Fitness tenants are flexing their muscles by bringing in new, frequent visitors, according to new data. In May 2023, year-on-year visits to fitness tenants were up by 7.8% compared to 2022, according to placer.ai.
That’s on top of a 30.3% increase in January, a 17.2% surge in February, an 11.4% climb in March and an 8.8% jump in April. According to Planet Fitness CEO Chris Rondeau, in the first quarter of 2023, 40% of the people who signed up for memberships at the company’s gyms had never joined a gym before.
“We’re also seeing that our members are more committed to fitness than they were pre-pandemic, with higher overall visits per member as all age groups are visiting more frequently than 2019,” Rondeau said.
Gyms spend big on marketing to drive that traffic, he added. “We invested more than
$0.25 billion last year to go after the 80% of Americans who do not currently belong to a gym. Our significant marketing spend enables us to attract someone at the right time when they are ready to start their health and wellness journey.” For its part, Planet Fitness plans to open 170 new locations this year, many in shuttered former big-box stores.
Source: ICSC