Scuba a dying sport?

[Doc]

The world economy.

The price of oil is a huge factor. A day or week of SCUBA is not quite as energy impactive (Carbon Footprint) as DownHill Skiing, but per hour of recreation, it is pretty close.

As a previous poster mentioned, many younger divers are jumping in from around the Pacific Rim. There are a lot of younger Asian travelers with money to spend. Real estate is way too expensive (100 year mortgages) , no one can afford a parking space in the big cities. Maybe they can't afford to buy Hawaiian property like they did in the 80's, but there are a lot of Asian youngsters with cash to burn.

Americans have been smacked by the world economy, certainly it hits hard on the discretionary dollar. Yes, older divers may have the money, but as their numbers get pared down by age and further deepening erosion of their spendable cash- the math is obvious.

Much as the ski industry finally adopted and then courted the young people and their snowboards (resorts fought them hard for years), the SCUBA industry had fits and starts with enticing new divers. Do not think it was an un-calculated effort when we saw SNUBA and SCUBA Rangers. The catch? In either sport the presence of the adult was a necessary part of the equation.

Further tailoring of the entry process (certification) is very reflective of the learning styles and lifestyles of the young generation. The on-line certification process for pre-study of the classroom portions of a class. Guess what the logic was there?

At the crest of the building wave, in the 1970's into the 80's, many divers were 16-24 year old guys (and some girlfriends) who drove to the local dive shop in their first $800 car and aired up their tanks for $1 then drove off for a day of fun at the local quarry. Good luck even finding a quarry which will allow it nowadays. And Mom asks, "You're going to put all that smelly goose poop smeared rubber in my Acura?" For that brief moment in America, the familiar SCUBA shop model worked. Now we're just waiting for compressed air high speed downloads off of the internet... and yes- we've seen the joke website that offers that.

Is the sport dying? Yes, just as the reefs are.

Take your tank & reg (no BC) to the 4th of July party and let the kids suck out of it in 2 feet of water. Get them hooked young. It is a "life sport", one that you can pursue into old age. Get their parents involved, that's the key.

 

[don Francisco]

I wouldn't read too much into the age thing. Scuba, like other recreations is something that people come into and out of during their lives for a variety of reasons.

Someone might get certified young, dive locally for a few years, than phase out as they get married or have kids, later they might come back to Scuba on family vacations to Florida or the Caribbean, then stop again for a while, only to come back when the the kids move out or they retire and can afford the time and cost of those trips of a lifetime to Pacific destinations. Finally some will retire to warm sunny places and take it back up again.

In the bike industry, we've acculmlated all kinds of data over the years, and when all is said and done the only conclusion you can draw is that the major players and trade groups like collecting and looking at data.

 

[TSandM]

I have a pretty big circle of people with whom I dive. One is my age. Three are a decade younger than I am. The rest are at least two decades younger than I am. I'm not worried about scuba being only a sport of the aged.

Travel, however, is . . . at least to some degree.

 

[diver1102]

As a young diver 21, I have encountered 3 reasons why i don't dive as often as I would like. Money is the first issue, as a college student I am pinching pennies as it is, and as much as I love diving, there comes a time when I need to eat... lol. Secondly is time, As a full time student my spare time is far and few between, (im not saying that older people aren't busy) however my weekends are usually crammed with studying and papers. Thirdly is that as a college student I don't have a permanent home, I either at school, my "home" (the place where my parents live) or spending my summer making the money at a camp. As people get older the money becomes available, as well as the time and a permanent location in which to find dive buddies, or join a dive club. That's what I am encountering as a young diver.

 

[evensplit]

SCUBA is killing itself. Ego's, poor attitudes, poor customer service, and a generally negative public view have helped diminish SCUBA's reputation. Newspapers are full of negative press and the internet is full of egotistical bashing of new participants and dive shops. Manufacturers and DEMA have done very little to help put scuba in the public eye. Promotional materials and catalogs are virtually non existent these days.

Compare the SCUBA industry to other watersports - fishing, surfing, waterskiing, and it becomes painfully obvious that scuba divers are the biggest detriment to their own sport.

What have YOU done to help promote the sport in your home town?

 

[Stu S.]

Places where new divers certify are close to here. Plenty of people in their 20's and 30's are getting instruction. I see some teens as well. Drive and dive with discout gear makes diving available to more people here in Florida.

I see statistics that indicate diving had a growth period in the early 2000's. My personal observation is no growth or shrink in participation this past year.

 

[rstofer]

The 'about to retire' or 'just retired' generation is the best educated, most productive and wealthiest generation ever to inhabit the planet. We bought our houses when they were 'affordable', our families are raised, we have good health (for our age) and plenty of money.

Our kids, OTOH, are strapped with gigantic mortgages and kids of their own. It's not just SCUBA, look at sailing or, to some extent, power boating. Look at the Power Squadron, wander around the sailing club, walk the docks at most any marina. The demographics will be skewed to the high side.

It's a shame our parents provided a better life for us than we did for our kids. I don't think we intended it to work out that way but that's the way it is.

Richard

 

[bowlofpetunias]

There is an interesting thread running a poll of the age of divers here
http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/basic-scuba-discussions/264173-scubaboard-divers-age-group.html

finding some interesting numbers.... much more even spread than I expected

 

[Walter]

SCUBA isn't dying, but we aren't retaining nearly as many folks as we should. We're tossing them out there so poorly prepared that they don't feel safe, so they don't continue diving.

 

[katdiver]

I wouldn't go that far Walter, in this case I think the industry needs to adjust to communicate with the new generation. The delivery of training, some things can never change, but how you put over your message can. Selling to those with money and time probably takes the least effort, but to catch the new generation of spenders with all the other competing interests, that's something else. Many of my recent divers are young professionals in their 20s. They are very choosy and with the net have the world to pick from. You have to sell by website, forums, web groups and spend the time to catch them, or they've already moved on. They network with peers on the web, so catch them and they'll work for you by passing on your reputation with just a click of a mouse.