Survey Results: What is The Best Dive Training Agency in 2024?

Over the last few months, the Business of Diving Institute ran the second annual survey on scuba diving training agencies with the goal of identifying if some training agencies had more credibility and trust than others.

We asked divers how likely they would recommend each dive training agency to their friends, family members, or colleagues.

We used a scale of 0 to 10, like the one used by businesses surveying their customers to determine a Net Promoter Score (NPS).

Considering the predominant role of training agencies in the dive industry, we intend to continue running this market study annually to evaluate trends.

Scuba Diving Training Agencies’ Brand Awareness & Familiarity

For each dive training agency, survey participants were asked to provide an answer based on their experience with dive centers & instructors affiliated with that dive training agency or to select “N/A” if they were not aware of that agency or did not know enough to have an opinion.

Therefore, “n/a” is an indirect way of measuring brand awareness & familiarity. And it is no surprise that PADI was the most well-known dive training agency.

Percentage of scuba divers who had no knowledge of each dive training agency or did not know enough to have an opinion:

• PADI: 2.9%
• DAN: 13.9%
• SSI: 17.2%
• GUE: 25.0%
• SDI: 25.8%
• TDI: 26.6%
• NAUI: 29.7%
• CMAS: 40.0%
• IANTD: 40.1%
• BSAC: 42.4%
• RAID: 45.3%
• UTD: 57.9%
• Dive Heart: 62.5%
• HSA: 65.6%
• PSS: 67.7%
• PFI: 68.6%
• PSAI: 70.3%
• SEI/PDIC: 73.1%
• NASE: 73.4%
• ACUC: 73.9%

Net Promoter Score (NPS)

The Net Promoter Score (NPS) is a measure widely used by organizations to evaluate the quality of customer experience and predict business growth.

NPS uses a scale of 0 (not at all likely to recommend) to 10 (extremely likely).

Answers fall into three categories:

• Promoter: 9 or 10
• Passive: 7 or 8
• Detractor: 0 to 6

The NPS score is calculated as follows:

• (% of Promoters) - (% of Detractors) = NPS

The Net Promoter Score is a number from -100 to +100.

The perfect score of 100 is almost impossible for any business to achieve. These are the ranges suggested by Bain & Company, the creators of NPS:

• Above 80: World-class
• Above 50: Excellent
• Above 20: Favorable
• Above 0: Good

For instance, Rebreather Forum 4 got an NPS of 62 from its participants, which is excellent!

Scuba Diving Training Agencies Net Promoter Score (NPS)

Scuba divers are critical of dive training agencies, with only DAN (Divers Alert Network) scoring above 20. Only four other agencies scored above zero: TDI, Dive Heart, PFI, and SDI.