State of the dive industry post recession?

I'm just curious as to what's the state of the overall dive industry world wide several years now after the supposed "end" of the recession.
Many say it's still on, but that's another story.
Anyway, I haven't been to any far away destinations in years. What's going on out there?
Are all the tropical resorts doing well?
Is the dive business in general back to normal or is it still lagging?
How has it changed, or has it changed?


I know in my state in the Bay Area there were several dive shops that closed up, and as far as I know none of them were replaced with new ones.
None of the shops in my town closed up except for one,...if you want to call it a dive shop.
Other than a few other self employed service industry guys like myself that I hang out with, I guess I'm a little out of touch.
It seems in my line of work things have picked up a little but nowhere near what they were prior to 2009. Rates are still not back up where they were before the recession, but prices of gas, food and other stuff has gone up.
And then Obamacare and the soaring prices of health care, Wow what a nightmare!
I'm just wondering if any of this has affected anybody elses way of life, and more specifically, diving?

I can't help as the recovery hasn't touched me yet. I can't even afford to drive to NC after having to heat my home last winter; never mind paying to dive a couple of times a day for a few days. Seems like it may never happen for me again. So I can't help.

There is a new dive shop in northern RI, not near me or where I dive. A dive shop in Jamestown or North Kingstown would do well IMO, seeing how Ft Wetherill, Jamestown is one of the most popular sites in RI! I gave some thought to running a mobile air station to FtW years ago but after researching it, I found that the price would be $30.00 a fill for air! That was just a little more than breaking even which didn't pay for my time. Air fills are nothing but a loss leader to a dive shop!

I'll still dive the way I've always dived maybe not as much especially as fuel prices raise, doing rock hops where I can and hopefully using my old/new Avon to motor out to places I can't rock hop to. There isn't much beyond the weather that'll stop me from diving.

This nightmare can't last forever. Sooner or later enough people will be VA'd by the new health insurance that change will come. Other things will happen that will bring even more people to their senses; it's just a matter of hanging on until that happens...survival.

Here in Dallas/Ft. Worth (Arlington) TX, 'tech' dive shops have almost completely vanished, and there's been a noticeable decline in the number of recreational dive shops too. It's getting harder to find shops doing NITROX fills as well.

I haven't noticed any difference here, in recession or not. But there is only one other (small) dive shop than ours in the Halifax area (and very few small shops in all the Maritimes anyway). I was in the shop in/near Jamestown, RI in '06. They are gone now but I heard it had to do with something quite illegal and not the recession.

9/11 seemed to be the beginning of a huge decline.

Manufacturers saw this newest gap in their distribution chain and went irrevocably towards internet marketing, and more importantly- vertical integration marketing. They, as any manufacturer, would prefer to sell their product directly to the end user.

In a larger sense, not really sure that any given "recession" indicator is the problem. SCUBA diving as an ongoing and continuous pursuit has gone out of fashion, certainly in terms of the lesser numbers of "frequent divers". Long gone are the days of seeing the parking lot at the LDS filled with pick up trucks... It was supplanted by BMWs. Not likely to see many minivans parked there, even now.

Local dive charters and certainly weekend trips? The prices have skyrocketed making them much less attractive to the casual diver. The local tec diver market has always been extremely limited and for those participating, their spouses should be really raking in some dough.

The fear of international travel is firmly a factor, as is certainly the cost of airline tickets. As the OP wondered about international resorts... They are getting hammered. "Dive Resorts" are barely marketable, what travelers want now is the "Island vibe". Dive maybe 8 times in a week and have activities for the spouse and kids. And alcohol.

You can think of it as a recession issue, but I think the new reality of the "world economy" itself has to be considered. It is no longer cheap to fly to paradise and live well, diving at $40+ a tank proves that.

Since 1970: I know many of the Florida dive shops as well as I frequented those in California, Texas, Colorado, and even here in Illinois. If you are selling everything, from the first snorkel to those trips on your local charter boat, plus open water check dives in paradise and a few annual big deal trips through your shop's SCUBA Club.... Maybe you'll survive.

The days of scroungy dank shops with a table full of magazines in back and a fridge with a "Pop $.50" sign are long gone. The guys that owned them had to change their presentation, or I surely watched them blame everything except themselves. A few morphed as best they could, but still failed. The manufacturers weren't doing them any favors... But again, they already had alternate plans in place.

I wouldn't wait for any economic turn-around. Going after the last vestiges of the discretionary dollar is the only path. Market to where the money is now.

Southeast Florida is doing pretty well.
I think primarily due to tourism both domestic and from abroad is things are pretty good lately.
A few shops died in the recession, but they already had one foot on a banana peel for various reasons.

Chug
Often dives with outlanders.

Evolve or die seems to be doing good things for whats left of a leaner scuba industry.

The higher end camera industry is facing the same game but with even less dealers left since film development disappeared. That would be like scuba divers suddenly no longer needing tank fills or inspections.

A rigid dealer only sales model for equipment and especially parts does not work for manufacturers anymore as there aren't even enough scuba dealers to cover all the brands to say nothing of the the massive areas that don't even have shops at all. The ones that said to hell with dealer loyalty and let the online dealers do what they want have taken sales from the rest.
However any shop that isn't doing volume sales online to keep prices competitively low is already obsolete anyways.

As far as travel more people are diving local (or at least domestic USA) I think rather than the big dollar trips so I would expect places like Florida to be doing pretty decent.

The shops around here are still kicking.
There was one in a town north that dried up, but that was actually befrore the resession. He had a mis mosh of odd brands and dusty old three and four year old BC models, nothing the same, no real line except for Oceanic. His compressor was always on the blink and he was in a out of the way industrial park that you would have to know how to get there to find it. Nice enough guy though but not proffesional at all. He had a dream just like everyone else.
The other one was out on the coast. It was a very small place. It was only maybe 200 square feet if that. It was a closet size space for a small gift shop. He had mostly freedive gear but also sold scuba and had a compressor that blew oil and you could taste it in your tanks.
He finally went out trying to rob peter to pay paul and shut down.
There is one in San Rafael that has changed hands a few times but never closed. People in Marin County have money and like to spend on active person toys, mountain bikes, skiing, diving, surfing, etc.
The other shops in my area made it through but cut way back on personnel. Freediving and abalone season is what keeps them floating. There is another shop up in Fort Bragg up on the coast that struggled but since they are the only game anywhere in that region they have no competition.
Abalone season also provides them with yearly money, but they always slowed down in the winter. Lot of people ab dive. Even during the recession people still camped out and ab dove. In fact I think it picked up since camping is a relatively cheap vacation and instead of flying off to some exotic destination people decided to go up to the coast to camp and dive and be with family and friends.
That's what I did every year.
It's gets so busy in the summer that you have to make a reservation months in advance. I remember back when you just drove up and got a campsite. Not no more.

I see nothing wrong with a parking lot full of BMW's (Lexi, Benz, Audi, Maserati, Tesla, etc.) or, for that matter, pickups--there are some very nice ones out there today--or minivans.

But yes, the model, or demographic if you will, is changing or, at the very least, expanding. That's how we see it. Yes, the days of the dingy old strip mall shop are going the way they will, but there is huge opportunity for those who are willing to embrace change, invest in it and work on it. Change being inevitable, if you keep on doing the same old thing, you're going to find you'll be getting even less.

Sure, we are competing with sports like mountain biking, hiking, golf, sky diving, skiing and several others, but we always have. So be it.

There is huge interest in both scuba and swim out there but, like a first date, you have to ask the person out and make a great first impression. If not, you don't get to go to the prom. At least that's how I see it.

As I see it, there is less and less stupid money out there.
Peoples' money is spoken for more and more on just everyday living. That leaves less money for recreation. People want value.
People will always recreate, they have to in some form. It's just that they are finding ways to do it economically and still have fun.
I don't know where dive shops fall into all this, but it seems to me that dive shops who insist on selling expensive trips and expensive gear and resort to trickery and high pressure tactics are on the way out. There might be a few in remote areas that might survive for a while since they're the only game in town so to speak, but the problem I see it is people walk in curious about diving and scuba see what gear costs and what training costs and that sends them right out the door. Scuba was never a really affordable sport (if you went the new retail route), but it's REALLY not affordable to most people now. The set up costs far outweigh the payoff factor to most people. I think this is a huge reason for the slow decline. I think the decline actually started perhaps in the late 90's after it flattened off after the 80's boom. Everything about it is just so damn expensive.
Those of us who are dedicated and dive locally have found economical ways to feed our addiction, but most people are out of that loop.