FAKE NEWS!!--PADI to be sold once again

[Colliam7]

The larger issue is not whether it makes business sense, but is it safe?

A reasonable question. Perhaps, we can learn something from the experience you point out - 'Mares bought SSI after all'.

What changes, if any, in the quality of training, or safety of students and certified divers, have occurred within SSI, as a result of the Mares purchase?

 

[BlueTrin]

I do not know whether it is true or not but recently I had a discussion with instructor (he is instructor for PADI, SSI and few technical agencies). He mentioned that SSI became really much stronger and start winning over PADI.

Does anyone has figures like:

• # of open water certification dones from the top 5 agencies in 2018
• # of active professionals registered with the agency
• # of members who sought a certification from the agency

I am sure these are not an exhaustive list of metrics you could use to see the changes year in year but it is surely more quantitative than relying on opinions.

This being said I went to a shop on holidays who didn’t do PADI but SSI and I was impressed by the SSI online material. It is really well designed for smartphones and new devices.

 

[Edward3c]

Does anyone has figures like:

• # of open water certification dones from the top 5 agencies in 2018
• # of active professionals registered with the agency
• # of members who sought a certification from the agency

I am sure these are not an exhaustive list of metrics you could use to see the changes year in year but it is surely more quantitative than relying on opinions.

This being said I went to a shop on holidays who didn’t do PADI but SSI and I was impressed by the SSI online material. It is really well designed for smartphones and new devices.

You’re unlikely to get the data, it would by commercial intelligence. I believe PADI do publish total certifications, but they don’t break it down to which ones.

 

[boulderjohn]

According to what I was told in a recent meeting, PADI had its best year ever last year, with more than a million certifications world-wide. For more than a decade, those word-wide figures had been holding in the 900,000 range.

 

[Addicted2H2O]

According to what I was told in a recent meeting, PADI had its best year ever last year, with more than a million certifications world-wide. For more than a decade, those word-wide figures had been holding in the 900,000 range.

So are you saying that last year they certified a million new divers? Or that's the total number of PADI certified divers out there?

 

[Wookie]

So are you saying that last year they certified a million new divers? Or that's the total number of PADI certified divers out there?

Issuing a million c-cards is not one to a million divers. I've been handed them 20 or so at a time before, when a friend wants to be a Course Director and needs to get their con-ed numbers up.

 

[Addicted2H2O]

Issuing a million c-cards is not one to a million divers. I've been handed them 20 or so at a time before, when a friend wants to be a Course Director and needs to get their con-ed numbers up.

That's kind of what I meant, though. Guess I sort of mispoke when I said new divers. I meant certifications. And that's still quite a large number.

 

[Colliam7]

So are you saying that last year they certified a million new divers? Or that's the total number of PADI certified divers out there?

Actually, neither.

It is not a million new divers. It is a combination of all certifications (OW, AOW, etc., etc., etc.), that PADI issued in just the past year. I don't think they ever publish statistics on the number of different individuals who are / have been certified. So, one person could have completed OW, then AOW, then a specialty in 2018 and that would be 3 certifications. (And, I certainly hope, and frankly believe, that Wookie's experience is the exception.)

If PADI passed the 1 million mark last year, that is impressive. As John mentioned, they had essentially plateaued for the last ~4-5 years, at ~950,000 / year.

What is also impressive, and encouraging for the sport overall (independent of any agency affiliation) is the steady growth in the number of younger divers being certified, and the number of female divers being certified (https://www.padi.com/sites/default/files/documents/2019-02/2019-PADI-Worldwide-Statistics.pdf).

 

[boulderjohn]

In various meetings and discussions I have had over the years, I have heard a range of estimates regarding PADI's share of the world-wide instructional market, and that range is 80-90%. I was told PADI would actually like the percentage to be lower, because there is a potential for anti-trust actions in some locations.

In light of those numbers, it makes the marketing decisions of some in the scuba industry curious. I am thinking, for example, of a couple of small equipment companies whose leaders sometimes seem to be on a crusade of attacking everything there is about PADI. They seem to think that the best way to grow their business is to insult 80-90% of the world's instructors who could potentially use their equipment and recommend it to students. The same is true of certain dive discussion forums who encourage an endless stream of similar attacks, apparently thinking it is in their best interest as a business to make sure those instructors don't mention the site to students or tell them to avoid it altogether.

 

[Addicted2H2O]

Actually, neither.

It is not a million new divers. It is a combination of all certifications (OW, AOW, etc., etc., etc.), that PADI issued in just the past year. I don't think they ever publish statistics on the number of different individuals who are / have been certified. So, one person could have completed OW, then AOW, then a specialty in 2018 and that would be 3 certifications. (And, I certainly hope, and frankly believe, that Wookie's experience is the exception.)

If PADI passed the 1 million mark last year, that is impressive. As John mentioned, they had essentially plateaued for the last ~4-5 years, at ~950,000 / year.

What is also impressive, and encouraging for the sport overall (independent of any agency affiliation) is the steady growth in the number of younger divers being certified, and the number of female divers being certified (https://www.padi.com/sites/default/files/documents/2019-02/2019-PADI-Worldwide-Statistics.pdf).

Still, even with that being ALL certifications, over the period of one year, that's impressive.

And I agree on the growth factor right now. I helped with a pool session over the weekend and we had 8 students, with 5 of them being female, one of which I believe was 16-17, one that's college age, and one that's mid-20's. Granted, only three of that class will be going to the lake this weekend for OW dives since the water temps will likely be in the mid to upper 40's but still. It's still technically winter here and we're still having nearly full classes of new divers coming online.