Popularity and Cost of Scuba Diving

Pawwed Rig · 10-06-2014 12:55am #1

Has there been any reduction in the numbers doing Scuba in the last few years? There used to be threads here all the time of newbies doing courses but they seem to be fewer these days. Anyone think that the recession knocked the stuffing out of the industry a little?

I have personally found myself diving less as all my buddies seem to have given up on it. Might be time to join a CFT club to get new buddies:pac:

yankinlk · 10-06-2014 7:17am

Without a doubt, diving has been hit hard. Clubs have reduced numbers, and PADI centers have closed in some places. Hopefully, things will start to turn around again as the economy improves.

btw, if you need help finding a club in your area, feel free to pm me. glad to assist.

Saruman · 07-07-2014 9:04am

I think it must be increasing. I started last year as did my wife and our club (scubadivers.ie) seems to get a steady increase in new members.

yankinlk · 07-07-2014 12:51pm

I think the lack of responses here probably answers the question a little bit. Interesting Stats here from PADI: http://www.padi.com/scuba-diving/about-padi/statistics/

It doesn't break them down by country - but it makes a specific mention of a global recession affecting numbers, for the last 10 years no significant growth at all.

I hope that, like the economy, everything is back on the up.

Moocifer · 07-07-2014 7:22pm

Its a shame, I know so many people who've had to give it up due to the recession. I used to be a member of a very active club which disbanded a few years ago.

Most of the members have given up at this stage or branched out into tech diving. Only four of us go diving at this stage where there could have been 20 or more at a dive site on any Sunday morning.

yankinlk · 07-07-2014 7:44pm

@Moocifer Very sorry to hear that. As a member of the current CFT executive, I can tell you we are working hard to try and address that problem. You may not have seen a recent article written on this exact subject:

Every indication is that Clubs around the country continue to suffer a decline in members numbers. What if anything can the executive do to help reverse this trend? Continuing to look at cutting costs as the past executives have done is still important to the new team. Ideally though, the current exec may be best positioned to try and take advantage of the predicted economic turnaround – that hopefully will lift the tide for all involved in our sport.

One single theme we are hearing on our slips around the country – is the difficulty for Clubs to get enough members together to economically run boats with just their own membership alone. Many clubs are already turning to guest diving to support costs. The Regional Dive Rallys have become a huge success, and in many cases the mixing of members from different Clubs on boats is a highlight of the event. It is our hope that we can use these fun shared events to positively promote our organization, and retain those divers on the fringes that may otherwise choose to leave. These events could also be a deciding factor in attracting new divers from external sources. For this reason, we are pleased to support 4 dive rallys around the country, and will continue to encourage for Clubs to think about putting more events on the dive calendar.

Excerpt is taken from here: http://diving.ie/news/first-90-days/

Moocifer · 07-07-2014 9:03pm

@Yankinlk Its great that your promoting diving and trying to encourage new members. I personally have thought about joining my local CFT club but unfortunately the cost is seriously off putting.

On top of that I'm also a PADI qualified diver so after several years of diving quite happily with my dive buddy I would only be admitted as a supervised diver and so would my three regular dive companions.

Pawwed Rig · 07-07-2014 9:06pm

Don't think that is true. There is a mutual recognition of qualifications. I would imagine alot (if not most) cft divers would have started out as PADI certified.

yankinlk · 07-07-2014 9:28pm

Moocifer wrote: »

@Yankinlk Its great that your promoting diving and trying to encourage new members. I personally have thought about joining my local CFT club but unfortunately the cost is seriously off putting.

The executive does not control what Clubs charge individually, they must run their own clubs to suit their own structures. Every Club is different, what each Club offers is different.

Equally every diver is different. I dive up to 3 days a week, sometimes in my own Club, but often as a guest of a Club in another region. If I tried to dive as much as I do through a consumer agency I would be crippled with Costs. Im not sure Costs is a valid argument against Clubs! in fact I would argue that is why most Clubs were formed to begin with - to make it cheaper for organized groups to dive all over the country...

Moocifer wrote: »

On top of that I'm also a PADI qualified diver so after several years of diving quite happily with my dive buddy I would only be admitted as a supervised diver and so would my three regular dive companions.

Again, I would have to question this argument. As you know, we have a crossover policy in place to formally recognize skills gained in other organizations - and Clubs are more than happy to work with Crossover divers to get them thru our training quickly and easily. It merely takes a few extra lectures and some supervised dives to achieve our certification, nothing onerous.

I know when I joined my local Club there was no extra cost associated with joining as a trainee - I paid the same as fully qualified divers - my Club was happy to make money off my dive fees and volunteered their time to get me trained up! Now I have dive buddies scattered all over Ireland.

yankinlk · 07-07-2014 9:32pm

Pawwed Rig wrote: »

Don't think that is true. There is a mutual recognition of qualifications. I would imagine alot (if not most) cft divers would have started out as PADI certified.

http://diving.ie/scuba-diving/already-qualified/

You are both right. Like I said, it doesnt take a lot to go from PADI's AOW to CFTs Club Diver. PM me if you need more info on exactly what is involved. Its actually quite fun.

Moocifer · 07-07-2014 9:41pm

@ Pawned Rig yeah that is true but I've checked the cross qualification section of the CFT website and that's what it tells me. Unfortunately I'm no where near dive master!

@Yankinlk If it was just me joining it wouldn't be too bad. I think the cost structure is great when you factor in the training and so on but the fact that Mr. Moocifer is also a diver every cost dive related is always X 2.

Popularity and Cost of Scuba Diving

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