Why aren't more people taking up scuba diving?

[Leadking]

You are on the right track.
In my generation, baby boomer, you were commitedto your sport. There were only a few to choose from. I dove in the summer and skied in the winter, that was it. Look at the choice in activities today, all copeting for your attention and money. I watched tennis, running, golf, biking, and roller blading peak and fall. It is the natural progression of things today.

 

[dmoore19]

I may have mentioned it before, but from where I live winter is here. For me diving is an escape and a chance to go someplace warm. I plan trips as much as a year in advance, paying for the trip before I go. It is also something that gives me the thought of an escape from every day life, something to look forward to.

I know a lot of people really hate Scuba Diving magazines and the others for their advertisements of tropical places with warm clear water. Not me, I like looking at the pics, reading the article and thinking about how or when I might be able to get there. I really don't pay too much attention to the gear advertisements. The web is another great resource, not just Scubaboard but looking at the websites of the live aboards and the diving destinations. It keeps me interested.

 

[Wookie]

My crew likes to SUP. They kayak, too, but they really like SUP so they can see into the shallows. Then they like to come back on snorkel so they can eat what they saw while paddleboarding..... SUP and Kayak are crossover sports to diving.

 

[Pullmyfinger]

Which, by the way, has been doing pretty brisk business during the same time period that scuba has been stagnating.

And if you want to say "but cycling is cheaper than diving" you simply need to price a set of Zipp Firecrest 404 wheels ($3,500) or swing by a popular local cycling route and count how many new Colnago C59's and Pinarello Dogma's ($6k-$10k) or even pedestrian Trek Madone's that range from $3,000 up to $10,000 go rolling by. If one of the guys (also largely guys) riding one of those bikes stops, ask them when they bought that bike, what they had before that, what they're upgrading to this year, and how many other bikes they own. (The correct number of bikes to own is N+1, where N=the number of bike's currently owned.) Take note of their $1200 power meters, $500 computers, $300 shoes, $150 jersey, $200 shorts, $200 helmet, $100 carbon fiber water bottle cages, gloves, glasses, etc, etc. Ask, by show of hands, how many of them have a $350 trainer at home, multiple sets of wheels, a $500 bike carrier for their car. And it will probably run 50/50 in terms of how many spend a few hundred bucks a year on service vs. how many have spent $500-$1,000 or so on a stand, tools, parts, lubes, etc in order to service their bikes themselves.

I've spent far more in the past few years on road cycling than I have on diving.

Sure, there's no training/certification barrier, and no significant travel barrier, but the economy hasn't hit recreational cycling in anywhere near the same way it's hit scuba diving.

Definitely!
Cycling seems to be doing very well. The shop around here caters to American and Japanese riders. They sell mostly mid-range and high-end bikes. I'm at the low end of their range with a CAAD 10, and a mix of 105/Ultegra components.

Most of these guys around here are on bikes that cost more than my Megaladon.

Dive shops would kill to have a customer base like that.

*N+1....."Obey the Rules!"

 

[swamp diver]

Still like to be pointed to the statistics that show how diving is dying off.

After reading all this an all the conjecture, hasn't anyone simply acknowledged that the United States and many parts of the world have been in the 2nd biggest recession/depression for the last 5 years and all travel related activities have been on a decline?

You guys need some real data. Five years ago before Dan Orr, the CEO of DAN retired, he went around the nation giving a talk on this exact topic. Two facts stuck in my brain which were the average age of a "new" DAN member at that time was 39 years old and the average age of all DAN members was 49 to 50 years old. A very old and aging cohort.

The first boomer turned 65 years old last year and it was that boomer population explosion that drove much of the dive industry's expansion in the latter part of the 20th century. Now many of those original divers are developing heart disease and other health issues which eventually lead to one hanging up the fins for good.

At the youth end which should be feeding the industry to replace those older divers dropping out we have a lot of factors which have come together to make diving less attractive,....no Cousteau type role models anymore, a lot of other more attractive sports competing for money and attention, and most important a lack of funds in this cohort.

Here in the Toronto area we are still sitting with a youth unemployment rate of close to 20% unofficially in the 18 to 29 year old age group and across the country 50% of that demographic is still living in their parent's homes in order to pay down student debt or just survive.

As someone mentioned above (?Leadking) the decline in the scuba industry is structural and no amount of marketing, at least in North America, is going to reverse the trend of the aging boomer and poor twenty-five year old. The sport will always be around but for every three grey haired rotund guys talking about the good old days of Sea Hunt and Cousteau who eventually hang up their fins the industry will be lucky to attract one lifelong diver under the age of thirty.

One would be better off opening a new dive shop in a region of the world which has an expanding middle class and population bulge of teens such as North America did in the sixties.

 

[GLOCKSCUBAG!RL]

"You had me at Glock..."

Awesome :]

 

[RJP]

Y the industry will be lucky to attract one lifelong diver under the age of thirty.

Why does everyone keep bringing up "lifelong divers" and "diver retention" as the desired state? Someone mentioned above that they'd like to know the "10yr retention rate" for diving. 10yrs is a silly-long time horizon to look at for ANYTHING from a marketing standpoint. This has always been true. Hell, if you look at persistency rates for something like patients newly started on prescription medicines for life-long, chronic conditions (high blood pressure, cholesterol,etc) you'll see that as many as 40%-60% of patients stop taking their meds within the first 12mo. This further falls down to 50-70% being off their meds. So if we can't get even the highest-risk cardiac patients to take a drug that will reduce heart attack,stroke, cardiac death, and even all-cause mortality... it's really a stretch to think that continued participation among diving; an expensive, logistically challenging, yet optional/discretionary activity.

TWO-YEAR PERSISTENCY RATES AMOMG PATIENTS TAKING STATINS

What's the right time horizon to look at for today's millennials? They lease cars short term, one yea apartment leases, in fact they don't even go into a new job with an expectation of being with that same company 18-24mo later. If nothing else about their life is "persistent" why would we hope that their hobbies would.

There is a new normal in the overall economy, and one of the potential target segments, (millennials) don't think/act along timelines that had previously been meaningful, if not benchmarks. We can find the opportunities here... (And they do exist ) or continue the lamentations and rending of our garments.

 

[ryssyr]

I normally don't reply but this thread is missing one of the most important parts of any sport or community... and thats the people. I can't tell you how many times I witnessed personally the terrible attitude of 'experienced' divers to new bright eyed people. Diving seems to be populated by a lot of folks that just don't make it FUN. My wife commented on this when she got certified 6 years after I had. On a recent boat she commented that not one person was smiling or talking. Everyone seemed to be more worried about being insta-buddied up so they all looked at their own feet and kept to themselves. She said it was the people that kept her from getting into it sooner. Its an interesting data point and the dive community should be worried about the perception that its populated by a bunch of no-fun having, aging xenophobes.

In two years of DM'ing in Monterey I would see all kinds of folks have a difficult time finding a more experienced person to buddy up with and learn because so many were either too into their own cliques or not interested in being with someone who might silt things up while they were learning. If we as a community want to grow it then its up to each and every one of us to help mentor and help folks that are trying to join our sport. Its not about the dive shop or the money its about having personal connections that can help you get into something thats intimidating to newcomers. You can learn a lot from each other and it doesn't take a paid class to get good at any skills.

I carry a big camera around on all my dives so its a natural ice breaker to start up conversations. I also try to take a photo of everyone underwater so that they have a nice picture of themselves to share with friends. Its really up to us guys and gals to make people feel like this is a FUN and worthwhile endeavour to spend their precious time doing.

 

[dmoore19]

There was a thread recently that talked about that. There were some that didn't find the need to socialize on the way out, actually found it offensive if someone tried to make small talk on the way out. I have always been lucky in that I never ran into many people like that on a dive boat. But most of the trips I have been on were group trips, we all had something in common already.

 

[SanDiegoSidemount]

Can anyone on this thread comment on BSAC and their "dive club" oriented approach? How does this play out RE attracting and keeping divers interested in the sport?

From what I've seen, BSAC divers appear to be among the most fervently devoted to their agency here on SB. (Neck and neck with GUE it seems. ) Also, UK divers seem quite dedicated to diving near home in less-than-idyllic conditions. Is BSAC and its approach responsible for this?

Maybe this is something the industry at large can learn from?

The group I trained with and eventually taught for at UC Berkeley in the '80s and '90s was incredibly good at "retaining" divers after their training, by involving them in progressing towards teaching, as well as regularly organizing fun dive trips. It was a true "community of divers", and decades later, we are all still very close.