Bad mood in Vienna’s fitness centers

“I have 45 percent less sales in July than in July a year ago after lockdown one, when the income was already catastrophic,” said Martin Becker, who also runs a fitness studio and is the branch spokesman for the Vienna Chamber of Commerce. Several reasons would coincide: In addition to pandemics and lockdowns, summer is usually the worst time because hardly any new customers can be won. Many of the existing customers would have found themselves exercising outdoors or at home rather than going to fitness centers.

The gyms have reopened since May 19th. But if you are not allowed to train indoors for seven months, you can look for alternatives, outdoors or online, or you can equip your home with equipment. And then there is the fact that most new registrations are made in spring. This time was missed this year. Due to the summer, the number of visitors usually decreases, that is, the small number of visitors becomes even smaller.

Financial pressure is getting bigger

29 fitness businesses in Vienna had to close since May of the previous year. According to Becker, that’s around ten percent. Some clubs would not have reopened at all, others only partially opened. The companies would lack customers, so they would not have any income. The financial pressure is growing. In addition, with the possibility of reopening, the financial subsidies are no longer available. Deferrals are now due. In plain language, this means for the studios that the fixed costs are fully reflected.

And short-time work has also come to an end. All of this together simply costs a lot of money, says Becker. In addition, the required VAT reduction for fitness centers, similar to the one in the catering industry, has not come to fruition, the federal government recently declined. It is unclear when the fitness industry will come out of the red again. Becker reckoned that up to 30 percent of customers would have dropped out and could not be replaced. This can be converted one-to-one into sales, so it is easy to explain, given the usually low margins in the industry, that real losses are being made.

Unsettled and angry customers

According to Becker, there are around 220 fitness establishments of various sizes with a trade license in Vienna. What remains is the question of how long the industry can withstand this situation. The industry needed support so urgently, said Becker and addressed the demanded reduction in sales tax. Tourism has miserable numbers, gastronomy has miserable numbers, and support is provided. “Unfortunately not in our branch. We pay our sales taxes in full. That would have been very important, ”said Becker.

People aged 16 to 90 train in the studios. The “3-G rule” applies, masks are not required, the ten square meter rule is currently not an issue. So it would be easy to train in the studio. Older customers, however, simply have a certain basic fear, according to Becker, of training with people they do not know. Young customers would be much more relaxed about it. But the tone would get worse if it was about access to a studio in general. People who have been vaccinated could simply be registered in the system and then have quicker access.

Fitness trainer as “system sheriffs”

Those who are not vaccinated, mostly young people, must show a valid test. According to Becker, that annoys many people, whatever is articulated. Even though they had a valid gym card, unvaccinated customers would be treated differently from vaccinated ones. This is a relatively new phenomenon: “Please imagine my role in reception or that of my employees at reception. We have to control every single participant. That means that we are something like the sheriffs of the system, ”says Becker – which is actually not the job of the operators and trainers of a fitness studio.

It is also not their job to discuss CoV measures. It is about maintaining health and enabling training. None of the trainers are trained to resolve conflicts with customers: “How should I tell my employees how to deal with it? Ultimately, companies are about survival. ”It is not funny to turn away customers, the studios live from these customers. And many customers simply lost the desire to train because of the access measures.

Pessimism shapes the mood in the industry

Last but not least, Becker complained that uncertainties would not be eliminated. There is a lack of concrete information, much can only be inferred from the media: “When will a third vaccination come? Do you need a third vaccination? What about the nine months after the second vaccination? ”Said Becker. He had the impression that he was just waiting to see what was to come. The fitness studios are only left with uncertainty: a lack of customers, a lack of education for customers, a lack of income, a lack of funding, a lack of support, a lack of security in planning for the future: the mood in the industry and the expectations of your representatives for the next few months are truly not optimistic .

–