Dive Industry Statistics | Scuba Instructor Jobs & Career
Survey Results: Dive Instructors Who Did Not Renew Their ‘Teaching Status’
The “economics” of the dropped-out scuba diving instructors. Their reasons. Their profile.
Darcy Kieran is the author of the handbook “Your Career and/or Life as a Scuba Diving Instructor: How to Make a Good Living Out of Your Passion for Scuba Diving” and a unique advanced logbook & checklists for scuba divers, divemasters & instructors.
Throughout 2021, Scubanomics conducted a worldwide survey of scuba diving instructors. In the first article, we presented the “economics” of being a recreational dive instructor compared to a technical diving instructor. You can read the first part of our analysis here:
In this second part of our dive instructor survey report, we are looking at scuba diving instructors who are no longer in teaching status. Why did they drop out? Is their decision permanent, or do they intend to come back? What were the profile and financial conditions of those instructors who decided to stop teaching scuba? And other questions along those lines.
In part 3, we will look at differences in dive professionals’ income, based on the instructor’s gender, location, training agency affiliation, experience, age, and more.
Who answered the survey?
Before jumping into the exciting parts of the study, let’s have a quick look at who answered the survey.
Our pool of survey respondents showed a bias toward instructor trainers with many years of experience as dive instructors. Presumably, this group of people is more committed to the dive industry and, therefore, was more receptive to taking part in the survey.
In the end, 741 dive instructors answered the survey, of which 628 were in active-teaching status while the other 113 were no longer teaching. This last group is the focus of this second report.
Among the inactive dive instructors, 72.7% were instructors, while 27.3% were instructor trainers/course directors. For simplicity of the text in this report, we will use the term’ dive instructor’ as inclusive of instructors, instructor trainers, and course directors.
Who are the inactive scuba diving instructors who answered the survey?
Non-teaching dive instructor respondents came from the following regions:
- USA: 45.6%
- Europe: 23.5%
- South Pacific, Indo-Pacific, Other Tropical Asian Region: 11.8%
- Canada: 7.4%
- Australia, New Zealand: 4.4%
- Other: 7.3%
81% of the dropped-out dive instructors were male.
Almost 60% of them were between the ages of 45 and 64, as we see in the figure below:
When & where did they drop out?
In our sample, most dive instructors no longer teaching scuba had stopped before the COVID-19 pandemic hit.
Of the 14.3% who stopped teaching in 2020–2021, almost all blamed the pandemic for their decision.
How long had they been dive instructors when they stopped teaching? Most of them (67.5%) had been dive instructors for over five years. We can also see a bump after the 2-year mark:
It appears the instructors dropping out were mainly teaching independently or working in a dive shop in a non-tourist location:
Now… Let’s dive into the juicy stuff!
How much have dropped-out dive instructors invested in their scuba diving careers compared to those still active?
Here’s how much dive instructors have invested, on average, to develop their careers:
On average, instructors who did not renew their teaching status with a dive training agency had spent significantly less in training and gear than those who remained active. One way of looking at it is to say that you have to invest to be successful. But it may also be that dive instructors who remain active are more addicted to scuba diving and, therefore, spend more.
How much income did inactive scuba diving instructors generate when they were teaching?
Here’s how much annual income dropped-out instructors earned from teaching, including tips and commissions, in their last year of teaching, compared to income earned by active instructors in 2019, pre-pandemic:
We have to be careful with the numbers in Figure 2 because some of the “last teaching year” numbers are pre-2019, and inflation should be factored in. Either way, a high level of income is certainly not what keeps dive instructors active. You can’t save and plan for a comfortable retirement with 18 thousand dollars a year.
Inflation is not a factor in the number of students trained annually, so let’s have a look.
It appears that scuba diving instructors who decided not to renew their teaching status were less active than the average dive instructor.
Do non-teaching dive instructors intend on coming back?
About a third of dive instructors who did not renew their teaching status with their dive training agency intend to come back.
Why did they stop teaching scuba?
The survey included an open-ended question on why they decided not to renew their teaching status with their dive training agency. Here are some of the noteworthy answers. 54% of the responses included a reference to insufficient income.
- It’s not a sustainable paying career; at best, it’s a part-time “side hussle.”
- It’s no real income compared to the income I can earn at home. I can’t save any money from being a diving instructor.
- Pregnancy.
- Probably age, but it’s a shame because had there been some economic advantage, I would have loved to have carried on.
- Too uncertain, too many risks, and my career perspectives in Europe.
- Covid, no tourists, no customers.
What are their thoughts on the ‘economics’ of being a dive instructor?
65% of non-teaching dive instructors believe that teaching scuba is not a valuable career path for young people.
The answer to that question was a split 50/50 among active dive instructors with the “yes” side slightly ahead.
There was a final open-ended question about the “economics” of being a dive instructor. Here are some of the noteworthy answers.
- Leaving the industry was the best career choice I ever made. I started teaching at 18, wasted almost 15 years struggling to earn a living.
- If it’s your sole income, quality of instruction can go down in order to teach enough to make ends meet.
- The adventure was nice; the economic perspective isn’t.
- I think the main issue is one of age over job availability–the industry doesn’t recognize experience–shame really.
- “Lifestyle” value overcompensated by resorts/liveaboards in lieu of a living wage.
- There are too many dive shops that take advantage of our love to dive, and that ends up with us being underpaid.
- Good for a few years but not viable in the long run unless you work in AU, US, Caribbean, or Maldives.
- Most dive shops employ you illegally, and the authorities look the other way as they do so. The exploitation of foreign workers is prevalent, and what laws exist are ignored by employers.
- It’s ok if you do it in your early 20s for a few years, or as a part-time thing for fun or extra cash. But there is barely a way to make it work as an adult doing it full time. Sure, you could become a CD, but there are too many of those already too.
- The fees are a killer. Between what PADI charges at this level and the cost of insurance, I do not see how anyone can do this as a long-term career.
- Teaching standards (unsurprisingly) are poor. I have seen teaching in shops where the instructor just shows a video with no interaction with students = poor teaching and poor outcomes. Tech instructors have more opportunities to make better money and get greater satisfaction from teaching but still not good enough for me.
- It’s too dominated by one agency. Very poor professional training more focused on quantity.
- I did it for fun, not for money. It is very hard to get a decent income working solely as a diving instructor.
- We are not respected as professionals. Agencies need to stop this drive to the bottom and stop catering to the lowest price point. A ski instructor I know makes five times what I do, and they work a minimum of 12 hours LESS per class.
- In my view, dive instruction is a part-time occupation. The dive industry as a whole is a very small niche industry, heavily reliant on discretionary spending, which is simply unable to grow at a sustainable rate sufficient to provide a sustainable lifestyle for most of the professionals involved.
- A regular instructor, either in the Caribbean or in the USA, does not make enough money to own a home, raise a family, or save enough to one day retire. For most instructors, it’s not a full-time career.
- In most cases, it is something you pursue and try out for a limited time in your life, typically when you are young, for adventures sake.
And here’s one final answer that was quite elaborate:
“Diving instructors are told by their agencies to train all courses. The standardized courses essentially create a commodity-based industry. That keeps prices low and instructors who offer all courses don’t focus enough on a core competency which means they never develop an ability to differentiate from other instructors.
This lack of differentiation in teaching all courses and courses being standardized keeps the process low which does not serve the instructors, only the agencies.
Diving instructors need to be trained in differentiation, not standardization. They also need to focus on complimentary programs rather than a broad spectrum of courses.
Most instructors I speak with talk about heading home to work and saving enough to see them through the next season. The industry does not support their livelihood which makes it a short-lived career.
Diving instructors need to learn to add value beyond that supplied by the agencies. The economic forces are simple. An oversupply of instructors keeps the wages low and selling a commodity product doesn’t allow for differentiation which holds the prices of courses down” (source: Survey Respondent.)
There you have it!
From the Scubanomics survey on dive instructors, we have, so far, produced the following reports:
- Part 1: The “economics” of being a recreational scuba diving instructor compared to a technical diving instructor.
- Part 2: This article, here, on dive instructors who decided to stop teaching scuba.
- Part 3: Differences in dive professionals’ income, based on the instructor’s gender, location, training agency affiliation, experience, age, and more.
Subscribe to be kept in the loop. You may also pursue this discussion with the author, Darcy Kieran, on LinkedIn.
A Very Special Thank You!
Michael Menduno (InDepth) and Darcy Kieran (Scubanomics) want to warmly thank the following organizations for their support with this study:
GUE, SITA, International Training (TDI/SDI/ERDI/PFI), Tec Clark — The Dive Locker, RAID, DAN Europe, X-Ray Mag, DiveNewsWire, and Scuba News Canada.
Also from Darcy Kieran:
- Handbook: Your Career and/or Life as a Scuba Diving Instructor: How to Make a Good Living Out of Your Passion for Scuba Diving.
- Logbook: Advanced Scuba Diving Logbook with Checklists for certified scuba divers, divemasters & dive instructors.
- Handbook: Advanced Guide to SPF Scuba Diving for Scuba Divers, Divemasters & Dive Instructors: Develop Better Scuba Diving Skills, Dive Safer, Save Money & Have More Fun!
- Handbook: The Ultimate Beginner’s Guide To Scuba Diving: How to Increase Safety, Save Money & Have More Fun!
- Logbook: STARTER Scuba Diving Logbook with Checklists while getting your open water diver certification!
- Reference book: Scuba Diving Industry Market Reports, Data & Statistics.
Side note: During your surface intervals, have a look at my novels with a scuba diving twist, starting with “Mystery of The Blue Dragon” and “Shadows on Ocean Drive.”
You could help the dive industry by taking part in ongoing dive industry surveys. You will also find results from our past scuba diving market studies here.
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What now? Have a look at the complete Scubanomics Table of Contents.
