Summary
According to Financial Week.com Health and Fitness Clubs could be one of the top six winners during these recessionary times. IBIS senior analyst George van Horn told financial week.com that growth in 2009 in the fitness industry would be 2.2% With a population penetration rate of only 16% for health club membership there would appear to be room for growth. Many pundits predicted that the club membership would be the first to go during the financial belt tightening. Not so! With membership growth being driven by people taking control of their own health and accelerated growth in the over 55 years of age market, club memberships are actually up both here in the US and in Europe.
Analysis
Surburban operators such as Life Time Fitness (LTM) with over 80 family oriented clubs nationwide experienced a 15.1% growth in the first quarter of 2009 over the corresponding quarter last year. Lifetime Fitness exceeded analysts profit expectations.
Urban operator Town Sports International (CLUB) who operate over 160 clubs in in New York City, Washington DC and Boston reported aqn increase of memberships of 8000 during the first quarter of 2009 compared to the previous year with revenue rising 1.3%.
With huge swathes of the population looking to combat obesity, diabetes and the effects of the ageing process, the membership demographic is no longer focussed on the 18 years to 34 year of age profile. Today 34% of all club members fall within the 35 year to 54 years of age segment with over 22% members over the age of 55. Fitness remains very much a 'middle class' activity with average household income exceeding $82.000 per annum.
