At the end of July and with a heat wave on the horizon, gyms are struggling to try to lose as few customers as possible during the summer months. This business reinvents itself in the summer season to build loyalty and attract users. Vacations, swimming pools, trips and terraces are defined in the competition of this type of centers, since customers prefer to cancel rather than continue paying for a service that they will barely use in summer. Although during the last years these summer lows are being reduced.
The world of fitness has grown since the end of the pandemic and today around 6 million people are registered in the different centers in Spain. In La Rioja, the Community of Madrid, the Valencian Community and Andalusia there is even an incentive for the deduction of personal income tax, for example as salary incentives for companies. ”The concept of ‘operation bikini’ is disappearing. Every day people are more aware of doing sports. The gym has become the third vital space for people, behind work and homes”, Alberto García, manager of FNEID (National Federation of Entrepreneurs of Sports Facilities) told La Información. In addition, from the Federation they confirm that depending on the area there is a greater number of client casualties. They emphasize that in general gyms between June and August have a 15% loss of users, although in student areas, for example, These casualties can reach almost 40%.
These contrasts are also reflected depending on whether it is a coastal or inland area. The cities of central Spain see their cities emptying out in July and August, just the opposite of coastal places, which see how their beaches and promenades gather many more people. These tourists not only want beaches, bars, parties or paradisiacal places, but they also look for a sports complex to keep fit. Many gyms in coastal areas plan different strategies during the winter to get tourists to feel attracted to come to their establishments.
Clientele increases by 30% in summer in gyms in tourist areas
For example, Etvanfitness, a sports center located in Gandía, confirms to this outlet that ”June, July and August have become reference months for the company. The clientele increases around 30% compared to winter”. The world of fitness has become a new attraction for tourists and many people choose the vacation spot or hotel based on whether there is a gym nearby and its price. In coastal establishments, tourists complement each other with the people of the area, thus obtaining very good results. In the case of Etvanfitness, different offers are made to try to attract new customers, in addition, they use passes of different durations so that customers do not have to pay for a full month.
These marketing strategies make a difference. Also in gyms in big cities. However, the large chains do not notice very significant differences in these months, although they agree that fitness is a seasonal sector. In the case of Dreamfit, one of the most important gym firms in Spain, the volume of casualties only increased by two points. They use different strategies to build loyalty, offering the possibility of training at any Dreamfit center or launching activities to do online. However, one of the tactics that the big companies use the most is promotions in monthly payments and registrations. DreamFit offers, for example, an exclusive promotion on the registration fee, MCFit offers free training until September, AltaFit reduces its monthly fees…
A sector that has not recovered from Covid
The prospects for the sector are not particularly bright, inflation is causing the growth of these businesses to be much more moderate and slower than expected. Studies suggest that around 70% of gyms will not recover the benefits they had in 2019 during 2023. Six out of 10 sports centers have recovered for the next two years, according to BDO.
The number of gyms has fallen by 3.1% since the year before Covid and BDO affirms that of the 4,000 centers that are operational in Spain they have only billed a total of 825 million euros in 2022, which means that the revenues are up to 23% lower than since then.
All the establishments fight to try to save the summer, waiting for those heavy autumn rains that arrive in the month of September in the form of registrations and that are confirmed in October, which together with January and February are the months of greatest boom. Although the trend of recent years shows that the temporality of fitness is falling. And this is just what gyms need, since, to this day, they have not managed to recover their pre-pandemic levels.
