MALLORCA—November 30, 2022—Yesterday, some of the most important fitness club operators in Europe met in an event organized by IHRSA, the Global Health & Fitness Alliance, and Management around Sports (MAS). The European Executive Meeting Point, which was kindly supported by Technogym alongside Fitnesslytics, Aerobics & Fitness, OJMAR, and Xplor Gym, brought together 15 operators representing over 500 sports facilities across Europe.

The meeting aimed to pool ideas that can help the industry move past the pandemic. “Physical activity is not just a thing that concerns the fitness industry, however, governments do not see it as a priority, and that is why we should all push together,” said Barry Walsh, CEO of Irish chain Iconic Health.

Presenting the preliminary outcome of the IHRSA 2022 European CEO confidence index survey, Florian Cartoux, IHRSA Europe director, added, “The results of our survey show industry leaders are overall optimistic about the current business conditions compared to six months ago. Though, they remain cautious about the future, stressing the overall economic environment, the importance of keeping competitive membership pricing, and attracting and retaining staff as the greatest challenges for 2023.”

The survey and report were produced in conjunction with the University of Alcala, Spain and supported by NASM.

Adrian Xu and Alan MacCharles, heads of Deloitte Shanghai, presented the Economic Health & Societal Well-being: Quantifying the Impact of the Global Health & Fitness Sector report and Kilian Fisher, IHRSA director of international public affairs, addressed the issue of physical inactivity in various governments worldwide.

In addition, meeting participants enjoyed two lectures. One lecture, presented by Pablo Foncillas, who holds a Ph.D. in digital transformation from IESE, explained concepts that should be applied to the industry. He discussed the term servification, which states that any product that can be improved with a new value proposition tends to become, or be valued as, a service.

The second lecture was presented by Su Patel, an influential speaker specific to human resources. For more than 30 years she has led human resources at multiple companies, and shared interesting points of leadership and how to create balance and connection within our teams.

Maria Angeles de Santiago, CEO of MAS, concluded the event stressing, “It was a challenge to mobilize operators from all over Europe, but we believe it was worth holding a meeting where we were able to share experiences and issues, as well as possible solutions for the industry.”

For more information, contact:

Jorge Rosales
marketing@masenweb.com
685-504-376

Jeff Solsby
IHRSA Senior Vice President of Communications
jeff.solsby@ihrsa.org
617-951-0055