The increased desire for adventure sports and activities with a high excitement level on vacations fuels the demand for diving tourism. The growing popularity of outdoor and water sports activities among millennials provides profitable opportunities for the diving tourist business. Diving tourism’s popularity is predicted to skyrocket in the following years, owing to the increasing number of divers globally.
International destinations like Mexico, Indonesia, Australia, Bahamas, and California have seen an increase in visitors looking for a diving experience at any skill level. However, the Galapagos Islands is one of the top destinations worldwide for divers mainly focused on exploration cruises. Yet, the archipelago offers an entire world of diving experiences for the diver’s niche.
This article will discuss the diving market size, a sneak peek of divers’ profiles you can target, and the diving business opportunities the Galapagos Islands offer you.
9 million divers worldwide crave diving experiences
Scuba diving is one of the world’s fastest-growing leisure activities, with a reputation for being safe and accessible. Due to its popularity in various locations worldwide, people practice scuba diving with the freedom to explore the aquatic realm that spans 70% of our earth. Therefore, Dive Tourism revenues grew by 6.1% between 2015 and 2019, according to FMI’s data.
As stated on BBC.com, there are around 6 million active scuba divers worldwide, as well as innumerable snorkelers, who explore the farthest reaches of our seas by diving sunken wrecks, swimming with whales and turtles, and even going underwater caving.
Scubanomics highlights in its report on the size of the scuba diving industry that there are 9M active divers worldwide, including 2.8M in the USA and 3.5M in Europe. So, according to PADI, around 1M new divers are certified each year, with roughly half of them in the United States.
Water adventure tourism is becoming increasingly popular across the world. Cutting-edge technology has made diving activities safer and more pleasurable than ever before. Indeed, it has allowed a whole new population of amateur divers to take up diving as an adventure sport.
Discovering the worldwide divers’ profile
Knowing who can be the diver you can be helping is a must, so let’s dive into some of their profiles. The first aspect to consider is that, as reported by Future Market Insight, “In the US, more than 70% of the divers are under 50 years of age and the Caribbean is a popular diving destination for divers on the East Coast of the United States.”
On the other hand, Males represent 68% of all scuba divers and 74 % of the main participants in scuba diving, according to the Sports & Fitness Industry Association (AFIA). However, the number of female divers is steadily growing across the world.
Additionally, to the demographic information of general divers, there is another approach that the diver experts, Jean-François Reybeyrotte and Hélene Adam, developed by identifying twenty profiles. Yet, in the light of this article, we choose a small selection of the most notorious:
The Globe-trotter has scuba-dived on every continent, ocean, and sea and is well-versed in most techniques, living life hanging out of his suitcase.
The Technician‘s significant interest is the material. Knows all there is to know about everything and has the most recent releases on the diving market.
The Academician needs an academic report on the different knowledge of diving. As a result, he only trusts divers who recognize as more qualified and/or competent (or experienced) than him.
The Epicurean most essential thing to him is having a good time with a lovely group. In a great location, with a great drink at the end. The phrase “The joy is under the sea” seems to fit him well.
The Jaggy dives so infrequently, once or twice a year, and quickly forgets everything he learned in his earlier training. As a result, he is always a beginner, and each dive is a new experience for him.
If you wonder about the other profiles, feel free to discover all of them in this Hélene’s post.
How can the Galapagos Islands help you diversify and increase your revenue?
Now it’s time to dive deeper into this question. The Galapagos Islands are well known worldwide, but mainly for its expeditionary cruises. 80 cruise ships of different sizes and categories sail across the archipelago. Most of them offer snorkeling experiences as part of the naturalist experience.
On the other hand, divers have access to cross the door to the underwater world up to 25-30 meters down (82-98 ft) onboard live aboard cruises and daily excursions. The main difference between diving cruises or excursions and the expeditionary ones is that they visit different spots.
Divers in Galapagos can access remote and more isolated areas where currents and marine biodiversity are the crown jewels. Some of the spots accessible only on a live aboard Galapagos cruise ship are Wolf and Darwin, named by scientists as the sharkiest place on earth due to the biomass of sharks here. On a daily excursion there, it is possible to visit the world-known Gordon Rocks.
The exciting part is that the diving experience is ideal for extending a regular trip to the Galapagos Islands or a reselling option for someone who has already visited the archipelago because the experiences will be completely different.
In terms of business opportunities, including Galapagos diving journeys in your catalog can add a substantial sum to your business’s annual income. Why? Imagine selling a $10K diving trip to the Galapagos to 30 divers would represent a total income of $300,000.
According to the Future Market Insight report, “Every year, European divers may take a few diving holidays. On a typical 10-day–multi-day diving excursion, visitors spend more than US$ 490 each day.” Yet, German divers prefer higher-quality accommodations on a vacation, spending more money on their diving trips than the Italian divers. Moreover, in the US, “annual direct expenditures from SCUBA diving in California range from $161 million to $323 million.”
Some diving tourism players aim at strategic collaboration with travel advisors by offering them opportunities to earn a 10% commission on diving tours. Nonetheless, if your core business is not focused on diving excursions, you can rely on a knowledgeable partner to find the best ways to promote diving experiences and approach divers’ questions.
Finally, if you’re interested in finding accurate options for diving in the Galapagos Islands, and need more information from a specialist, let us know. Our expert, located in California, can assist you in getting the best options for you and your diver traveler.