The Rise and Size of the Global Fitness and Health Club Industry
Over the past half century, participation in fitness has developed as one of the fastest growing forms of physical activity, especially in economically advanced countries. Nowadays, participation in fitness is an integral part of contemporary lifestyle as for millions of people around the world fitness has become a common practice in their daily life. Accordingly, fitness and health services have expanded tremendously given the high demand for fitness participation. Employees are catering to the needs of millions of fitness customers in many thousands of clubs and studios worldwide. The global fitness and health club industry, therefore, is considered to be one of the largest providers of sport and exercise opportunities, alongside, e.g. the market of running (see f.i. Scheerder, Breedveld, & Borgers, 2015a) and the more traditional branch of sports clubs, in which football clubs hold a dominant position (see f.i. Breuer, Hoekman, Nagel, & van der Werff, 2015). It has been shown that the fitness and health club industry is also one of the most significant business fields within the so-called private sports sector (Laine & Vehmas, 2017b). Moreover, it seems that the fitness and health club industry has not been affected by recent economic fluctuations, at least not to the same extent as was the case for both the public sports sector and the voluntary sports sector, or as for any other business field in the private sports sector, among which the sales of sporting goods (Laine & Vehmas, 2017a, 351). According to The Economist (2015) the fitness industry has remained robust after the 2008 recession, and apparently has even grown due to the increase in elites working out—the so-called upcoming aspirational class (Currid-Halkett, 2017; see further). Despite Foot and Stoffmans prediction (2000, 75, 99) that, based on a demographic shift, the heyday of the fitness club would be over and would be replaced by personal fitness, and home fitness in particular, the fitness and health club industry flourishes as never before. Neither the recent economic recession nor the demographic impact of the baby boomers posed a threat to this sector. Leisure-time institutions like fitness and health clubs offer sensual satisfactions and are called the chapels and cathedrals of our age serving to improve the body (Brooks, 2000, 200).
Processes of transformation and innovation can be identified as being characteristic for the fitness boom. Fitness facilities have changed from ‘old-school bodybuilding gyms’ to trendy health and well-being centres that offer a wide range of physical activities. New types of fitness formulas have entered the scene, such as low-cost gyms, 24/7 accessible fitness clubs and ladies only fitness centres, and succeeded to attract specific groups of customers. Novel fitness businesses opened, focusing on international and vertical markets like hotels and spas (Volkwein-Caplan, 2014, 50). Based on an annual survey that investigates worldwide fitness trends among health and fitness professionals, three distinct emerging themes standout, being (i) the use of technology (wearables such as heart rate monitors, smart watches, fitness trackers, etc.), (ii) the participation in group sessions (instructed and motivational in-group training programmes for different fitness levels), and (iii) the provision of fitness programmes for older adults (catering to the fitness needs of the Baby Boom and older generations) (Thompson, 2018). Thus, the fitness and health club industry seems to have successfully found its way to adapt to demographic, economic and social challenges as well as opportunities. As a result, it is clear that this business has an ever more important share in the global sports market.
According to the International Health, Racquet & Sportsclub Association the global fitness and health club industry, in 2017, reached 174 million members in 65 markets (IHRSA, 2018). Between 2007 and 2017 the number of fitness and health club members increased by 67 million members (IHRSA, 2008, 2018), which implies an...