The number of people who are members of a fitness club grew by 4.4 percent to 56.4 million in Europe last year, according to a study by Deloitte and EuropeActive. The development of the low-cost channel led European fitness studios to book a lower increase of 3.1 percent in their turnover, reaching an estimated level of €26.3 billion, higher than the €23.3 billion level of the industry in the U.S..
Germany reinforced its position as the leader of the sector in Europe in terms of sports participation, followed by the U.K. and France. The number of registered members in German fitness clubs rose by 8.6 percent to 10,080,000 last year. The corresponding numbers went up by 5.1 percent to 9,250,000 in the U.K. and by 5.0 percent to 5,460,000 in France.
Lower growth rates were recorded in Italy and Spain, where the number of members increased to 5,250,000 and 5,060,000, respectively.
On the other hand, fitness club operators in the U.K. reached slightly higher revenues than those in Germany last year, or €5.10 billion against €5.05 billion, according to the study.
