Dive Retailers, Instructors, Manufacturers and Dive Resorts Expect Sales for 4th Quarter 2007 to be the same or down as compared to the same period in 2006:

>	65% of Retailers expect their 4th Q 2007 Gross Overall sales to be equal to or less than their 2006 4th Q figures.
>	63% of Independent Instructors expect their 4th Q 2007 Gross Overall sales to be equal to or less than their 2006 4th Q figures.
>	50% of Dive Resorts or Tropical Operators expect their 4th Q 2007 Gross Overall sales to be equal to or less than their 2006 4th Q figures.

Summary:

>	In general, confidence is not high for the 4th Quarter of 2007 and many businesses expect to be flat or even behind their 2006 4th quarter numbers. This is almost identical to the 1st and 2nd Quarter survey, indicating an overall low confidence for improved business in 2007.
>	Furthermore, respondents from the Caribbean Basin have the least optimism for the 4th quarter. The highest confidence was posted by European respondents followed by Canada then the USA.

Cline Group, Creators of:
>	Scuba Diving Magazine (1990)
>	The Cline Diving Industry Studies (1992, 1994, 2004)
>	The Scuba Tour (1998-2000)
Strategic Branding & Marketing For:
>	The Bahamas Tourism Board (1992-current)
>	Bonaire's Tourism Board (1993 - 2000)
>	Barbados's Tourism Board (2000)
>	The Dutch Caribbean Diving Alliance (DEMA 1998/1999)
>	The Scuba Tour (1998-2000)
>	Mini-B North America (2003-2004)
>	Sand Dollar Resort, Bonaire (1992-current)
>	Stuart Cove's Dive The Bahamas (2004-current)

Cline Diving Industry Survey Results

3rd Quarter 2007 Dive Business Survey

Cline's Quarterly Dive Industry Survey is in and a total of 307 dive businesses responded to this survey, and indicated the following results:

All dive businesses saw, on average, a 4.5% increase in their gross revenues for the 3rd Quarter of 2007 versus the same period in 2006.
Retailers specifically were almost flat and reported a .6% increase in their gross revenues for the 3rd quarter.
New certifications were down -.3% specifically for Retailers and Independent Instructors combined (actual was +1.8% increase for retailers, and -6.4% decrease for independent instructors).
Dive Travel Sales were up 5.8% specifically for Retailers.
Dive Equipment sales were only slightly up .3% specifically for Retailers.
90% of the retailer respondents were from the USA.
95% of the retailer respondents were the facility owner or manager.

Each business category responded as follows for their Gross Income Change in the 3rd Quarter of 2007 versus the same period in 2006 (for categories over 9 respondents):

Business Classification	3rd Q Gross % Change	Number Reporting
Dive Retailers	+0.6%	155
Independent Dive Instructors	+5.9%	51
Dive Resort or Resort-Based Dive Operators	+5.4%	24
Dive Travel Agents/Wholesalers	+7.7%	11
Dive Related Manufacturers	+13.0%	21
Dive Liveaboard Boat or Charter Boat All Other Industry Professionals	+1.6% +0.3%	9 22
All Averaged/Total Respondents	+4.5%*	307*

* Above overall reported averages are adjusted averages for all business classifications, including those that were too small in number to include in this above table. Total number of businesses and reported overall average includes categories too low to calculate accurate category averages, but their responses were applied to the overall averages and totals.

The following Businesses Responded to this survey:

Business Classification	Total Respondents	% of Whole
Dive Retailers	155	50.5%
Independent Dive Instructors	51	16.6%
Dive Resort or Resort-Based Dive Operators	24	7.8%
Dive Wholesaler/Agent or US Booking Office	11	3.6%
Dive Related Manufacturers	21	6.8%
Dive Liveaboard Boat or Charter Boat	9	2.9%
Dive Related Media, Publication, Website	7	2.3%
Dive Training Agency	7	2.3%
Other Industry Professionals	22	7.2%
Total Respondents	307	100%

> Dive Retailers residing in the Pacific Time Zone responded with the highest decrease in Gross Revenues for the 3rd Quarter of 2007. While Dive Retailers in the Central Time Zone posted the highest Gross increases as shown:

Retailers Time Zone	Gross Revenues	New Certifications	Travel Revenues	Equipment Revenues
Mountain Time Zone (8)	to few	to accurately	report	--
Eastern Time Zone (74)	-.5%	-.2%	4.9%	.1%
Central Time Zone (41)	1.8%	-1.5%	10.2%	2.1%
Pacific Time Zone (19)	-1.7%	-3.2%	-2.5%	-3.0%

> In terms of forecasting, 32.6% of all the businesses responded that they expect their Gross Revenues to increase in the 4th Quarter as shown:

All Businesses Forecast	4th Q Increase	4th Q Decrease	4th Q Same
Gross Revenues	32.6%	28.7%	27.7%
Dive Certification Numbers	17.6%	25.7%	31.3%
Dive Travel Revenues	17.3%	19.6%	25.7%
Equipment Sales Revenues	20.2%	24.1%	25.4%

See the full report here:
http://www.williamcline.com/research/3rdquarter2007.html

This quarterly email newsletter is sent out to the industry at no charge, in an attempt to disseminate diving research to our industry's professionals.

I hope you will read each one, send me questions or challenges. Thanks again for subscribing, and I look forward to hearing your comments from time-to-time.

Best Regards,
William Cline
President
Cline Group Advertising & Marketing, Est. 1990.

The Diving Industry's Only Marketing, Advertising and Research Firm with 15 years of marketing diving worldwide. Visit us on line at http://www.WilliamCline.com

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