Eric Sedletzky
Contributor
Are those global numbers that PADI is proud of?I tried to link to data sites that used to be available, but they do not seem to be around now. The numbers of certifications I remember from the early 1970s to about 2000 (and cannot find now) are simply huge. The number of divers back than simply does not compare to the number of divers now. I ebates such as this, I used to go online and find the links to PADI statistics for certifications since their inception, but those pages do not seem to be out there now. (The following paragraph includes links that will tell you that the PADI numbers dominate the industry, and the sources are not PADI and are critical of them for lack of full information.)
I haven't looked at statistics like this for a while, and when I searched, it was interesting. Information that used to be available is not available now. The lack of data about scuba today is remarkable, as this article says. It suggests that information is not being given out because the agencies don't want people to see a decline. This article does a better job than I have seen elsewhere in trying to estimate current (even post-Covid) issues, but it admits that it cannot tell because of the lack of concrete data.
Because 50 years ago it was the US that was the predominant country that was involved with scuba diving.
Recreational scuba diving started in Southern California as Sam Miller will tell you quite proudly I might add.
So in 1971 (about 20 years after it made a debut) how many tropical resorts were there around the world? Where was most of the diving happening?(excluding the very few lucky adventurous ones that were able to find their way to the far reaches of the globe to explore the oceans).
Was it the quarries in Texas somewhere or off the shores of New York? How many divers were there in Boulder Colorado at that time and where did they fly to go diving?
So let’s look at the concentration of the divers at that time in the geographical area where the diving was actually taking place. Were there more divers per capita then or now?
The LA basin is a very big place. I’m just trying to determine what the ratio was then as opposed to now, disregarding the rest of the country, and also disregarding the rest of the world.
A poster had mentioned that Asian countries are starting to develop strong middle classes and those people have disposable income are choosing to scuba dive now.
That great for them and I’m sure it’s fortifying the global numbers, but it’s not helping our domestic numbers any.
Saying that there are more divers today than 50 years ago is true, of course there is because diving has become global. But it’s also not a fair comparison because 50 years ago recreational diving was still mostly limited to smaller geographical areas, but the numbers in those areas might have been healthier.
What I do know is that diving did not actually begin to decline until the Great Recession. A lot of things seriously declined during that time.