Survey Results: How Much Scuba Divers Spend Annually on Dive Gear, Travel, Training & Services

TL;DR Overview

Scuba diver spending data reveals critical insights for your business: Core and tech divers are your highest-value customers, significantly outspending casual and recreational divers across all categories, including training, new gear purchases, servicing, cylinder fills, and dive travel.

Casual divers spend less, often relying on rental gear and included fills, and they participate less in local dive outings.

For new dive gear, more is now sold online (53.4%) than in physical stores (46.5%), though specialized retailers still capture a substantial 42.7% of the market.

The second-hand gear market is notably large, accounting for approximately one-third of the value of the new gear market.

Furthermore, a significant 55% of dive training expenses are spent locally, highlighting the importance of your local offerings.

These trends suggest a need to cultivate core and tech divers, adapt to evolving retail channels, and potentially explore opportunities within the used gear market and boosting local training incentives.

Detailed Survey Results on the Scuba Diving Market

We will look at how results compare between:

• core vs. casual divers
• recreational vs. tech divers
• European vs. American divers

Unfortunately, we did not receive enough responses outside of Western Europe and the USA to provide results in other markets. Please help us recruit divers worldwide so we can provide you with more detailed market data.

Who Answered The Survey?

A total of 925 scuba divers participated in the survey.

Age groups (generations) of scuba divers who answered the survey:

• Boomers I (1946–1954): 2.9%
• Boomers II/Generation Jones (1955–1964): 10.1%
• Gen X (1965–1980): 44.9%
• Millennials (1981–1996): 36.2%
• Gen Z (1997–2012): 5.8%

Geographic region of residence:

• U.S.A.: 33.3%
• Western Europe: 34.8%
• Mexico, Central America, Caribbean, Tropical Atlantic: 8.7%
• South Pacific, Indo-Pacific, Other Tropical Asia-Pacific Region (incl. Maldives): 7.25%
• Australia & New Zealand: 5.8%

All other regions had fewer than 5% of the survey respondents.

Gender:

• Male: 82.6%
• Female: 13.0%
• Other/Non-binary/Prefer Not To Say: 4.4%

Core vs. Casual Divers

To be able to compare results with those provided by SFIA (Sports & Fitness Industry Association) in the USA, we used the same definitions as the SFIA:

• Core Diver: A scuba diver who has done 8 or more dives in the prior 12 months
• Casual Diver: A scuba diver who has done less than 8 dives in the prior 12 months (but at least one)

As is the case with all dive industry surveys, we received more participation from avid scuba divers, with 60.5% of respondents fitting the definition of core divers, whereas they comprise only 24% of the market.

It has always been challenging for organizations to garner participation from casual divers.

Newly Certified Scuba Divers

4.8% of survey respondents had obtained their entry-level open-water certification in the prior 12 months.

Tech Divers

62.9% of survey respondents were tech divers.

In all our surveys, tech divers are consistently overrepresented compared to recreational (non-tech) divers. This is explained by the fact that tech divers are typically more involved in scuba diving (being more likely to be core divers) and because the Business of Diving Institute administers these scuba diving industry market studies in collaboration with InDepth Magazine, which specializes in tech diving.

Currency

We converted all answers to US$. If you want to convert them to your own currency, numerous online tools are available for currency conversion. At the time of writing this market report, US$1 = 0.95 Euros.

Because we have a very good estimate of the number of active divers in the USA, thanks to the SFIA, we will specifically look at core & casual divers in the USA to estimate the size of the U.S. market. Later on, we hope to be able to do the same for all markets.

TRAINING: In the last 12 months, how much did you spend on dive training/courses (excluding gear or travel-related expenses)?

• Tech Divers: US$ 443
• Recreational (Non-Tech) Divers: US$ 119
• European Divers: US$ 181
• American Divers: US$ 133
• Casual Divers USA: US$ 124
• Core Divers USA: US$ 164

With 2 million casual divers and 640,000 core divers in the USA (source: SFIA), the scuba diving training market in the USA would be US$ 353 million annually. However, tech divers spend much more, and they were over-represented in this survey. Therefore, the dive training market in the USA is more likely to be below US$ 300 million annually, which is consistent with our estimates in the Scuba Diving Industry Market Size report.

What percentage of your dive training/courses expenses for the last 12 months was spent locally?

On average, scuba divers spent 55% of their training expenses locally and the remaining 45% in dive destinations that required travel.

SCUBA GEAR: Over the last 12 months, how much did you spend on new dive gear purchases?

• Tech Divers: US$ 970
• Recreational (Non-Tech) Divers: US$ 252
• European Divers: US$ 361
• American Divers: US$ 281
• Casual Divers USA: US$ 132
• Core Divers USA: US$ 747

With 2 million casual divers and 640,000 core divers in the USA (source: SFIA), the scuba diving equipment market in the USA would be US$ 742 million annually. However, tech divers spend much more than recreational divers, and they were over-represented in this survey. Therefore, the dive gear market in the USA is likely to be short of US$ 700 million annually, which is consistent with our estimates in the Scuba Diving Industry Market Size report.

It is no surprise that core divers spend more on dive gear. Unfortunately, the number of core divers is shrinking, while new divers tend to be casual ones.

Based on these results, approximately 3.9% of active scuba divers in the USA are tech divers.

Over the last 12 months, how much did you spend on used dive gear purchases?

On average, scuba divers who answered our survey spent US$ 98 buying second-hand scuba equipment.

Based on these survey results, the second-hand market accounts for approximately one-third of the market for new dive gear. Assuming that second-hand gear is sold on average at 50% of the retail price of new dive gear, it would mean that about two-thirds of new dive gear is eventually resold on the second-hand market. This is much more than I expected and would require further studying.

For your new dive gear purchases over the last 12 months, what percentage did you buy in each of the following channels? The total must be 100.

• Online From The Gear Manufacturer/Brand: 25.9%
• Online From Other Sources: 27.5%
• In a Physical Store: Dive-Specialized Retailer (e.g., a local dive shop): 42.7%
• In a Physical Store: Non-Dive-Specialized Retailer (e.g., Decathlon, West Marine): 3.8%

Based on these survey results, more dive gear is now sold online than in physical stores.

Over the last 12 months, how much did you spend on purchases of new dive gear in each of the following dive gear categories?

In parentheses is the percentage this dive gear category holds in the total dive gear market, based on the results of this survey.

• Fins, Masks & Snorkels: US$ 17.86 (5.9%)
• Exposure Protection, including Wetsuits, Skins, Drysuits, Booties, Socks, Gloves & Hoods: US$ 76.11 (25.0%)
• BC-related Hard Goods, including BCDs, Harnesses, Wings, Bladders & Back Plates: US$ 43.34 (14.3%)
• Scuba Diving-enabled Smart Watches (e.g., Apple Ultra, Huawei Ultimate): US$ 11.56 (3.8%)
• Other Dive Computers, including Wrist-mount & Console-integrated: US$ 52.40 (17.2%)
• Analog Instruments, including Depth Gauge, SPG & Compass: US$ 8.17 (2.7%)
• Regulator-related Hard Goods, including Regulators 1st & 2nd Stages, Octopus (excluding instruments): US$ 38.97 (12.8%)
• Cylinders: US$ 26.69 (8.8%)
• Paper Logbooks: US$ 0.94 (0.3%)
• Accessories, including Bags, Weights, Anti-fog, Dive Flags, Reels, Slates, Mouthpieces, Fin Straps, etc.: US$ 27.97 (9.2%)

Rebreathers

Rebreather divers have spent an annual average of:

• US$ 984 on purchasing rebreathers
• US$ 791 on consumables related to rebreather diving (sorb, O2 cells, etc.), excluding fills
• US$ 811 on fills (air, nitrox, trimix, or any other kind)

Dive Center Services

RENTAL GEAR: Over the last 12 months, how much did you spend on renting dive gear?

• Casual Divers: US$ 59
• Core Divers: US$ 55

Over the last 12 months, how much did you spend on servicing your dive gear (repair & maintenance)?

• Casual Divers: US$ 24
• Core Divers: US$ 148

In the last 12 months, how much did you specifically spend on cylinder fills (air, nitrox, trimix, or any other kind)?

This is the amount you paid separately for fills, and therefore, it excludes fills that were included in a package, such as an all-inclusive dive resort vacation or a dive course.

• Casual Divers: US$ 0.52
• Core Divers: US$ 249

It appears casual divers typically do not pay for fills as they are usually included in dive travel packages.

In the last 12 months, how much did you spend on dive outings and dive travel?

Here are the definitions we used in this survey.

• A “dive outing” is usually done at a dive site that you can reach by car and from which you can return home without requiring a night stay.
• A “dive trip” involves diving at a destination where you will spend one or more nights. It usually involves a flight, but it’s not always necessary. For instance, a New York scuba diver could drive to Key Largo, and a diver from Melbourne could drive to Cairns for a diving vacation week.

Casual Divers:

• Dive Outings (without transportation): US$ 10
• Dive Trips (without transportation but with accommodations): US$ 1386
• Transportation (Airfare) for Dive Trips: US$ 334

Core Divers:

• Dive Outings (without transportation): US$ 690
• Dive Trips (without transportation but with accommodations): 
  US$ 2,980
• Transportation (Airfare) for Dive Trips: US$ 1,640

It appears that casual divers do not participate much in local diving (dive outings).

Other Water Sports

Percentage of active scuba divers who answered our survey and are also active in the following activities:

• Freediving: 23%
• Snorkeling: 68%

Video Summary & Thoughts