect to see a growing number of new certs with more people. So, from that I suspect interest in the sport is not growing. Which in my opinion is a good thing from an environmental perspective. Not good if you want to open a dive shop as you're just sharing the same amount of customers, unless of course you can get new people above and beyond the number of people who would likely get certified anyway.

In addition to what @dmaziuk said, if the population is growing by adding lots of really young people, but the number of people in the 35 - 55 age range is shrinking, then you also cannot really gauge interest, since that age range (roughly) is where most divers are found. The stats in that document clearly show that interest is not equal across all age ranges.

It also could be the case that crap shops are folding, so the number of divers is not growing, but the percentage of divers that will keep diving could possibly be increasing.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

I believe that this is a real problem. I would characterize it as: products and services where the price is not justified by either cost or value.



Be careful what you compare. Tumbling can expensive because it's time consuming and requires the use of consumable supplies. Shops include varying amounts of valve service with a hydro test. One shop near me replaces the burst disc, installs a viton neck o-ring, and puts tribolube on the threads; also, as a courtesy, they typically do not charge for cylinders that fail inspection, and most steel cylinders come back with a + rating. Another shop has a lower price but doesn't do all that.



The dive community as a whole, including LDSs, experienced divers, and to some extent Scubaboard, is paternalistic and unwilling to share information that an aspiring diver is not thought to be "ready" for. This is purportedly done to keep you safe.

Then there are those of us who get criticized for telling new divers too much.
I was just talking with a friend in the industry who asked me how sales were last year. Honestly, they were down. Some. I still had a good year but not a great one.
What was up, however, was income from teaching. That tripled last year. Multiple OW and specialty classes, non-cert workshops, and lots of happy divers. At the same time, all those classes meant more expenses. Travel, lodging, meals. It was fun but at the same time tiring. I work a full time job. I don't teach for the love of it. I teach to educate, create safe divers, and make money. At least enough to cover all my expenses and a bit more.
There are other things I do as well to try and attract people to diving. I write. A couple books now and a third in the planning/info gathering phase. I have a monthly column in SCUBA & H2O magazine. I belong to several FB groups and get students, customers, and readers from them.
What I didn't get enough of last year was just plain fun diving. I wanted to dive and asked people. Only a few were willing to go and just dive with no real purpose.
I got into photography last year. UW and surface and try to combine them with diving. I see a lot of interest in it until you start talking about classes, gear, etc.
I want to create divers that I would dive with and trust my kids lives to. Not someone who has to be led around and have everything done for them.
Too many people don't want to take the time and I agree with what Frank said early on. Diving is not cool anymore for a lot of people because it's marketed as too safe and too easy.
I have had younger people tell me they see the ads and pretty fish are ok but they want danger, excitement, the unknown.
So then I tell them the truth about what can go wrong, that there are wrecks 2 hours away in the great lakes that can kill you in a heartbeat, and that you might be diving at times by feel! COOL!
Then they say, so we can do the training in like what, a weekend?
No. It often doesn't get go much further.
My current OW student is 60, widowed, retired, has wanted to do this since Sea Hunt days. He's excited about seeing a bluegill. I'm excited for him.

 

[Diving Dubai]

I realise this discussion is US centric. But.

Do you not feel that people have more choice now? People used to be content with diving locally, because they had littel knowledge of far flung destinations or couldn't afford to travel.

In 2000 (picking a year at random) Not many divers had heard of Raja Ampat (for instance) Those who had heard and did make the trip were very dedicated divers who had saved for the trip of a life time.

The same destination now is easily accessible. You'll get lots of divers there with less than 100 dives (and outside SB 100 dives is still considered a lot if you're not a pro.

Some people will even visit such places to get certified - certainly it's more attractive than teh local "mud pit"

For equipment... You have to be dedicated/mad to own your own. You can rent gear for $20 per day, verses the cost of a basic travel gear set for say $1000

That's over 10 years of rental cost for a lot of divers, not including servicing, depreciation, excess baggage costs.

I love Indonesia for diving. There are lots of boats (too many) mostly full, mostly with younger people. We've book a variety, the lower cost are predominately people in their 20's and 30's - the higher end tend to be us old farts who have more disposable income.

I just think the world is more accessible people would rather invest in quality over quantity. Better perhaps to do less dives but in really great locations than a ton of dives in mediocre or poor locations

 

[dmaziuk]

I realise this discussion is US centric. But.

Do you not feel that people have more choice now? People used to be content with diving locally, because they had littel knowledge of far flung destinations or couldn't afford to travel.

And not only for diving. There's more things available to spend money on while disposable income is at least not growing proportionally to that -- for most of us anyway.

I don't buy "millenials value experience over stuff" BS: I expect many people like to have nice things just as much as I do. The only difference is some can afford to buy a set of gear and go for a fall dive in Yellowstone, for others it's more of an either/or proposition. Well, if it's an either/or: I can rent stuff, I cannot rent that drive, the choice is rather obvious.

 

[JamesBon92007]

I We've book a variety, the lower cost are predominately people in their 20's and 30's - the higher end tend to be us old farts who have more disposable income.
I just think the world is more accessible people would rather invest in quality over quantity. Better perhaps to do less dives but in really great locations than a ton of dives in mediocre or poor locations

Lately I fit into the "old fart" and mostly the "quality over quantity" categories however when on a dive trip I tend to do many dives in a short period of time so there's some "quantity" in the equation too.

This does not, by any means, mean that I no longer enjoy Southern California beach diving. I just like being underwater, swimming around and taking pictures etc. For me it doesn't have to be 82 degree water with 110' visibility in order to have a good time. But as far as the industry goes, the "great locations" get most of my dive money.

I think someone said this thread is supposed to be mainly about the USA dive industry. Is Mexico and Central America included in that? They have been getting most of my dive money.

 

[drrich2]

Scuba can be an experiences type of endeavor. For me, hovering with sand tiger sharks over the wreck of the Caribbsea and hanging with big barracuda under the dive boat, hovering watching a large green moray close by, seeing my 1st reef sharks, approaching and photographing large goliath grouper, getting buzzed by a sea lion, feeling my fin hit something mid-water and looking down to find a harbor seal messing with me, being approached by an electric ray, finally figuring out over extended observation that with weird ball of crud/goo I was looking at was alive (California sea hare)...

And what about people who go on trips diving with tiger sharks cageless, or in cages with great whites? Snorkeling with whale sharks? And there's more fringe stuff you can do...

I suspect millennials often get more post-high school education, as someone else described move to go to college, then for a job (if they don't move for professional school or more training first), and these days that job's a lot less likely to include a pension or the employer to be 'permanent.' Are they more likely to live adult lives far from the communities and families they grew up in?

If so, the mindset buy a house, car, maybe a bass boat or SUV (I live in the south), basically amass stuff, may not be ingrained.

It's true people these days have more choice, both at home (game systems, internet forums, rapid mail order to get stuff) and abroad (I think more people these days travel - such as cruises, and fly more often). But that means skiing, lounging at tropical A.I. resorts, cruising and so forth are potential competitors. Especially since some of these are family things. In my parent's day, recreation was local - fishing, deer hunting, gardening, flower gardening, etc... Flying to a foreign holding to goof off for a week outside of a honeymoon was practically unheard of.

How many forum posts read like this 'I got certified many years ago, then got married and had kids and got out of it, now the kids are grown, I've got more time and money and I'm getting back into diving...' Maybe instead of targeting 20-somethings hoping for lifetime participation, especially since some thing a lot of the money to be made on a diver is early when he gets his initial gear collection, perhaps hitting the mid-life cris

For me, considering a dive trip includes a question; do I go solo (cheaper & a lot more diving) or do I bring my wife and our little girl along? I've done it both ways. Scuba requires more dedication to participate in than, say, cruise ship excursions (e.g.: parasailing, river tubing, rainforest or Mayan ruin hiking, dolphin encounters, etc...), and if you really want to see under the sea, you can visit a public aquarium with huge salt water tanks.

I am one of those. I don't think it's my age, I think it's that I really enjoyed catering to the old style rough tough dive anything person who learned to dive and "became a diver". Those folks are out there too, but we see far more folks who want to do a 2 tank resort course, see the reef, and go sailboarding (is that a thing anymore?) paddleboarding in the afternoon.

I chose not to cater to those divers, had the opportunity to sell my business and jumped at it.

These days, those people have the option to go tech. and try their hand at really deep diving, cave diving, etc... People like me who stick to recreational make a decision to basically stick to less complicated diving with a larger margin for error. Look at forum discussions about dive planning when tech. folks get to talking.

My question - does the diving you've been offering require that kind of 'tough' diver? If so, how and why? If not, you're going to get a lot of the other kind.

Richard.

 

[mdb]

I have no desire to be a "Tech Diver" or any other terms currently used.

No multiple hoses, side mounts or whatever.

I prefer simplicity.

For me diving has always been about peace, tranquility, solitude.

Floating weightless in the ocean, in a kelp forest, aware and alert and peaceful.

I, normally, dive solo. In California that is not a problem with most dive charters,
of course, never a problem when shore diving.

Diving offers a unique opportunity to be away from the normal back scatter of everyday
life.

 

[TMHeimer]

$20 a day vs. $1,000 buying your own sounds good. Depends on how often you dive. At two dives a day you hit $1K in 50 days and now you still have to rent. But that's obvious and old news. For a week's diving in the tropics once or twice yearly the $20 is probably the way to go.