Global survey of 662 gym and studio owners across 11 countries finds strong demand for fitness facilities, with successful operators reshaping approach to business growth amidst changing consumer expectations and rising costs.
Wellhub’s new Fitness Business Growth Report 2026 finds that 86% of gym and studio owners grew their membership base this year and 56% improved their profit margin, even as competition intensifies and the cost of winning new members rises.
The report surveyed 662 gym and studio owners across 11 countries through an independent research firm. Forty percent say revenue is currently growing faster than costs, 23% say the two are keeping pace, and 37% say costs are growing faster. The split points to a resilient industry, with operators maintaining momentum while adapting to a more complex growth environment.
Competition is also reshaping the market, with 95% of owners saying it has intensified over the past three years. At the same time, operators see significant room for growth: 40% plan to open new locations in the next 12 months. The findings point to an industry that is not only growing, but evolving how it grows. As the market becomes more dynamic and consumer expectations change, operators are embracing new ways to attract members, differentiate their offering and unlock more value from their existing businesses.
Operators are Adapting Their Offering Around Flexibility and Choice
Eighty-six percent of owners say members have become more price-sensitive this year, but that sensitivity is showing up in broader expectations about what they get for their money, not simply demands for cheaper memberships. More flexible or shorter contracts are the most common request (66%), followed by better digital or hybrid options (65%)and recovery services (48%). Lower prices rank only fourth, at 46%.
The findings suggest that members are increasingly evaluating value through flexibility, choice and the range of experiences available to them. For operators, that creates opportunities to respond to price sensitivity by strengthening the overall value proposition rather than competing on price alone.
Operators are Turning to Technology to Drive More Efficient Growth
Even as demand remains strong, acquiring new members through traditional direct channels, such as advertising and marketing, is becoming more expensive. Eighty-two percent of owners say their customer acquisition costs have increased this year. With only 6% supported by a dedicated marketing team or agency, 87% spend up to half of their working week personally handling marketing and member acquisition activities.
For operators looking to scale growth, technology is becoming an increasingly important part of the business strategy. Sixty-five percent of owners have invested in new technology (including CRM platforms, booking systems, automation and AI tools) in the past year, and 52% say AI will be essential to competing for members over the next 12 months. These investments point to a shift toward making member acquisition more scalable, empowering operators to expand their reach without a proportional increase in time or resources. Corporate wellness is creating incremental demand and unlocking unused capacity.
The research also points to a potential growth lever within facilities themselves. Eighty-five percent of owners say at least a quarter of their facility sits unused during off-peak hours, yet only 20% have a developed strategy to monetize that capacity. That leaves significant room for operators to generate incremental revenue from facilities they are already paying to run.
Corporate wellness partnerships are emerging as one of the most efficient ways operators can capture that opportunity while reducing their reliance on traditional member acquisition. Among owners partnered with a corporate wellness platform, 76% say the revenue generated through the channel represents new income rather than revenue shifted from existing members. As these partnerships mature and operators gain more experience with the model, perceptions are also becoming more positive: Overall, 97% say their perception has either improved or remained unchanged over that period, with 59% saying they view corporate wellness partnerships more favorably than they did two years ago.
“The report finds that partnered operators reach people their own marketing might miss, while HFA’s benchmarking research shows that high-profit clubs are more likely to offer corporate programming than operators overall: 38% versus 30% globally, and 48% versus 35% in the US. It suggests that such partnerships can be a useful and profitable complement to existing memberships. Just as importantly, they may create another route into fitness for people who might not otherwise use a gym, studio, or other facility,”said Anton Severin, Vice President of Research, Health & Fitness Association
Wellhub’s own data reinforces the incremental nature of that demand: 90% of Wellhub members visiting partner gyms are reactivated or new to those facilities. The finding shows that corporate wellness can expand the pool of people participating in fitness while giving operators access to customers they would not have reached through traditional acquisition channels.
The survey also found differences between operators that partner with Wellhub and those that do not. Ninety-six percent of Wellhub partners grew membership this year, compared with 80% of operators without a corporate wellness partnership. And while 30% of operators without a corporate wellness partnership say more than half of their facility sits unused during off-peak hours, that figure is just 5% among Wellhub partners.
“What we see is an industry with real momentum, where the playbook for growth is evolving,”said Daniel Mazini, Chief Partnerships Officer at Wellhub. “Working closely with thousands of fitness partners gives us a privileged opportunity to learn from the
innovation happening across the industry: how operators are adapting to changing consumer expectations, embracing technology, finding new ways to attract members and unlocking more value from their existing businesses. Our role is not only to learn from what is working, but to make those insights more accessible to the broader fitness community. By sharing this knowledge and continuing to innovate alongside our partners, we can help more operators build stronger, more sustainable businesses and ultimately strengthen the industry as a whole.”
Grow Stronger Together: Access the full Fitness Business Growth Report 2026, including market-by-market findings for all 11 countries surveyed and a 90-day growth plan designed to help gym and studio owners translate the research into action, here.
Methodology
The findings are based on an anonymous survey of 662 gym and studio owners, conducted by an independent research firm between March 30 and April 9, 2026, across the United States, Brazil, the United Kingdom, Spain, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Romania, Mexico, Chile, and Argentina. Each country sample reflects an 80/20 split between independent, single-location gyms and studios and national or multi-location operators. Wellhub partnership status was not a screening criterion and was asked only in the final question, after all performance questions. Of the 662 respondents, 265 (40%)are current Wellhub partners and 397 (60%)are not. Because operators choose whether to partner, these comparisons describe differences in outcomes, not a controlled trial. The EY-Parthenon study was conducted separately on behalf of Wellhub and covered 813 gym units in Brazil.
