24 Hour Fitness is poised to open its first gym on the Chinese mainland in a bid to cash in on the opportunities of the 2008 Olympic Games.

 

The world's largest privately owned fitness center chain will set up gyms on the mainland before 2008, said CEO Mark Mastrov, and "Beijing will most likely be the first city".

 

"The main reason is it (Beijing) is a fantastic market the Olympics will be here in 2008," he said.

 

Mastrov said 24 Hour Fitness would initially open three to five gyms in Beijing and expand to other cities from there. The company will spend US$4 million to US$5 million on each gym.

 

The CEO said the firm had investigated some locations but had not yet settled. The average size of its gyms in Asia is about 4,000 square meters.

 

Although the US-based gym chain has yet to make its presence felt on the Chinese mainland, it has expanded in Hong Kong and other Asian cities in recent years. The company now has 19 gyms throughout Asia with nearly 200,000 members after entering the market 10 years ago.

 

Mastrov said China's fitness industry is still at the beginning stage, "just like what the United States was two decades ago".

 

But he was quick to stress he expected the market to become a key source of 24 Hour Fitness' growth in the Asia-Pacific region.

 

Mastrov predicted that the Beijing market would be able to accommodate "not less than 50" of its gyms.

 

"Take Los Angeles, which is much smaller than Beijing, we now have 54," Mastrov said.

 

In the US, 20 percent of the adult population go to gyms, while 0.1 percent of the adult population in China go to gyms.

 

If this percentage in China increases to just 2 percent, it will create huge demand for fitness clubs.

 

The company's "100 in 10" blueprint sets a target of opening 100 more gyms in Asia in the 10 years from 2006, with half of those expected to be in China.

 

(China Daily January 12, 2007)