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GLL is tracking well on its goal – laid out in 2023, in its five-year plan – of getting 1 million more people active
PETER BUNDEY
GLL is on track to achieve the targets of its five-year plan, but sector-wide growth will only come if we’re more creative and willing to have difficult discussions, says the trust’s CEO
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What’s the news from GLL? GLL is in a pretty good place: 2023 usage was up 8–10 per cent on 2022, while revenues were up 7–9 per cent for the same period. Although participation numbers in some rural areas are still proving a little slower to return, even these are performing much better than in 2022, and all other locations are above pre-COVID levels. The first months of 2024 indicate that this growth has continued further. Encouragingly, we’re seeing increased usage across all age groups – a positive finding, as older adults and harder-to- reach groups were initially slower to return after the
pandemic. There’s now good growth in usage among not only the active ageing market, but also young adults aged 14-18 years who are increasingly prioritising their health and wellbeing. We’re developing innovative products, programmes and sessions to engage them further, including things like gamification. It was less than a year ago that we laid out a new five-year plan, as part of which we set ourselves ambitious goals. One is to achieve 275m customer visits over five years, and for our leisure centres alone we achieved 57m visits in 2023; if we add in culture and libraries, we’re comfortably on target to achieve our five-year goal.
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STATE OF THE UK FITNESS INDUSTRY REPORT 2024
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