PADI’s global membership outpaces competitors in terms of revenue, productivity and brand loyalty – that’s the conclusion of the 2025 Dive Industry Study conducted by independent researcher Boston Consulting Group (BCG).
That membership consists of 128,000 dive professionals and 6,600 dive-centres, and BCG says that its research indicates that partnering with PADI leads to real business growth. The training agency was found to lead the industry in consumer trust, earning the highest Net Promoter Score (NPS) of any diver-training organisation.
NPS is a measure of the willingness of customers to recommend a company’s products or services to friends and family. The BCG finding aligns with PADI’s own study, according to which 91% of new PADI Open Water Divers would recommend the brand.
PADI-exclusive dive-shops earned US $186,000 (£137,000) more in 2024 than non-PADI dive-centres, and reported 15-20% higher productivity, according to the report.
“These findings validate that the PADI brand, along with its training and marketing programmes, help dive-centres thrive,” said PADI Worldwide chief brand and membership officer Kristin Valette Wirth. “Being a PADI member is a profitable business strategy.
“Through global awareness, best-in-class training and unmatched business and marketing tools, the PADI organisation helps members not only succeed but lead in their market.”
The training agency currently offers 94 courses in 27 languages and, as it nears its 60th anniversary in 2026, says it has issued more than 30 million certifications.
It was found to command 21 times more media exposure than any other diver-training agency, with a 90% global share of voice as well as 3.6 times the social followers of its nearest competitor, and four times the website traffic. Because of this, 75% of new divers recognise PADI before starting training, says Wirth.
The BCG study found that PADI members earnt more, were more productive and benefitted from customer-engagement boosts through tools and promotions such as PADI Adventures, PADI Club, the Refer-A-Friend Challenge and Master Scuba Diver Challenge.
PADI also claims to have helped to mobilise 70+ million Ocean Torchbearers, granted more than $6 million in conservation grants, fuelled more than 350,000 local initiatives and to have advocated for more than 2,700 adopted dive-sites to gain Marine Protected Area status.
UNESCO backs DAN/PADI project
In other PADI news, the agency’s Ocean Literacy Project collaboration with Divers Alert Network (DAN) has been officially recognised as an “Ocean Decade Action” by UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission.
It joins another programme, Ocean Literacy With All, as part of the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021-2030).
The DAN.PADI Ocean Literacy Project is an international educational initiative designed to raise awareness and empower younger generations to become stewards of the ocean. Through e-learning, science and storytelling, it aims to make knowledge of the ocean accessible and engaging.
The programme features content developed by DAN Europe working with university professors and marine-science researchers. It is used by DAN and PADI instructors in schools, dive-centres and youth initiatives in both English and Italian, having been based on a successful initiative called Scuola D’Amare launched by an Italian PADI association.
Since 2019 the programme is said to have introduced more than 80,000 students to aspects of the Mediterranean Sea. Four core learning modules cover citizen science, plastic pollution, climate change and underwater archaeology.
PADI says that the UNESCO endorsement will enable the Ocean Literacy Project to expand and embrace ocean education for people of all ages, backgrounds and nationalities. Access the programme here.
Also on Divernet: PADI links with gear-makers in new-diver trawl, Fiji dive-trip at stake in PADI Master challenge, Do divers miss a trick with our puny hand-signals?, British scuba instructor receives rescue award
