Fitness business in China's top 18 cities generated US$4.9bn in revenues during 2019, before the onset of the pandemic.

The figure comes from a report by Deloitte, commissioned in partnership by The International Health, Racquet & Sportsclub Association (IHRSA) and ChinaFit.

The 2019-2020 China Health and Fitness Market White Paper focuses on 2019 market size data from the top 18 cities in China.

Overall, these cities have a total of 8.8 million fitness members, across 27,600 health and fitness clubs.

The report shows that, while the fitness sector is growing rapidly in the country, there is still plenty of room for further growth – including those looking to invest in the country.

The penetration rate of gym memberships in 18 cities reached between 3-6 per cent in 2019, with the gap with developed Asian markets (~10% penetration rate in Japan and Korea) gradually narrowing.

"The fitness market in China has been developing rapidly for more than 20 years, going through various phases of development in the past two decades," the report states.

"In the past few years, the fitness industry has once again witnessed accelerated growth.

"As a whole, China's gym market is still in a growth stage with intense competition and lack of unified industry standards.

"The main factors currently hampering the development and standardisation of the industry are market homogeneity, lack of professional management and trainers and opaque market information."

The report also shows that China's top 10 gym brands are a mix of traditional gyms (LuckyBird, Will's, Tera Wellness, Physical, Sinofit, INGYM, Good Feeling) as well as the fast-growing new model gyms (LeFit, Kuaikuai and Liking Fit).

Together they have 1.52 million members, accounting for 17 per cent of all gym memberships.

To download the full report, click here.