The diving industry has experienced a slightly better last few months, but is still a depressed market, according to reports out this week.

Businesses saw a small decrease in gross revenues for the fourth quarter of 2009 compared to the same period in 2008, according to a new report undertaken by the William Cline Group. It took in data from 243 worldwide businesses, 88.9 per cent of which were from the USA.

The exact decrease in gross revenue across the board, it said, was 1.5 per cent during the final few months of 2009. Retailers reported that their overall gross revenues were down by 7 per cent. New certifications also saw a downturn, of 7.3 per cent, and independent instructors showed a 5.1 per cent decrease of certifications.

Dive travel sales were down by 11.9 per cent for retailers and dive equipment sales declined by 7.3 per cent.

“My data shows that travel represents 76 per cent of all diver expenditures and equipment and services (classes, rentals etc) less than 24 per cent,” explained William Cline, president of the Cline Group, which is employed by a number of Caribbean islands in a strategic branding and marketing capacity.

Better news

The first quarter of 2010 could bring better news for the retail market, according to respondents, with 33.7 per cent of those surveyed believing that gross revenues would be up. 53.3 per cent said the first quarter would see similar revenues to the previous quarter, and 13.3 per cent believed it would be down.

Dive travel revenues could be up in the period, noted 33.3 per cent, with 26.7 per cent believing it would be the same and 20 per cent projecting a decrease.

Most optimism was garnered in the field of dive certification. 40 per cent believed there would be an increase, 53.3 per cent said it would be the same and 6.7 per cent saw a decline imminent.

The dive industry professionals surveyed were also asked about equipment sales revenues. In that sense, 40 per cent believed sales would increase, 46.7 said they would be the same and 13.3 per cent forecast a decrease.

On an international basis, 44 per cent of Caribbean and South American region respondents believed that they would have an increase in first quarter revenues.

“When looking at a combined response for travel sector - resorts, wholesalers & liveaboards - the average company posted a 6.6 per cent gain in their fourth quarter 2009 gross revenues as compared to the same period in 2008.

“Their outlook is very optimistic as almost 50 per cent expect to see a gain in their expected revenues in the first quarter of 2010,” read the report.

Robust

Mr. Cline said that last autumn was when the diving industry bottomed out, with different sections of the diving industry having their worst moment at different times.

“Manufacturing is now looking rather robust, as they have a different sales process than sales retailers because they have to gear up for distribution.

“We’ve not seen any positive growth at all for the last five quarters and we’re still not seeing any growth but we’ve seen a lot less loss. The diving industry is still down but the margin is narrowing across the board. From a destination standpoint there’s a similar picture across Caribbean islands, with certain individuals doing very well but the entire market’s down 25 to 30 per cent which affects everybody,” he said.

Point of sale

A separate survey, undertaken by Leisure Trends Group, noted that there had been a decline in dive industry sales of 6 per cent in units and 4 per cent in dollars in 2009 compared to 2008.

The report, titled Dive Topline, was billed as an investigation into the United States diving industry.

Leisure Trends Group’s scuba panel is derived from more than 120 doors of independent and speciality dive shops. It utilises tracking data from sell-through or point-of-sale transactions reported electronically.

The margin or error varies by category as the percentage of sales captured also varies. That data is then projected up to 1,485 speciality doors.

Dive service numbers are not tracked in the same point-of-sale way as merchandise and were therefore for directional purposes only. Estimated dive services sales were $324 million during 2009 which was a 4 per cent increase in total dollars over 2008. It said that fourth quarter services were up by 30 per cent.

Context

Mr. Cline said that it was important to context the figures correctly as the market is unusually-depressed in the middle of the world depression

“Any activity like diving which creates an emotional bond is one of the last things you want to give up doing in a tough economy and divers have held true. Some who have been hit hard last fall started to see a slow turnaround in the last few months.

“2009 was also an off year, you have to go back two years before you get a true picture in terms of relative sales volumes. 2009 numbers were very depressed. I would say there’s light at the end of the tunnel and we’re starting to see that light – but we still need a flashlight.”

Awards

This month Cayman was given a fillip after being named one of the region’s top dive destinations, according to a magazine poll. Scuba Diving Magazine’s 2010 Readers Choice Awards gave Cayman first place in four of nine categories in its January/February issue.

They were top overall rating of the destination; wall diving; visibility and health of marine environment and diving for advanced divers.

Editorial director Ty Sawyer gave out the awards at the recent scuba diving hall of fame induction ceremony at Pedro St. James. He told the Caymanian Compass that the accolades were important as they were voted for by readers rather than professionals.

“Scuba Diving Magazine readers have an average of ten and a half years’ diving so they’re a bit more savvy than other divers you might get. They’re definitely not going to rate a place where they’re not going to go back. They rate it as somewhere they can get more out of it after their first dive and it’s pretty high on the list of repeat destinations cause of all it has to offer.

“Readers go and get entranced by the Cayman Islands, the health of the marine environment and how clear the water is then they look for more and more so they keep coming back which speaks volumes as to the quality of the diving there, hence the awards. I’ve been coming since 1983 and done hundreds of dives and I never grow tired of it,” he said.