Health and fitness providers are missing out on business by not targeting the older market, according to the International Council on Active Aging (ICAA) chief executive Colin Milner.

In an interview published in the latest edition of Health Club Management, Milner pointed out that in the UK alone, 79 per cent of all disposable income is in the hands of people aged 50 years and over.

Milner, who launched the ICAA in 2001, said there is a “huge opportunity” for health and fitness providers because of a “very deep appetite for healthy ageing”.

The ICAA aims to change the way people age and dispel society’s myths about ageing.

Using the US as an example, he said 50 per cent of older adults meet physical activity guidelines of 150 minutes per week and that 82 per cent do some form of exercise one day a week. “That’s where the real opportunity is,” Milner said. “How do you turn that into two or three times a week, and how do you bring that activity into your club or leisure centre?”

The chief executive also said that clubs needed to have an inter-generational outlook, so older people can take part in activities with their children or grandchildren.

To read the whole interview, click here.