the fitness market | Italy

1.1 Definition and presentation

Generally, the term fitness refers to a state of health and well-being of the body. To achieve this state, people are used to join specialized health and fitness centers that not only provide their members with workout facilities in exchange for a membership and subscription fee, but also offer their members a wide range of additional services such as personal training, group classes, and spas.

The global fitness market is worth $96.6 billion in 2024 with a growth rate of 7.7 percent. In total there are 210,000 fitness clubs to which as many as 184 million people are enrolled. However, the global market is not homogeneous: on the one hand, there are countries such as Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States that have very high membership numbers; on the other hand, in many countries, such as those in Latin America, there is a clear lack of fitness centers.

Today, the Italian market is characterized by the presence of 5.3 million active members and high fragmentation: the vast majority of facilities dedicated to fitness in Italyare independent clubs, while as many as 28 percent are modestly sized yoga or pilates studios. These numbers, as a result, significantly reduce the presence of large franchises. The Italian regions with the largest number of sportspeople turn out to be Lombardy, Veneto, Emilia, Romagna and Lazio.

The growth of the market is certainly linked to a greater propensity of people to take care of themselves and a greater awareness of the benefits associated with fitness. The fitness market has evolved significantly in recent years through the creation of new business models and training methods. In particular, 2020 was a crucial year in this respect: the losses associated with the Covid-19 pandemic, which caused fitness clubs to close for long periods of time, were enormous. Despite this, the fitness market has shown great adaptability by taking full advantage of the potential of the digital world, offering virtual classes and workouts.