Kristen Walsh, associate publisher at IHRSA, reveals the top performing health club operators in the US, Canada and Latin America

United States
According to IHRSA’s latest Global Report, revenue, membership and the total number of clubs all increased from 2016 to 2017 in the United States, where the member penetration rate currently stands at 20.3 per cent: the highest in the Americas.

Revenue grew from $27.6bn to US$30bn, while membership increased from 57.2m to 60.9m, and the US club count rose from 36,540 locations to 38,477 sites.

Planet Fitness tops this year’s IHRSA Global 25 list, in terms of number of members and revenue, at 10.6m and US$2.3bn respectively. Anytime Fitness leads in terms of the number of franchises with 3,861 worldwide as of the end of 2017; the company’s revenues were US$1.45bn last year, serving its 3.15m members.

Topping this year’s IHRSA Global 25 list in terms of number of facilities owned is US business Fitness International – which trades as LA Fitness – with 675 clubs. The second spot belongs to the Netherlands’ Basic-Fit with 521 clubs, and coming in third is 24 Hour Fitness with 433 units.

Canada
Some 15.5 per cent of Canadians are health club members, giving the country the second highest penetration rate in the Americas. Canada’s 6,000 health clubs serve nearly six million members, generating around US$2.6bn in revenue each year.

Among companies based in Canada, Goodlife Fitness ranks highest on the IHRSA Global 25 operator list (number six), with well over 1,600,000 members.

Its 404 locations rank it fourth overall on the IHRSA Global 25 list in terms of number of facilities owned.

Latin America
The Latin American health club market is robust, with potential for growth, as member penetration rates remain low at an average of 2.15 per cent across 18 countries.

Argentina has the highest penetration rate in terms of membership, at 6.75 per cent, followed by Brazil (4.62 per cent), Mexico (3.23 per cent) and in fourth place, Costa Rica (2.81 per cent).

Latin American countries with the lowest membership penetration rates include Nicaragua, where only 0.26 per cent of the population are gym members, El Salvador (0.31 per cent), Honduras (0.36 per cent) and Venezuela (0.54 per cent).

Brazil’s 34,000 health clubs – which serve more than nine million members – rank the country second only to the US among global fitness markets in terms of number of facilities, and rank it fourth in terms of number of members.

Annual industry revenue in Brazil now tops US$2.1bn, ranking it third globally behind the US and Canada.

Bio Ritmo Group, which is based in São Paulo, Brazil, generated US$325m in revenue in 2017 from 482 health clubs. It ranks eighth on the IHRSA Global 25 list in terms of number of members, with 1,508,000 at the end of 2017.

Mexico
With more than 12,300 clubs, Mexico ranks second in Latin America and third worldwide in terms of number of clubs.

Mexico’s US$1.8bn in industry revenue lands it in fourth place among countries in the Americas, as does its membership penetration rate at 4.1 million.

Mexico’s Organizacion Britania, headquartered in Mexico City, ranks 25th on the IHRSA Global 25 list in terms of number of members among global leaders, with 446,000.

Columbia’s Bodytech SA, based in Bogotá, is the other Latin American company on the IHRSA Global 25 list, landing at number 18 when it comes to the number of facilities owned at the end of 2017, with 132. An additional 34 are franchised, making a total of 166 units.

Some 979,000 Columbians are health club members at 1,752 facilities across the country, generating a total of US$376m in annual industry revenue.