Fitness market taken over by ‘budget sector’

A recent report released in Germany at the European Health & Fitness Forum (EHFF) has revealed that the so called ‘budget sector’ of the industry is still dominating the market. The European Health & Fitness Study 2016 revealed that the fitness market as a whole grew by nearly 5% in 2015 when compared to the previous year.

2014 showed a good year for the budget sector and nothing changed this a year later; in fact, most of the fastest growing fitness operators were those targeting the lower-cost audience. It remains to be seen whether this trend will continue into 2016 in an industry now worth nearly €27 billion in revenue. In addition to this, membership for sports facilities grew by 4% in Europe as a whole; slightly less for the top 10 countries at 3.4%. The United Kingdom, Russia, France and Germany are still leading the way where this is concerned.

It is believed that over 52 million Europeans now use health clubs which is roughly still on track to reach the 80 million by 2025 target put in place by EuropeActive.