Muscle exercise, fight aerobics, yoga… In China, even during the COVID-19, the fitness boom continues. ” Japan’s Oriental News quoted the 2021 China fitness industry data report as saying that China’s fitness industry gradually recovered in 2021, and the penetration rate of fitness members and fitness population showed a trend of growth for five consecutive years. By the end of 2021, the number of registered members of gyms in China was 75.13 million, an increase of 6.89% over 2020; The penetration rate of fitness population also increased from 3.46% in 2017 to 5.37% in 2021. The average monthly income of gyms that insisted on operating reached 483000 yuan, an increase of 11% over 435000 yuan in 2020.
Foreign media have noted that under the epidemic, Chinese people have paid unprecedented attention to their health, their awareness of spontaneous fitness has increased significantly, and online fitness users have proliferated. All these provide new opportunities for the transformation and upgrading of the sports fitness industry.
Fitness has become a common practice
“Swing your arms, lift your legs, and the fat on your waist will click”, “punch in with teacher Liu Zhenhong, and be thin together”… This year, a burst of live fitness broadcast of “Liu Zhenhong” on the short video platform has successfully driven the public’s enthusiasm for online fitness. The rapid development of intelligent technology has greatly increased the popularity of “cloud fitness”, and more and more people have started the “cloud fitness” mode.
Japan’s Oriental News reported that China’s online fitness industry has grown rapidly due to the epidemic. In 2021, the monthly active users of the fitness application “keep” reached 34.4 million, and each person participated in 4.1 training sessions per month. In Tiktok, the number of fans of fitness accounts also increased by three times in 2021, and the income of sports anchors increased by an average of 2.5 times. Taiwan singer Liu Zhenhong made a live fitness broadcast during the closure of the epidemic in Shanghai, with a rise of more than 40million fans.
With the upsurge of national fitness in China, new and easy-to-use sports such as land surfing (hereinafter referred to as “Lu Chong”) and frisbee are popular with more and more consumers. Singapore’s “today” website recently reported that Lu Chong has risen in Chinese cities, especially among women, since this spring. Lu Chong is considered easier to learn than other forms of skateboarding. The upsurge of snow sports in Beijing Winter Olympics has also promoted the development of Lu Chong, and the number of relevant clubs, organizations and courses has soared. Near the landmark “Water Cube” in Beijing, the weekly free luchong activity for women has increased from a dozen regular visitors in late April to nearly 100.
According to the Financial Times website, affected by the epidemic, many Chinese urban residents who used to travel abroad went to the wild to seek adventure, which gave birth to the camping and outdoor sports industry. The fields, rivers and mountains around metropolises such as Shanghai, Beijing and Shenzhen have become popular destinations for urban residents.
In people’s impression, compared with the younger exercise method of wearing Iwatch to measure heart rate on the home treadmill, the fitness method of Chinese elderly is more “wild”. A tree and a horizontal bar in the park are their fitness stage. Hang upside down, stand in the air, spin and climb… These skilled movements even young fitness experts are amazed.
The Huffington Post once described the fitness scene of these elderly people, “there is no treadmill, no iPod, and no clothes made of sweat absorbing fabric. There is no protein shake, no hot yoga, and no exercise recorder. Only climbing frames and incredible fitness levels, those Chinese elderly people showed human dexterity in the temple of Heaven Park in Beijing.”
Multiple factors boost
Why is the upsurge of fitness in China in the ascendant? Foreign media interpret it from many aspects.
According to the analysis of Japan’s Oriental News, China’s economy continues to grow and the consumption level of residents continues to improve, which has greatly increased the expenditure on entertainment activities such as dining, fitness, literature and art. The fast pace of work and life makes more and more urban residents hope to keep healthy through fitness. In addition, people pay more and more attention to beauty. Previously, male obesity was regarded as “dignified and reliable”. Now, it is generally believed that a strong figure and a strong appearance “can have a positive impact on people’s work, income, marriage and even the whole life”. As a result, the concept of “keeping fit” gradually became popular in China, which led to the prevalence of fitness.
Government encouragement is also an important reason for the vigorous development of fitness in China. On August 3, 2021, the national fitness plan (2021-2025) issued by the State Council of China said that by 2025, national fitness will drive the total scale of the national sports industry to reach 5trillion yuan. Recently, the general office of the General Administration of sport of the people’s Republic of China released the “work plan on sports to help stabilize the economy and promote consumption activation”, which proposed measures to implement the relief policy, increase the supply of sports events, speed up investment and construction, deepen integration and development, and promote sports consumption from the two dimensions of increasing assistance to enterprises and increasing the supply of sports products.
American sports business media FOS published an analytical article entitled “China wants its sports industry to develop and grow”. In order to achieve the goal of reaching $773billion in the size of the sports industry by 2025, China must increase its size by 70% over 2019. “It is planned that every community will have sports facilities, and more than 2000 new or renovated sports venues, sports parks and fitness centers will be built or renovated.”.
CNN reported that China has taken many measures to promote winter sports in recent years. Since Beijing successfully bid for the Winter Olympic Games, China has invested a considerable amount in winter sports. According to the data of China’s General Administration of sports, China now has more than 650 standard ice rinks and more than 800 ski resorts. These two figures increased by 317% and 41% respectively compared with 2015. Since Beijing’s successful bid for the Winter Olympics, more than 300million Chinese people have participated in winter sports. Now, children all over China have the opportunity to participate in winter sports. Even in some cities with relatively warm climates in China, indoor ski resorts, skating rinks, simulated ski machines and other ice and snow sports venues are also emerging.
The Olympic Games and other major sports events have greatly stimulated the enthusiasm of the public to participate in sports and fitness.
RIA Novosti reported that in the process of preparing for and hosting the Winter Olympics, Chinese people are increasingly interested in winter sports. The Beijing Winter Olympics has made positive contributions to the development of China’s sports industry and the development of areas related to the Olympic Games. According to the New York Times, ice and snow sports are becoming popular all over China, and the Winter Olympics will help China realize its dream of becoming a sports power.
The driving effect can be expected
“The Chinese government has formulated an ambitious plan to develop the total scale of the national sports industry to 5trillion yuan by 2025. This may enable sports to drive economic development, create employment opportunities and attract investment.” According to the GDP data provided by the International Monetary Fund, Bloomberg estimates that if this goal is achieved, sports will account for 3.3% of China’s GDP by 2025, up from 2.5% in 2015. According to the calculation of “2.16 social sports instructors per 1000 people”, the National Fitness Program (2021-2025) will bring more than 3 million social sports instructors to China to encourage the public to exercise. This will exceed the number of people working in China’s hotel and catering industry in 2019.
Japan’s Oriental News reported that the 2021 China fitness industry data report shows that in the future, the size of China’s fitness market will increase from 786.6 billion yuan in 2021 to 1479.3 billion yuan in 2026, with a compound annual growth rate of 13.5%, much higher than the growth rate of the global fitness market in the same period.
In the view of foreign media, the industrial driving effect of sports such as Lu Chong and camping is worth looking forward to.
Singapore’s “today” website reported that the recommended application “little red book” said that the search volume of “Lu Chong” increased 50 times year-on-year in June. E-commerce giant jd.com reported that the sales of luchong board in June increased by 80% year-on-year. According to a skateboard store manager, the revenue of their store has increased by about 300% this year. Lu Chong board accounted for about 50% of the increase, and female consumption accounted for about 70% of the in store sales.
According to the website of the financial times, AI media consulting company predicts that Chinese consumers will spend about 35billion yuan on camping equipment this year, an increase of nearly 20% year-on-year. “Fashion brands, sportswear companies and outdoor equipment retailers are catching up with the trend of outdoor leisure,” said Steffi Noel, an expert at boshengxuan consulting
Post time: Aug-01-2022