Why aren't more people taking up scuba diving?

[drrich2]

Here's a question. How many non-divers know about day boats? When I was a kid & saw Jacque Cousteau diving, I would've thought he'd chartered (or owned) the boat & crew for a private expedition. I wouldn't have known there were recreational scuba divers, how they got places they went or what it cost.

Today, I believe there's more awareness that some people scuba dive as a hobby, but how much of the public has an idea how that works? You can imagine roughly what tennis, golf or skiing might entail.

If people are barely aware of something, and don't understand its logistics when it's brought to their attention, and don't know other people doing it, what are the odds they'll seek it out?

Analogy: You ever watch one of those African wildlife shows, and think 'I'd like to go on a safari someday,' yet somehow, you've never done it? Why not?

Richard.

 

[daniel1948]

Yep I saw the title too. Pretty sure it said not taking up as opposed to stopping. Just saying

I suspect the same reasons apply. Maybe more so.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

Scuba diving doesn't have to be a super expensive gear intensive venture. It seems to have become that way in recent years, but it wasn't always like that. It used to be that all you needed was a simple reg with one second stage, maybe an SPG, a plastic pack, fins-mask-dive watch-depth gauge, and you were off diving. Now it seems there needs to be piles of gear just for the most basic dives. This is all industry ratcheting up of trinket gear sales and convenience gear that has somehow become "critical life support" equipment.
For travel I don't see the need for anything beyond your own reg, computer and mask. Everything else is fairly non critical and could be rented. I don't consider a BC critical because it only holds the tank and it warm water weighting can be set so the actual air cell part is used very little. Fins, anything will work, maybe not optimal, but if clutter is a concern then any fin would be fine.
In warm water a wetsuit becomes much less critical than cold water. Even a crappy rented 3 mil would works to shake off a slight chill.

If someone finds diving too much of a hassle because of lugging around too much expensive gear, but loves diving, then that can be fixed.
If someone finds diving boring and has a "been there done that" attitude and the gear has nothing to do with it, then that can't be fixed.
You have to want it.
I think the main cause for divers dropping out is because they are bored.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

I still wonder from a marketing perspective what would happen if a colorful energetic dive shop-water sports center was installed in a major shopping mall with thousands of people passing by daily, as opposed to a dive shop out on the edge of town somewhere because the rent is cheap.
What would the OW sign up ratio be?
If I had a few extra million to spend (and maybe lose) I'd try it.

 

[KevinNM]

I still wonder from a marketing perspective what would happen if a colorful energetic dive shop-water sports center was installed in a major shopping mall with thousands of people passing by daily, as opposed to a dive shop out on the edge of town somewhere because the rent is cheap.
What would the OW sign up ratio be?
If I had a few extra million to spend (and maybe lose) I'd try it.

You've described Divers Direct in Florida. At least some of their stores are right next to Bass Pro shops.

 

[boulderjohn]

I think you are also describing Sport Chalet in the west---ooops, I mean I think you WERE describing Sport Chalet.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

Sport Chalet did good for years. The original owner was a scuba diver and insisted that every store had a scuba shop. It wasn't until recently that SC sold out to another company and that company shut it down. Prior to the acquisition Sport Chalet was healthy. It is widely believed that SC was bought to be shut down.

What I'm talking about is trying an independent store within a shopping mall, along with all the clothing stores and shoe shops, jewelers, etc.
Have a shop that carries not only scuba gear but have a surf shop and water sports gear like the latest hottest swim wear, beach gear, sunglasses, beach footwear, and other related items.
It would be interesting to see who would come in and what they would spend their money on. And it would be interesting to see what the percentage of people would be who might get interested in diving just based on the presentation and location/logistics of the store. In other words, in a mall atmosphere the store would be subject to thousands more people year around, whereas a dedicated scuba shop somewhere else in town would not get that type of foot traffic. I'm curious to know if there would be an impulse buy factor for adopting scuba as a hobby in the mall shop by people who otherwise would never have thought about it, in contrast to needing to purposely drive to an isolated dive shop.

At Sport Chalet it was kind of half way in that regard. You got people passing by the scuba department but the people in the store still were only in a sporting goods store, and they drove specifically to go to a sporting goods store. It wasn't as diverse a crowd as a shopping mall.
So let's look at it this way, would a scuba shop do better within a Big 5 which is inside a shopping mall, or would the scuba shop do better being it's own shop inside a shopping mall? Not all people would go into the Big 5 but everybody would walk by and see the stand alone water sports/dive shop in it's own space in the mall.

 

[Scubagolf]

Sports Chalet was not scuba centric. The vast majority of the people who frequented SC went for other reasons, but at least they "drove by" the scuba section. I was never impressed by the in-store marketing and I would be surprised if much business crossed over from the golf and tennis aisles. I talk up scuba to friends who show interest, and several have gone on to OW cert. My guess is this is how most new divers got involved.

 

[KevinNM]

Divers Direct is about1/2 clothing and water sports stuff IIRC.

The fact that you have 3 big sporting goods chains in trouble at the same time is probably not a coincidence. Dick's missed earnings, SC shuting down and Sports Authority just deciding to go into liquidation is not a sign of health for outdoor sports in general.

 

[Diving Dubai]

Maybe consumerism is different is the US. Frankly I don't think its a valid business model. We have such a store here. in one of the malls. An outdoor adventure store. Everything from Cycles, camping and the like. It has 2 aisles of Scuba/snorkling equipment just a limited range. Sure if you want a discount skin or a net bag then maybe. But it has a very limited range of BCD, maybe 1 brand of regs and the like. The worst part would be that trying to get any meaningful advice from an assistant would be impossible. It's not the way to attract people (IMO)

Social media - yes an often used phrase, clearly can work. We have a Dive operation that specilises in day or multi day trips. Very basic and for those who are dedicated. Anyway they got into their blogs and Facebook. Earlier this year they posted a short video of a whaleshark, nothing special for us regulars. However suddenly this video got over 10,000 views and their bookings went through the roof, with the owner calling us regulars up asking if we wanted to take spaces on the boats as he had a waiting list of mostly new business and people suddenly wanting to book courses.

I've no ide what he did (I don't think he does either) but never the less it worked and now he has almost too much work