Covid-19 has played a key role in the damage to the USA fitness club sector.
A survey recently distributed revealed that over 700,00 jobs are currently at risk and a total exceeding ten billion dollars has been lost due to the crisis.
Accompanied by Egeria, Paolo Menconi (President of the International Fitness Observatory) surveyed 7479 clubs within the US between 1 June 2020 and 20 July 2020.
40% of participating clubs declared that they will not last another 3 months if the Covid-19 measures are still in place. Due to a lack of active members, surveyed clubs have seen a substantial increase in short-term memberships. 49% of these clubs are just recently seeing annual memberships slightly overtaking the short-term.
20% of clubs have 5 months worth of assets
35% of clubs worry about continuity
40% of clubs may not surpass 3 months
45% of clubs will not survive
Previous to Covid-19, late 2019, the sector was at a high with US profits exceeding $35bn and boasting a continuously growing average of 64 million members.
According to Paolo Menconi, President of IFO –
“The results of this research indicate that the fitness industry is in a very difficult and unprecedented time. We should not forget this is a sector that has a fundamental social role for the psycho-physical well-being of people and it is able to offer good deals for any budget. It should be protected with serious and concrete structural actions, both for employees and for customers, making it able to get back on its feet and continue to look ahead to the future.”
Utility bills and non-refundable loans expenditures are the main cause for concern for many fitness businesses finding themselves in minus figures. They have continued losing money towards these’ necessities’ in order to remain hopeful for normality to resume.
For information:
Dr. Paolo Menconi
info@ifo.academy
www.ifo.academy
* Survey notes
- 1 June 2020 – 20 July 2020
- 7,479 clubs in the USA received the questionnaire
- 1,327 opened the email and started answering the questions but then did not complete before submission
- 208 answered anonymously
- 29 questions
- Average completion time of 7/8 minutes
