COVID has been devastating in all areas of the scuba diving industry. Whilst some manufacturers have seen an increase in sales as people chose the lengthy surface interval to upgrade their equipment, ready for whenever the time came to get back into the water, the majority of the industry as suffered.
It is safe to say that the section of the diving industry hit the hardest by the pandemic has been the tourism sector. With people unable to travel anywhere to dive for more than 18 months, the effects have been huge.
This week sees one of the great names in the liveaboard industry, blue o two (as Blue O2 Ltd) entering administration.
“Covid-19 presented us with the greatest challenge in 18 years of trading. The UK has had the most stringent of travel restrictions in place. They have been consistently changing, hard to understand, and made it almost impossible to deliver what you all love doing the most – diving” said the official statement from blue o two.
The statement continued, “Recently, our ATOL license was renewed by the CAA – the travel industry regulator. Although we were granted a new license to provide packages including flights, the CAA, with consumers best interests in mind, imposed conditions on Blue 02 Limited’s ATOL license. This, as well as refunding many millions of £s, has made it difficult for the Directors to see a way forward for Blue 02 Ltd which protects the interests of our customers in the current COVID climate. Given the financial damage caused by the pandemic, and despite our relentless best efforts to save Blue 02 Ltd, unfortunately, and with regret, the decision was made to cease trading on 15th November 2021.”
But this does not seem to be the end of this well known brand.
So we are delighted to say that the Blue O Two brand lives on under Scuba Tours Worldwide Limited – which now trades as Blue O Two. We will continue to operate and provide scuba diving liveaboard holidays with the same devoted team of people.
As such, we will be able to provide some existing holidays booked with Blue 02 Limited as planned, to some customers. If you have a live booking or credit note, to see how you are affected by this news, visit blog.blueotwo.com/blue-02-ltd-administration-customer-info.
blue o two official statement
Have you been affected by these changes at blue o two? We would love to hear from you. Reach out and contact us at: https://www.thescubanews.com/contact-us/