1.1 Definition and presentation

Sport climbing is a discipline that originated in the mid-1980s and takes place on natural or artificial walls.

Sport climbing can be practiced in different structures:

-Indoor in indoor gyms with artificial walls;

-Outdoor in outdoor "gyms" of rock or cliffs.

Climbing gyms are the place used for indoor activity, and the essential element is the climbing wall (artificial wall).

Globally, the climbing gym market is dominated by the United States and was estimated to be worth about $530.3 million in 2020. The size of the market has decreased over the years but a positive growth rate is being observed lately (the growth expectation in 2021 was 5.7 %). In addition, the global market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 7% between 2019 and 2023. The world's largest manufacturer of climbing walls is the Bulgarian company Walltopia.

In Italy, this type of sport came into vogue about 35 years ago, and in a short time it gained a wide audience and achieved a fair amount of popularity. As of now, there are about 64 indoor climbing gyms, but it is becoming more and more common to find walls to practice this sport even in regular fitness centers and no longer only in specialized centers.

Since 2008, membership in the Italian Sport Climbing Federation has increased from 6,000 to 30,000 for several reasons, including the growing popularity of the sport but especially because of the recent addition of sport climbing to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. This milestone represents recognition of a phenomenon that began its growth several years ago and shows no signs of wanting to stop. A peculiar element of the Italian market is that the total number of Italian members is concentrated in a few companies.

One of the main producers of climbing walls in Italy is Sint Roc.As can be seen from the above information, the climbing wall market can be considered to be growing although it should be kept in mind that it is a niche market that may be difficult to penetrate.

1.2 A growing global market

Businesswire reports that the global climbing gym market will grow at a CAGR of * percent (***) as a proxy for growth in the number of practitioners.

In ****, *.*% of the U.S. population practiced indoor climbing.[***] This means that about *.** million people in the United States are indoor climbers. Of these, ** percent are ...

1.3 The domestic market: complicated to delimit

There is very little sectoral market for climbing gyms in Italy, which means that the Istat database does not contain a specific Ateco Code for this market.

The Federation for the Sport of Climbing Federclimb identifies all gyms where this sport can be practiced, and the different gyms or sports centers ...

2.1 Where climbing is most practiced

The Italian climbing federation Federclimb groups all associations, centers and sports clubs that offer climbing. In **** there will be ** *** members, that is, those who are registered in a sport activity society that includes climbing, throughout Italy.

The regional breakdown is as follows:

2.2 Climbing practitioners in Italy

As seen in the previous part (***), there are not many practitioners of climbing in gyms in Italy. In fact, the public has a strong preference for mountain climbing, but there are still some mixed practitioners. The reasons for people to practice both mountain and gym climbing are:

Top reasons for participating ...

2.3 A sport played by few people

A recent study by Coop Italia is interested in the number of sports practitioners in Italy, among the various results are those regarding the practice of climbing. The results show that climbing is the *th most practiced sport in Italy, these results take into account the cumulative percentages of men and ...

3.1 Italian climbing societies

In part *.* we saw a map representing the number of climbing club members in Italy. In the same sense we can see in the following map the number of climbing clubs in Italy by number of clubs in each region.

It can be seen immediately that Calabria has no clubs, at ...

3.2 Sports equipment manufacturers

As previously announced, there is no precise data on climbing on Istat, however, there is a section under Ateco Code ** production of other sporting goods n.e.c. that also includes the production of climbing equipment.

The production of miscellaneous sports equipment companies, which therefore also includes climbing equipment is:

Production ...

3.3 Combining climbing and hotel stay: a new trend?

This challenge was carried out by the Camp Zero hotel, in Champoluc. In fact, this hotel has a real mountaineering gym in its lobby, to allow its guests to let off some steam during their stay with them. The concept is simple: just book a time to access it, with or ...

4.1 Price analysis

Climbing is a sport that requires a range of specialized equipment and membership in specialized facilities such as climbing gyms. A global survey of climbing participants found that **.* % of respondents spend between *** euros and *,*** euros per year on climbing activities and equipment.

Average spending on climbing-related activities World, ****, in % Source: ****

Prices ...

4.2 Climbing equipment: what is needed?

Climbing equipment is not very expensive, but you need to know how to choose the product well to ensure all safety conditions. Therefore, it is essential that all the equipment used is UIAA (***) approved. Below, we list the essential equipment for sport climbing:

Rope: there are many different types of ropes ...

4.3 Rehabilitative climbing walls

In Italy in ****, the first climbing gym with a rehabilitation wall designed, first and foremost, for children with disabilities was inaugurated. It is a prototype that has all the numbers to be replicated in every corner of the world where there is a child with a neonatal stroke who needs therapy ...

5.1 Regulations

Safety in gyms:

To ensure safety in climbing gyms and avoid injury and harm, it is important to follow several small rules that are often specific and internal to the establishment's rulebook.

Checking by the partner of the rope: at this initial stage it is essential to check each other and ...