Linsey McNeill offers 20 ways to make the perfect diving holiday sale, from winning over beginners to adding on insurance
1. Do customers want a diving holiday…
If so, your customers will want a minimum of two dives a day, so on a seven-night break they’ll want to visit at least 10 sites. Harlequin suggests the Harbour Village in Bonaire in the Caribbean, which has 85 dive sites. Bed-and- breakfast package prices start at £1,378 with unlimited shore diving, transfers and flights.
2. …or a holiday with diving?
Then they need a resort offering other activities as well. Harlequin recommends Anse Chastanet, St Lucia which offers single dives from about £17 each. For non-divers there’s a spa, mountain biking, rainforest tours and other water sports. Prices start at £1,190 bed and breakfast including transfers and flights.
3. Check diving conditions
When diving is the main focus of a holiday, it’s important to check sea conditions as it’s not possible to dive all year round in some locations. For example, underwater visibility in Costa Rica is usually better from May to November, but there’s a strong likelihood of rain.
4. Promote all-in packages
All-inclusive resorts such as Sandals and Beaches offer free guided dives with equipment for certified divers, which are good value for anyone planning several dive trips in one holiday. Seven nights at Beaches Turks and Caicos costs from £1,934 including flights, all-inclusive accommodation, two dives a day and an introductory lesson, booked through British Airways Holidays.
5. Target local dive clubs
Boost sales by hosting events for members of your local dive clubs. They can usually be contacted via municipal swimming pools, or simply Google dive clubs in your area, and get operators to sponsor an evening event where you can show them what’s available.
6. Transporting equipment
Scuba equipment, including empty tanks, can be taken on aircraft and you should check whether the airline will increase your customer’s weight allowance for these items. Depth gauges may be affected by low pressure and should be carried as hand luggage.
7. Entice beginners
Remind customers that it’s often cheaper to learn to dive abroad than it is in the UK. A PADI Open Water Diver course will cost about £350-£450 at a local pool, but Regal Dive offers learn-to-dive packages overseas from £175.
8. Get the timings right
Warn clients they cannot fly 24 hours before or after a dive, so they won’t be able to dive on the first or last day of their holiday if travelling by air. Remember to take this into consideration when booking a learn-to-dive course. 
9. Look for qualifications
Always check the dive centre to be used has an internationally recognised qualification. PADI, the US-run dive association, and the British Sub Aqua Club and Scuba Schools International are ones to look out for.
10. Allow clients to get ahead
Those who want to take a learn-to-dive package without wasting any of their holiday in a classroom can learn the theory beforehand and go straight to the open-water evaluation when they get to their resort.
Specialist operator Regal Dive offers a Fasttrack Open Water Course from £183, which includes a PADI manual and DVD for home study and three days’ tuition in resort.
11. Check what’s included
Learn-to-dive packages usually include equipment hire, but not wetsuits, mask or flippers, so check the cost of hiring these or warn clients to take their own. They may also have to buy a diver’s manual.
12. Don’t forget the kids
The minimum age for scuba varies – it’s 12 in Turkey but only 10 in Egypt and Greece – but children can go snorkelling using scuba equipment from five. They can be introduced to diving through PADI Bubblemaker courses from the age of eight.
Club Med offers PADI Bubblemaker for kids at Coral Beach in Israel (£95) and Phuket, Thailand. It also offers scuba diving for children at La Caravelle in Guadeloupe and Les Boucaniers in Martinique.
13. Make sure they’re in the know
Don’t forget to sell dives as pre-bookable excursions where available. Most customers might not be aware that diving is an option. First Choice charges from £149 for a two-day introductory course and offers refunds for unused days.
14. Recommend a test dive
Neilson suggests clients do a trial dive in a hotel pool to see if they enjoy diving before committing to a full course. It offers free trial dives at many of its Beachclub Plus centres, including Skioni, Halkidiki in Greece, which costs from £519 in June including flights, accommodation and meals and a range of land and water-based activities.
15. Ensure they’re insured
Most travel insurance policies only cover one-off dives up to a maximum depth of 30ft with an instructor. Also, most won’t provide any cover if diving is the main purpose of the holiday. For specific diving insurance, try Citybond Suretravel, Preferential, Europ Assistance or Journeys Travel Insurance.
16. Put safety first
Customers must be able to swim 200 metres non-stop (that’s about eight lengths of a municipal swimming pool) followed by 10 minutes treading water to be deemed competent to dive. Age is no barrier, but everyone will be asked to fill out a medical questionnaire to prove they are fit to dive.
17. Ask the right questions
Do customers want wreck dives, big fish or colourful coral? Advanced divers are more likely to want resorts that offer technical diving, such as the use of twin tanks, James Bond style, to enable them to dive deeper for longer. For the latter, Longwood recommends the Red Sea Diving College in Sharm el-Sheikh.
18. Seek out new resorts
18. Seek out new resortsLook for newer resorts for divers who have a lot of dives under their weight belt, as the sites are likely to be less crowded. Longwood recommends its latest addition, Marsa Alam, in the southern Red Sea. The area, which is being developed by Sun International, was previously only accessible by liveaboard dive boats but now offers diving straight from the shore.
19. Hop on board
Liveaboards are a great option for certified divers, even those who are recently qualified. Staying on ship, they will travel to up to four dive sites a day, including those inaccessible to land-based divers. Goldenjoy Dive offers seven nights onboard Orchid in the Red Sea from £749 including full-board accommodation, tanks, weights and nitrox.
20. Offer up-and-coming sites
Give your clients more options by offering lesser-known diving destinations that suit their budget and itineraries, such as Oman instead of the Red Sea.
