The Spanish Sector of Fitness, which includes gyms and sports clubs but also food and lifestyle, could close 2025 with a turnover exceeding 1.5 billion euros if its activity rate is maintained, 15.4 % more than 1,300 millions that are estimated to enter 2024.
The activity of these companies, which cover From the most exclusive sports clubs to the gyms of gyms “low cost” They are quickly proliferating in many Spanish cities, it has been seen shot in recent yearspartly for the economic injections provided by the Risk Capital Funds, which have found in them a New reef.
These are some of the conclusions of the Fitness 2025 Economic Reportprepared by Intelligence 2P, the Studies Unit of the Sports Consultant 2Playbook, with the data provided by 15 sector operators.
It is one progression they plan to maintain Facing 2025, which would give rise to overcome the aforementioned 1.5 billion euros, adds the report.
According to the latest definitive data available, those of 2023, the top-25 of these chains copied the bulk of the 190 club openings of fitness that was that year, with prominent cases such as the Basic-Fit brand, which went from 90 to 139 clubs and increased its sales by 68.5%.
However, This increase in billing has not yet translated into a clear profitability of the sectoralthough the gross benefits of exploitation (EBITDA) of these companies have improved.
The 25 main gym chains increased 43.8% their turnover added in 2023 and exceeded 1,000 million euros for the first time, a figure that exceeded more than 60 % prepandymia levels, when the ceiling was around 700 million.
Exclusive and “low cost”
For the OBS Business Professor School Eduardo Correa, in the face of the future, in this business the two ends: On the one hand the most exclusive establishments and private clubs that offer high quality “premium” services and high prices, and on the other, “low cost” chains.
Both options will continue to grow, although at a more leisurely pace than in the years after the pandemic, explains Correa, which also advances that in the coming years, The authentic winners will be the specialized establishments, in boxing, martial arts or pilates.
The “fitness” market covers from the business “Core”, which are the Sports establishments of any styleto sports nutrition, which grows at a vertigo speed, because it is a “complementary and necessary practice to improve health”, according to Correa.
Health and well -being are the great sport enginesalthough there is also a part related to hedonism and body cult, but all these aspects are related and benefit from each other, they are communicating vessels, he adds.
Social networks also have an important role in this business as prescribers lifestyle, health and gastronomy, as well as electronic or face -to -face commerce, where the products recommended by influencers and ingredients for the recipes that cook the “foodies” can be acquired, to which millions of people follow in Tiktok or Instagram. Everything is related.
Spain, fifth largest market in Europe
Spain, where The sector generates about 400,000 jobsis the fifth largest European market within the field of fitness, according to this expert, after the United Kingdom, Germany, France and Italy, although other smaller countries that are being incorporated at full speed, such as Portugal or Greece.
Also Netherlands, which has a culture closely related to sport And the exercise, as well as the countries of northern Europe, which give much importance to the exercise and go to the gym for cultural reasons and to relate socially away from home.
According to data from 2023, The sports and fitness sector represents 3.3% of Spanish GDP (In Europe this figure is between 1.5 % and 2 %) and also promotes other economic areas, such as tourism, commerce, hospitality and restoration.
Good forecasts
In the absence of the closing data of the year, 95% of fitness operators in Spain trust that their income improved in 20243 percentage points more than the previous year and the highest percentage since 2019, when the first edition of the Annual Perspectives of the Fitness Market in Spain prepared by the Professional Services Company BDO was published.
Almost 8 out of 10 sports facilities operators consider that in 2024 They recovered the 2019 income levels And 9 out of 10 believe that they will also evolve favorably in 2025
Regarding the risks facing the sector, 39 % indicate excessive indebtedness, which has led many to renegotiate expiration calendars and financial conditions of their credits.
The expenses that most worry are not the energyas in previous years, but the increase in rentals and the increase in personnel expenses due to the increase in the minimum interprofessional salary (SMI).
As to corporate operations, Almost 30 % plans to participate in one in the next 12 months, 3 more points than a year ago, which shows the great competitive dynamism of the sector, according to the report.
“The fitness market in Spain has shown a remarkable recovery after the challenges of pandemic and geopolitical tensions”with a palpable optimism, as demonstrates that 95 % of the operators are convinced that assistance to gyms will increase in the coming years, thanks to the incorporation of new generations and to the public of the elderly, increasingly active .
Despite this optimism, concerns persist such as profitability in an inflationary context and the aforementioned indebtedness, although Most chains focus on designing expansion strategies And in offering more personalized services to attract and retain customers, explain Juan Vega and Pablo Simón, partners of the Deal Advisory area of Bdo.
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