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Life of leisure

Leisure Industry Week is the biggest show of its kind in the UK, aiming to attract 13,000 visitors, with 300 exhibitors from across the industry

The show will celebrate its 21st birthday this year and will be split into seven dedicated sections across the out-of-home leisure industry.

The seven sections are Health & Fitness, Attractions Expo, Licensed Business Show, The Sport Show, Eat & Drink, Pool & Spa and Leisure Facilities. There will be exhibitors and demonstrations from each section showing their most innovative products and there will be seminars by key industry figures with lively debate on issues facing the leisure sector. Speakers will include Roger Black MBE and Olympic Medallist, Duncan Goodhew.

Highlights this year include the Gatorade Sports Beach Festival, in partnership with the Urban Beach Tour, with demonstrations from Volleyball England and UK Footvolley. Other features include the AstralPool Skypool - a temporary swimming pool which will showcase swimming and pool equipment, an outdoor demonstration area with an ice rink, drop zone, laser-tag, inflatables, water games and bungee rides, Sensory Zone, The Real Ale Pavilion, Live Kitchen, a Pole Fitness Arena and The Lucozade Sport Fitness Arena.

The event also features workshops, presentations and networking opportunities with key industry figures as well as key organisations such as Sport England and policymakers from around the country. This year’s show comes after a particularly challenging time for all in the industry, although it also comes in the wake of some, perhaps, surprising results in the most recent FIA State of the UK Fitness Industry figures. The FIA report is the most comprehensive audit of the UK fitness industry, reporting performance for the 12 months to 31st March 2009, and the results suggest that the sector has showed remarkable resilience to the challenging economic conditions, pointing to the robust nature of both the public and private fitness sectors. The figures are compiled by independent leisure market analysts, The Leisure Database Company who have been monitoring the performance of the leisure industry for over 20 years.

Key findings include:

  • Market Value is estimated at £3.77 billion, a 3 per cent increase on the previous 12 months.
  • 12.1 per cent of the UK population is now registered as members of a health and fitness club or publicly-owned fitness facility.
  • Like-for-like membership numbers have grown by 0.8 per cent over the 12-month period.
  • 114 new public and private fitness facilities opened in the 12-month period.
  • 119,000 new members were recruited at these new fitness sites.

In the public sector specifically, meanwhile, the report reveals that there has been growth with 50 new fitness facilities opened in the 12 months to the end of March 2009, in the UK and 52,534 new memberships at these new public gyms.

Like-for-like memberships grew more steadily in the public sector with a 0.4 per cent increase. The public sector market value grew by 2.3 per cent in the 12 month period to £1.07 billion.

Jennie Price, chief executive of Sport England, commented on the findings: “In this difficult financial climate, it is encouraging to see evidence that grassroots sports participation and gym membership remain resilient. We need to put all the available evidence and expertise to the best possible use to help the sports sector respond to the needs of its customers and sustain this level of growth in the run up to London 2012.”