The changing Scuba Industry

[BDSC]

Several folks have talked about buying equipment and how that has changed but another change has been how folks book dive travel.

When I was first certified back in the 90's, you pretty much did dive travel with your LDS. Whatever group trips they had going is what you did and many of the dive resorts preferred to deal more with the dive shops than individual divers. While the option to dive with your local shop is still there in many cases, that's just not the only way anymore. I can't remember the last time I have been on a shop trip and you can easily book land based or liveaboards yourself.

A number of years ago a group of six of us booked a trip to the Caribbean. While we were on that trip we met a few other nice folks and they started diving with us. To make a long story short, we are now a group of 40 to 50 folks who travel together. Obviously not everyone goes on every trip but we have a great base to pull from when we travel. The benefit to our group has been that what used to be a benefit reserved for just dive shops like free spots and commissions, we now get those same benefits. So instead of paying "retail prices" to go on a trip, we can go for less and sometimes for much less. I have the Belize Aggressor IV (Sundancer) booked for May of 2018. Retail price of the trip is $2995 per person. Because we all share in the free spots/commissions/group discounts, we can discount that by $895. Not bad. Explorer Ventures has a deal where if you get six folks to book, one of those is a free space.

My point is, the way you book dive travel has changed just like buying equipment. Most folks don't need a LDS to book dive travel anymore. So easy to do it on your own.

 

[Antmany2k]

our LDS puts a big markup on those trips. i looked at one to the red sea. they wanted £3500 i looked into it independently and book it myself for £1000 cheaper

why would you book through them when its cheaper to do it yourself? ok its a bit more work to scout around and get the best price but its worth the effort

 

[BDSC]

our LDS puts a big markup on those trips. i looked at one to the red sea. they wanted £3500 i looked into it independently and book it myself for £1000 cheaper

why would you book through them when its cheaper to do it yourself? ok its a bit more work to scout around and get the best price but its worth the effort

There was a time some of the shops here would mark up trips as well but I don't see that as much as I did. It's just so easy for folks to go on their computer and see what the price actually is. I seldom see them discount a trip but at least they have stopped marking them up. No way to justify it.

 

[Wookie]

Yep - shops are closing...

It would be interesting to see a poll of what stuff people buy from their LDS.

On our recent trip to Bonaire we ran into a troglodyte who spouted "support your LDS, where are you going to

I recently bought a Waterproof Wetsuit at full retail and the shipping (next day morning delivery from California) was $300, but I made $1000 diving for the Navy that day, so there is that. But I digress....

You don't have to go into your dive shop, you've figured out how to do it without going in. Why? Because you are a self-described diver. I am too, and I can't hardly walk into a dive shop without buying a trinket. But the dive shops don't get this. I had a couple of dive shops in Houston I frequented. One had pizza on Wednesday around 6. Why Wednesday? Slowest weekday evening of the year, no soccer practice, no concerts, nothing else to do but go to the dive shop and hang out and drink beer. The other shop had a couch and a beer fridge. The beer fridge was managed as a bring a beer, take a beer, so I'd show up with a 6 pack of something I remembered fondly from my misspent youth, maybe Moosehead, and I'd put them in the fridge. Maybe I'd discover some wonderful craft IPA or wheat beer, and I'd wander out to the shop to purchase some little knick-knack. That shop, by the way, charges $1150 for an open water class, conducts the class at the pool at the country club, and their customers come from the country club, because that's the customer you want, the one that doesn't shop around for the $99 class. They have been in business for 30 years, they run a major trip and a minor trip a month, they have a full service travel agent on staff, so if you don't want to go with the group to Cozumel (the minor trip), you can go on your own to Bonaire.

My point is, you can go to a dive shop where you can sit on the couch and drink beer and have a conversation about politics, dive travel, or best microbrews, or you can go to the shop where it's dirty, the staff huddle in the corner and whisper while you are there, they will fill your tank, but they will hit you for a VIP and a reg service when you don't expect it.

Guess which one gets most of my money?

 

[cerich]

On our recent trip to Bonaire we ran into a troglodyte who spouted "support your LDS, where are you going to get air?". I pointed out that my air was right here on the dock in Bonaire, why do I need an LDS?

yes that..

What is even more stupid is that the very shops that scream that fail basic math..they NEVER charge enough in air/gas fills to actually pay the operating expense of their compressor system..let alone the capital cost.

They scream in fear of people stopping to buy something they lose money on..isn't that simply brilliant?

 

[cerich]

i totally get it and relate to it in a way. but i think there is a balance. i realized that i am never going to do anything great in my life, i won't cure cancer, i won't leave a lasting impression on the earth and i will be forgotten a couple of decades after i die if not sooner so why not experience everything that you can?

wow, what a absolute shame... I feel sorry for you

 

[cerich]

There was a time some of the shops here would mark up trips as well but I don't see that as much as I did. It's just so easy for folks to go on their computer and see what the price actually is. I seldom see them discount a trip but at least they have stopped marking them up. No way to justify it.

when shops allow the experience of travelling with them to just become "booking a trip" then the price becomes the sole factor.

When a shop makes the experience of travelling with them the value add, there is still a place for shops to do travel.

 

[Antmany2k]

wow, what a absolute shame... I feel sorry for you

why? i accept that i am not intelligent enough to have a lasting effect in critical areas and realistically very few people will be remembered when they are gone for anything good. i just choose not to sit at home feeling sorry for myself, id rather get out and dive and see the world and experience as many different cultures and ways of life as i can

i know far too many people in their 30s, 40s and 50s who moan about the fact they have done nothing with their life, i don't want to be one of those people

 

[cerich]

why? i accept that i am not intelligent enough to have a lasting effect in critical areas and realistically very few people will be remembered when they are gone for anything good. i just choose not to sit at home feeling sorry for myself, id rather get out and dive and see the world and experience as many different cultures and ways of life as i can

i know far too many people in their 30s, 40s and 50s who moan about the fact they have done nothing with their life, i don't want to be one of those people

because believing the only mark you can make is something along the lines of curing cancer. Once you believe that you are limited, you are.

 

[Wookie]

when shops allow the experience of travelling with them to just become "booking a trip" then the price becomes the sole factor.

When a shop makes the experience of travelling with them the value add, there is still a place for shops to do travel.

The previously described dive shop in Houston with the beer fridge? The one who run a big trip and a little trip a month? They describe a little trip as a week in Cozumel, a big trip may be Raja Ampat or Truk. If I go through group travel, (exceedingly rare), I go with them. Why? They run "Show up at the airport on time" trips. That is, give them your credit card and tell them where and when you want to go, and show up at the airport on time. They have taxis, transfers, layovers, sorb, helium, hot and cold running hookers (if you are into that), and a trip leader to make sure your luggage got off the conveyor and onto the shuttle, or if it didn't, that a set of rental gear is waiting for you at destination. This is the extra value that they add.

Having been in the dive business, I can tell you about the other shop trips, where the trip leader doesn't want a buddy because he is frigging around with his new camera and way too busy to give someone buoyancy tips.

It's real nice to get "free trips", but a proper free trip should come with lots of strings attached. A free trip is a lot like a free boat. Nothing in the world so expensive.