Over the last decade, the fitness industry has experienced 33.6% overall growth. The industry has been growing at a rate of 2%-3% per year. Not only that, but according to the IHRSA, approximately 20% of the adults in America hold a gym membership, and let’s not forget about the 30% of apartments that have gyms.
What about people across the globe? As a matter of fact, global fitness revenue grew by almost 8% between 2017 and 2018. What does this say about the people o the world? That they are interested in fitness.
Here is a challenge, go to Google Trends and search the term hotel gym, you will find that searches for hotels with gyms have increased by 50% worldwide and 75% in the United States (charts below).
Charts From Google Trends Search 1 and 2
What is driving this trend?
The overall focus on health and longevity is what is thought to be driving this trend worldwide. These ideas are also helping the sales of wearable, fitness apps, streaming gym classes, and group-centered obstacle races. The bottom line is that people want to be healthy.
There are reports out there that people do not use fitness centers as much as they would like to, but what these reports are missing is that people like to have the option to work out if they want. This is why people will pay a few more dollars to stay in a room with a gym when they are traveling.
Hotels are catering to this point by going to the length to add personal gym equipment to rooms. In-room equipment has become a big draw for people that spend their working life in hotel rooms. The move of equipment into private rooms is mainly for elite and expensive venues at this point, but it goes to show that the demand is there.
People want to be able to stay it while they are out on the road for work or while they are on a family vacation. They want to keep fit, and they want to be able to stay on their diet plan. No longer are the days where a family will get by eating park hot dogs and complimentary chips all week long. They want gourmet meals, swimming pools, and workout rooms with yoga and spinning classes.