Benchmarking Local Dive Shops: 2024 Forecast and 2023 Revenues, Profits & Financial 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 2024 dive industry market report is part of a series of eight scuba diving industry market reports from the annual State of The Dive Industry survey.
In early 2024, the Business of Diving Institute conducted the second annual State Of The Industry (SOTI) survey of the dive industry in collaboration with InDEPTH Magazine. We looked at 2023 results for dive certifications, scuba diving equipment sales, and dive travel compared to the prior year. We also surveyed expectations and forecasts for 2024.
We extend a special thank you to all those of you who participated in this effort to help the dive industry with more readily available market data. Considering the positive response and extensive participation, we intend to make it an annual study to be executed in January.
Find a complete list of 8 market reports from the State of The Dive Industry 2023 study here and subscribe to stay in the know.
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.
78% of respondents in the dive shop category were business owners, 15% were managers, and 7% were staff. Yet, 17% off the respondents only worked part-time in the dive industry.
In Europe, 100% of the respondents were operating a standalone dive center while in the USA, 9% of respondents were from dive centers 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!
Participating in our surveys and inviting your colleagues to do so can help us provide you with better dive industry market reports.
Please subscribe and invite your colleagues to participate in our ongoing dive industry market surveys.
Sales Revenues & Profitability of Local Dive Shops & Dive Centers
Results for 2022 and 2023. Forecasting trends for 2023 and 2024.
Dive Centers’ REVENUES
For dive centers in the USA and in Western Europe, 2023 results fell short of expectations.
- 39% of dive centers in the USA reported a revenue decrease in 2023, while only 10% had forecasted a decline.
- 36% of dive centers in Western Europe reported a revenue decline in 2023, while none had forecasted a decrease.
Dive centers experienced a wide range of sales results.
- 47% of dive centers in the USA reported sales growth, while 39% had a decline.
- 36% of dive centers in Western Europe experienced growth, while the same percentage had a decline in revenues.
In both regions, despite historical results and the many challenges of 2024, reporting dive centers are very optimistic about the future.
- 57% of American dive centers expect revenues to increase between +5% and +15% in 2024, and 33% are forecasting sales growth above +15%, for a total of 90% of dive centers in the USA forecasting revenue growth.
- 72% of Western European dive centers expect revenues to increase between +5% and +15% in 2024, and 9% are forecasting sales growth above +15%, for a total of 81% of dive centers in Western Europe forecasting revenue growth.
Dive Centers’ PROFITS
Numerous dive centers managed to control their costs while facing a decline in revenues.
- While 39% of dive centers in the USA experienced a decline in revenues in 2023, only 21% reported a decrease in profits.
- While 36% of dive centers in Western Europe saw revenue declines in 2023, only 18% reported decreased profits.
The percentages in the graphs below indicate how many survey respondents reported or forecasted a decrease, flat, or increase in revenues or profits.
The green columns represent the actual results (2022 & 2023), while the orange-brown columns represent the forecasts (2023 & 2024). Both columns for 2023 are wrapped by a black dotted line to facilitate comparisons between projections and actual results.
Benchmarking Local Dive Shops & Dive Centers
Human Resources: Number of Employees & Dive Instructors per Scuba Diving Center
How many employees or staff members work in your dive center (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 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 answer dive industry surveys, and therefore, results tend to be skewed toward the more positive or larger size.
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 “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 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 doing 27% of their 2023 sales direct-to-customer on their own website and 51% of their sales 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 approximatively 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 cases, 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.
There are eight scuba diving industry market reports prepared from the results of the State Of The Industry (SOTI) survey of the dive industry.
The State of The Dive Industry annual market study is part of a series of scuba diving industry surveys by the Business of Diving Institute in collaboration with InDEPTH Magazine with support from DAN Europe, Shearwater, GUE, and most importantly, YOU!
Besides participating in the surveys, please let us know if you would like to add your name to the official list of “supporters who are supporting the industry!”
You can help the dive industry by taking part in ongoing surveys.
Results from our past scuba diving market studies are also available here.
Other Scuba Diving Industry Resources:
Check our dive industry books.