Dive Industry Topics of Discussion

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You may find the following shortcuts helpful in locating the topics of interest to you. If not, please contact me and let me know what you are looking for.

Review of The Scuba Diving Industry in 3 Steps

Originally, the Scubanomics project covered the following 3 categories of topics. You will find shortcuts to the posts related to these three areas of discussion, below, in this article.

1. Dive Industry Statistics, Market Data & Structure (see below)
2. Dive Industry Analysis (see below)
3. Dive Industry Strategies (see below)

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Other Scubanomics Discussions

Over time, we ventured into a few other topics. Hopefully, the following additional index will help you find information that will be of assistance to your dive industry career or business.

• Dive Industry News & Editorials
• Dive Professional Career & Dive Center Management
• Special Section: The Scuba Diving Industry & COVID-19

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When in doubt, you can always browse the latest Scubanomics posts!

Scubanomics’ Analysis of the Dive Industry in Three Core Categories of Topics

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Step 1) Scuba Diving INDUSTRY STATISTICS, Market DATA & STRUCTURE:

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Latest Market Data Updates:

1. 2022 YTD Scuba Certifications in The Asia-Pacific Region: Disastrous! Massive drop in tourism, price promotions by dive resorts, and inflation: A perfect storm for the dive industry.
2. Q3 Scuba Certifications in The USA in 2022: Down From 2021 & Way Down From Pre-Pandemic Levels. So far, there is no “post-pandemic comeback” for the dive industry. Instead, we are simply “back on the declining slope” we were on before COVID-19.
3. 2021 Participation Rate: Scuba Diving Kept on Crashing While the Outdoor Industry Kept on Growing. After a small increase in participation by ‘core divers’ during the first year of the pandemic, scuba diving participation crashed down in 2021 in the USA.
4. Flat Sales of Scuba Diving Equipment in The USA in 2021. Dive gear sales were flat in 2021 compared to 2020 and remained significantly lower than pre-pandemic levels.
5. Open Water Scuba Diving Certification Numbers for The 2nd Quarter of 2022: Entry-level scuba diving certifications among Americans were flat in Q2 and remained much lower than pre-pandemic levels.
6. Scuba Diving Equipment Market Size 2021–2025: The global recreational scuba diving equipment market size was valued at $1.95 billion in 2019 and is expected to reach this level again in 2023, post-pandemic recession.
7. Scuba Diving Certifications After 2 Years of Pandemic: From 2019 to 2021, Full Year. Entry-level open water scuba certifications rebounded in the USA in 2021 but remain below pre-pandemic levels.
8. Final Numbers on Dive Gear Sales in the USA in 2020: Scuba diving, snorkeling, and freediving gear sales during the COVID-19 pandemic year. Market research report.
9. Scubanomics’ Exclusive Industry Survey on awareness, intent to participate, participation rate, satisfaction, and the dropout rate for scuba diving, snorkeling, and surface-supplied air (tankless) diving.
10. Scuba Diving Gear Sales in 2020: A Full Year of Pandemic. Sales of dive equipment (Scubapro) compared to other outdoor industry activities.
11. 2020 Full-Year Scuba Diving Certifications in the USA Including Recently Released 4th Quarter: Open water dive certifications after a year of COVID-19 pandemic.
12. The State of The Scuba Diving Industry After a Year of Pandemic: Where does the dive industry stand? What should we expect for dive travel, scuba certifications, and dive gear sales in 2021 and 2022?
13. 5-Year Trends in The Dive Industry: Scuba Gear, Dive Travel & Certifications. Trends in eLearning, rebreathers, side-mount diving, scuba certification during travel, and freediving.

Dive Industry Statistics, Studies & Market Reports:

1. Survey Results: Are Scuba Divers Ready To Dive After Their Open-Water Diver Course? What is missing in the open-water diver course? Is it better to learn scuba diving at home or on vacation? Is deep diving an essential skill?
2. Survey Results: Are dive centers & instructors equipped to provide a quality experience to scuba divers? Can scuba divers trust dive training agencies, instructors, dive shops & dive resorts? Why do we lack consistency in the quality of the experience?
3. Survey Results: Dive Computer Market, Features & Usage Among Scuba Divers (Tech & Recreational). Understanding how scuba divers use dive computers, how they plan their dives, and what features are most important or missing. Market research.
4. Survey Results: The Future of Rebreathers in Scuba Diving. Understanding the potential and limitations of closed-circuit & open-circuit rebreathers in the future of scuba diving.
5. Survey Results: Close Calls While Scuba Diving. Understanding scuba divers encounters with “close calls” and how we could better learn from sharing these diving incidents.
6. Survey Results: Sustainability in The Scuba Diving Industry: Understanding scuba divers & dive professionals’ relationship to the environment and commitment to sustainable tourism.
7. NEW SURVEY: How would you rate the quality of your Open Water Diver course or Discover Scuba Diving adventure? Evaluating entry-level scuba diving experiences to help the dive industry improve. Is there consistency in the quality of the experience? Does it matter?
8. The Size of The Scuba Diving Industry. Scuba diving certifications & dive gear sales: USA, Europe, and Worldwide.
9. UPDATED: The Economics of Being a Recreational Scuba Diving Instructor: Survey Results. Is it possible to make a living as a recreational scuba diving instructor? What to expect financially. Hourly rates. How much to invest in dive gear & scuba training.
10. Differences in dive professionals’ income, based on the instructor’s gender, location, training agency affiliation, experience, age, and more.
11. Scuba Diving Participation Rate & Statistics: Comparing scuba diving to snorkeling, swimming, and stand-up paddling, including statistics from the 2020 pandemic year.
12. Scuba Divers Dropout Rate: Causes and solutions for the high dropout rate in the scuba diving industry.
13. Scuba Diving Industry Market Statistics: Sources of Data & Lack of Data. DEMA, SFIA, OIA, Training Agencies, Dive Gear Manufacturers, William Cline, Dive Center Business.
14. Warning: Fake Dive Industry Statistics and Market Research. Be wary of rosy dive industry market data reports.

Dive Industry Structure:

1. The Dive Industry Stakeholders: Training agencies, scuba gear manufacturers, dive centers, independent scuba diving instructors, travel agencies, and more.
2. Managing a Local Dive Shop is Like Managing 6 Businesses in One — The 3Es of the Dive Industry: Scuba courses, dive gear, dive travel, rental gear, repair & maintenance, and fill station services.
3. 2 Types of Dive Centers: Origin & Destination. Local dive shops and scuba diving resorts: What’s the same? What’s different?
4. Don’t Blame The Internet! The Traditional Dive Shop Business Model Was Dead Before That: Eight challenges & six elements of solution for a scuba diving industry in tune with today’s consumers.

Stakeholder Profiles:

1. Scuba Diver Socio-Demographic Profile: The recreational scuba diving market is not homogeneous.
2. The Socio-Demographic Profile of a Snorkeler & Snorkeling Participation Rate: Who are the snorkelers? How do they differ from scuba divers? Why aren’t they scuba diving?
3. Profile of a Scuba Diving Professional: Building a professional dive industry satisfying today’s consumers requires more than passion from dive professionals.
4. DEMA Part 2: The DEMA Show 2020 & DEMA Organization Post-COVID-19: Will DEMA survive? How? What for?
5. What is DEMA? Who is DEMA? What’s in it for me? DEMA Board of Directors, PADI’s Influence, Services Offered by DEMA.

The Missing Links:

1. The Lack of a Reliable Brand in The Dive Industry: Is there a scuba diving brand you would trust, quality-assurance-wise, no matter on which door you see the logo around the world?
2. Scuba Diving Industry Market Statistics: Sources of Data & Lack of Data. DEMA, SFIA, OIA, Training Agencies, Dive Gear Manufacturers, William Cline, Dive Center Business.
3. The Missing Dive Industry Trade Publication: What would be a dive industry trade publication? What publications do we have in the dive industry?

Step 2) Scuba Diving Industry ANALYSIS:

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1. 5 Methods for a Dive Industry Strategic Analysis: From strategic analysis to strategies and actions in the dive industry.
2. Porter’s Five Forces Analysis of The Dive Industry: Threat of New Entrants, Bargaining Power of Suppliers & Buyers, Threat of Substitute Products & Services, and Rivalry Among Existing Firms.
3. Dive Industry SWOT Analysis: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats.
4. 4 Ps: Product-Centered Dive Industry Marketing Mix. Product, Place, Promotion, and Price in the Dive Industry.
5. 4 Cs: Customer-Centered Dive Industry Marketing Mix. Customer Value, Costs, Convenience, and Communication.
6. PESTLE Analysis of The Dive Industry: Political, Economic, Social / Socio-Demographic, Technological, Legal, Environmental.
7. Dive Industry Trends & Strategic Analysis: Key Takeaways. Scuba diving training, dive gear, and dive travel trends. Innovation-based growth strategies for the scuba diving industry.

Step 3) Scuba Diving Industry STRATEGIES:

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Innovation-Based Growth:

1. A Blue Ocean Strategy in The Dive Industry: How to break out of the red ocean of bloody competition to create a new uncontested market space that makes competition irrelevant.
2. Surface-Supplied Air vs. A Blue Ocean Strategy for The Dive Industry: What can tankless diving “eliminate, reduce, raise and create” for the scuba diving industry? How can we integrate it into our dive operations to foster growth?

Structure-Related Strategies:

1. Don’t Blame The Internet! The Traditional Dive Shop Business Model Was Dead Before That: Eight challenges & six elements of solution for a scuba diving industry in tune with today’s consumers.
2. Should eLearning Be Free in The Scuba Diving Industry? Can there be a balance between online learning being a profit center for dive training agencies and a simple promotional tool for everybody else?
3. A New Business Model for a Redefined Local Dive Center: COVID-19 accelerated changes happening in the scuba diving industry.
4. Strategy: Redefining The Role of The Dive Center. Will the dive shop as we know it remains at the heart of the dive industry?
5. Strategy: Redesigning The Dive Industry Business Model. If we’re constantly competing but not growing, it’s time we make a move!
6. Octopus Strategy: An Innovative Way of Distributing Dive Gear & Training to Today’s Consumers. How can the dive industry best meet today’s consumers’ expectations?

Experience-Related Strategies:

1. Strategy: Consistency in The Quality of The Scuba Diving Experience. Defining and using quality assurance and branding for customer retention and satisfaction in the dive industry.
2. Should We Change the Way We Provide “Discover Scuba Diving” Experiences? Thinking outside the box to improve the quality of the experience and generate adepts of the underwater world coming back to us, over and over again.
3. A New Paradigm for the Scuba Diving Industry: It’s about diving! Putting ‘scuba diving’ back into the ‘scuba diving industry’.
4. Strategy: Fixing Scuba Tryouts & Entry-Level Scuba Diving Courses. “A student fresh out of a scuba diving class is just ready to start learning to dive.”
5. Strategy: Redefining The Way We Promote & Teach Scuba Diving. Make scuba diving more attractive to non-divers, deliver more value and convenience to divers, and adjust marketing communications accordingly.
6. The Revival of Local Diving: To Save The Dive Industry. How can we capitalize on growth in near-home outdoor activities and domestic-only travel?
7. Cultivating Freshwater Quarries as Aquatic Life Educational Centers for Scuba Divers: Consistent and regular inland diver participation is key to a healthy and vibrant scuba diving industry.

Strategies on Scuba Diving Product Mix:

1. Strategy: Adjusting What Scuba Gear We Sell & How. Expand your product & service offerings to widen the consumer acquisition net and increase your revenues.
2. Strategy: Expand Your Dive Shop Product Assortment — Scuba Gear & Services. There’s a lot you can offer beyond scuba diving with your current assets, store, pool, team, and dive site.

Sales & Marketing Strategies:

1. Strategy: Marketing Scuba Diving to Non-Divers. Where and how can we recruit new scuba divers?
2. Strategy: Direct-to-Consumer (D2C) in The Dive Industry. What are the benefits of D2C to consumers, dive training agencies, and scuba gear brands?
3. Meet The Next-Normal Scuba Diver: COVID-19 created changes in scuba divers’ habits and preferences.

Other Scubanomics Discussions

Lately, we ventured into a few other topics beyond the core subjects listed above. Hopefully, the following lists will help you find information that will be of help in your dive industry career or business.

• Dive Industry News & Editorials
• Dive Professional Career & Dive Center Management
• Special Section: The Scuba Diving Industry & COVID-19

When in doubt, you can always browse the latest Scubanomics posts.

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.

Don’t be left out! Subscribe to Scubanomics: The Dive Industry Compass to be the first to know about new dive industry market data & insights. Otherwise, be our “dive business buddy” on LinkedIn, Facebook, and elsewhere.

What now? Have a look at the complete Scubanomics Table of Contents.

Let’s make a good living out of our passion for scuba diving!