Fitness is the leading organized sports activity in Europe according to a report published by Europe Active (the former European Health & Fitness Association) and Deloitte, with the number of European fitness club members rising by 9 percent to 50.1 million in 2014. Europe Active's target is to grow participation to 80 million by 2025.
The report was presented at the second European Health & Fitness Forum (EHFF), which drew 320 participants from 28 countries on the day before the opening of Fibo, the fitness trade fair in Cologne, which is exactly three decades-old this year.
The Europe Active and Deloitte report includes analysis of the fitness markets in 18 countries and profiles of leading companies in the sector. The forum as a whole focused on the impact of motivation and behavior change on member retention rates.
The report found that the value of the European fitness market reached €26.8 billion last year, compared with about €20 billion for professional football. The top 10 companies in the sector jointly lifted their sales by about 3 percent to €2.8 billion last year, with nearly 5.8 million members. The study indicates that the market is consolidating further, with 19 mergers and transactions taking place last year, compared with nine in 2013.
The organizers of Fibo added that the number of fitness club members increased by 6 percent in Germany last year to more than nine million, or more than 11 percent of the country's population.
The upward trend contributed to the upbeat atmosphere at Fibo, which saw the number of its visitors increase by 19 percent to a record of 138,000 visitors over four days last week. The number of exhibitors went up by 4 percent to 725 companies from 40 countries, on a floor space of 130,000 square meters. The organizers said the mix of visitors was becoming increasingly international. The 58,000 tickets allocated to private visitors for the last two days were sold out before the start of the fair.
The organizers pride themselves on Fibo's fast development. The numbers for this year compared with 560 exhibitors and 53,000 visitors in 2010, when Fibo was still held in Essen. Since then, the organizers launched a Chinese edition of the fair, to be held for the second time in Shanghai in September, as well as the Fibo Innovation Tour held for the second time in January and February in London, Madrid, Paris and Copenhagen.
They further point out that the prospects are strong. An independent market research company came up with an economic trend index suggesting that nearly 60 percent of the surveyed companies expect their business to continue to grow, or to grow strongly. Only eleven percent predicted a slight slowdown. More than 40 percent of trade visitors came to Cologne with concrete plans to invest.
The fair will be held next year for four days starting on April 7, preceded by the third EHFF. The organizers said the floor space would again expand and they will whip up interest in Germany by holding fitness festivals in four locations across the country.
