Benchmarking Local Dive Shops: Profile of Dive Centers in Europe & USA
What does a local dive center look like nowadays? How much revenue comes from scuba diving gear, training & travel? How many dive instructors per dive center? What percentage of sales is done online? And more!
This scuba diving industry market report is based on the results of the 2024 State of the Dive Industry (SOTI) survey.
This post is part of our Dive Industry Compass series by the Business of Diving Institute and Darcy Kieran, author of:
Table of Contents
TL;DR Overview
Local dive centers in the USA and Western Europe exhibit significant differences in structure and staffing. While European respondents exclusively ran standalone operations (100%), nearly one-tenth (9%) of US respondents were associated with a dive center chain. Staffing models differ notably: USA dive shops rely more heavily on regular full-time employees (averaging 4.2), whereas Western European shops depend more on occasional or seasonal staff (averaging 3.0). Furthermore, US dive training departments utilize substantially more affiliated professionals, averaging 8.5 instructors and 3.9 Divemasters, compared to 3.8 instructors and 1.2 Divemasters in Western European departments. Annual sales figures generally lean higher for US shops (averaging $541,200) than for Western European shops (averaging $439,771).
The increasing importance of the “experience of diving” over strictly selling gear is evident, with training revenue constituting 37% of sales in Western Europe and 32% in the USA.
Regional business strategies diverge significantly in terms of sales channels and specialized product offerings. Online sales are far more integrated into the operational profile of Western European dive centers, which report 29% of gear sales and 41% of training sales occurring online. This contrasts with US shops, where online gear sales account for only 9% and online training sales for 28%.
For US centers, fly-away travel represents a major revenue stream (14% of sales) and is more commonly offered than in European shops. In terms of gear sales, European students purchase substantially more gear when completing an entry-level course ($611 on average) compared to US students ($427). Product specialization also varies, with European centers showing a wider availability of Rebreathers (57%) and other Tech Diving Gear, while US shops place a higher emphasis on selling Snorkeling Gear (91% carry it).
Finally, European centers are more likely to have their own pool available for dive training (58% combined pool ownership/access) than centers in the USA (41% combined pool ownership/access).
Intro to Benchmarking Local Dive Centers
As part of the State of the Dive Industry (SOTI) survey, we asked dive center owners and managers to answer a few questions on the size of their dive centers and the mix of products and services they sell.
In numerous aspects, the local dive centers in Europe and the USA are quite different, as you can see from the survey results below.
In the dive shop category, 78% of respondents were business owners, 15% were managers, and 7% were staff. Yet, 17% of the respondents only worked part-time in the dive industry.
In Europe, 100% of respondents operated a standalone dive center, while in the USA, 9% of respondents were from dive centers that were part of a chain.
You may consult the number of respondents per business category and geographic region here.
We can only provide statistics on local scuba diving centers in the USA and Western Europe because we did not get enough participation in other geographical regions to provide statistically valid results. We are working on fixing this issue for the 2025 survey – with your help!
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For comparison purposes, all figures have been converted to US$.
Human Resources: Number of Employees & Dive Instructors per Scuba Diving Center
How many employees or staff members work in your dive shop (excluding the training department & operation of your own dive boats)?
On average, local dive shops in the USA employ more regular full-time staff, while dive shops in Western Europe rely more on occasional or seasonal employees.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, many dive centers went out of business, and new openings have not offset that loss. It appears that the dive centers still in business may be, on average, larger dive operations based on the number of employees.
How many dive professionals are part of (or affiliated with) the training department of your dive center in each of the following categories?
Local Dive Shop Revenues
What are the total annual sales (revenues) of your dive center?
Keep in mind that it is typically the best dive centers and dive professionals who respond to dive industry surveys, and therefore, the results tend to be skewed toward the more positive or larger establishments.
What percentage of your dive center sales (revenues) come from each of the following departments?
Selling dive gear is becoming relatively less significant for dive centers, while providing the “experience of diving” is becoming more important.
How much gear do you sell, on average, to a new student in the entry-level open-water diver course?
The decrease in average dive gear purchased by new open-water student divers is consistent with a higher percentage of casual divers.
Online Sales
Dive shop respondents had two questions related to online sales, which included their own website, Amazon, Facebook, and other online channels.
What percentage of your gear sales are done online?
What percentage of your training (courses) sales are done online?
Although online sales have grown in both markets, selling online remains much more a part of European dive shops’ sales operations than it is in the USA.
Total Online Sales of Scuba Diving Equipment
Dive gear manufacturers have reported that 27% of their 2023 sales were made directly to customers on their own website, and 51% of their sales were to dive-specialized retailers, a category that includes traditional brick-and-mortar dive shops (above) and non-traditional specialized retailers with a higher percentage of online sales. We will further probe this in the 2025 State of the Dive Industry market survey.
Therefore, the total percentage of dive gear being sold online is approximately 39% in the USA and 48% in Western Europe.
Product Mix in Dive Shops
Which of the following specialized products & services do you sell?
Traditionally, freediving was a much more significant source of revenue for dive shops in Europe than in the USA. However, we’ve witnessed an increase in the percentage of American dive shops carrying freediving equipment over the past few years.
Selling snorkeling equipment remains more significant in the USA than in Western Europe.
Rebreathers are more widely available in European dive centers, which is consistent with the data shared at Rebreather Forum 4.
Meanwhile, fly-away scuba diving vacations are more readily offered in American dive shops.
Pool Availability
Do you have your own pool for dive training?
A higher percentage of scuba diving centers in Western Europe own a pool for dive training compared to the USA.
In both markets, the percentage of dive shops with pools has increased, which is another indication that the best dive centers appear to be the ones that remained in business during the pandemic.
Video Summary & Thoughts
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