The European health and fitness sector consists of approximately 48.000 facilities, 50 million members and 400.000 employees. The European market is valued at almost 30 billion euro and is therefore the largest fitness market in the world.

For decades this sector has consistently grown in terms of members, clubs, professionalism, etcetera. A key factor in this development is the innovative power of fitness entrepreneurs, professionals and others. New concepts, programmes, and systems arise ev...

The European Union's population of over 500 million people has become more sedentary and less physically active. The Euro barometer study on physical activity and sport has shown that 60% of the population is getting little or no exercise to be beneficial for health. In the EU 52% of the adult population is now overweight and 17% are obese. It is in this context of this immense challenge to get people exercise more and eat healthier that EuropeActive (former European Health & Fitness Associat...

Between 2007 and 2017, the European fitness market grew in volume from 36 to 60 million

members which was a whopping growth of 67% in a decade. The biggest changes impacting the sector are: The rise of low cost, internationalisation of suppliers and health club chains, the acceptance of fitness as mainstream physical activity or sport, the arrival of boutiques studios, the impact of advanced technology in equipment and management systems, the invention of apps and wearables and the increased p...

HORIZON 2030

The future of the health and fitness sector

In the decade that just has come to an end, the European fitness market (based on EuropeActive & Deloitte data) has seen tremendous growth. The total number of members active in our 62,000 facilities grew from 37 million in 2008 to 62,2 million in 2018, a growth of 68% in a decade, or almost 7% per annum on average.

These numbers illustrate that the changes in market size have been enormous. But not just in size. This exponential grow...

With more than 52 million members, fitness is the largest sport in Europe. However, with a penetration rate of around 15% of total population, the market has not yet reached its full potential. There are many opportunities to grow and achieve EuropeActive's goal of 80 million members by 2025.

To achieve this challenge, the sector needs to focus on finding ways to keep existing members and clients longer, and to reach out to new target groups. The term customer engagement and customer experien...

HUMAN CAPITAL

IN THE FITNESS and ACTIVE LEISURE SECTOR

Human capital is defined in multiple ways, for example the skills the labour force possesses and is regarded as a resource or asset. In most definitions it encompasses the notion that there are investments in people (e.g. education, training, development), and that these investments increase an individual's productivity, as well as the collective productivity and uniqueness of a company or group of people.

The fitness sector has grown tre...