Deloitte has launched the findings of its German Health & Fitness Market report for the first quarter of 2006.

The report is based on the analysis of 16 selected club chains, both franchise and non-franchise operators.

The total number of clubs across these selected operators increased by 32 to 493 during last year, representing an increase of approximately 7 per cent.

Annual membership growth in the period March 2005 to March 2006 amounted to 12 per cent. This represents a 4 per cent acceleration in growth compared to the same period of the previous year (March 2004-March 2005).

In the non-franchise area, average membership per club increased from 2,350 in March 2005 to 3,199 members in March 2006, a growth of 36 per cent. This was driven by the expansion of the Fit24 and particularly the McFit Fitness chains. Without these two operators, the growth in membership numbers per club sits at around 3 per cent.

Membership growth in Q1 2006 amounts to 7 per cent for non-franchise and 1 per cent for franchise operators.