Today, more than 85% of Russian fitness clubs are closed or open with restrictions that prevent them from working without losses, according to a petition addressed to President Vladimir Putin by the Association of Fitness Operators of Russia (AOFI). The petition has already been signed by over 5,000 representatives of large federal fitness companies, regional chains and fitness trainers. Nikolay Pryanishnikov, CEO of the World Class fitness club chain (100 clubs), Alexey Kovalev, owner of the Alex Fitness chain (74 clubs), Anastasia Yusina, founder of Orange Fitness and City Fitness clubs ( 22 clubs).
Back in March, AOFI sent a letter to Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, after which the industry was included in the list of those most affected by the consequences of the coronavirus. Due to restrictive measures related to the spread of the coronavirus, Russian fitness clubs have been closed for almost three months. In early June, Rospotrebnadzor, together with business, developed recommendations for the opening of gyms and swimming pools: simulators should be installed with a social distance of 1.5 m, the number of people in the halls is determined based on the ratio of 4 sq. m per visitor, in swimming pools this figure is 5 sq. m smooth surface of water per person. The first region to open clubs was Moscow, and this happened on June 23rd.
Before the pandemic, there were 13,000 fitness facilities in Russia, which provided jobs for more than 768,000 employees.
Now the situation is catastrophic, complains Olga Kiseleva, president of AOFI: in fact, the only region where fitness clubs were able to open on the recommendations of Rospotrebnadzor is Moscow. It houses about 15% of all clubs in the country. The rest of the regions, making their own amendments to the Rospotrebnadzor document, are tightening the requirements so much that the clubs simply cannot open, she continues. The signatories to the petition ask Putin to figure it out and help the industry to fully open up in all regions of the country.
The second largest market, St. Petersburg, cannot exist without losses, Kiseleva notes: shopping centers, in which about 25% of the clubs are located, are still prohibited in the city. Those who were able to open must first receive QR codes from the city administration, and receive clients only by appointment, she continues.
According to AOFI, today Arkhangelsk, Stavropol, Samara, Orenburg, Vologda, Voronezh, Bryansk, Nizhny Novgorod, Smolensk Regions, Jewish Autonomous Region, Krasnoyarsk Territory, Altai, Kalmykia, Yakutia, Tuva, Khanty-Mansiysk District, the entire Northern Caucasus and other regions.
The industry has already lost 20% of players, and almost 30% of employees have moved to work in other industries, Kiseleva notes: over the months of downtime, the companies have lost more than 50 billion rubles in total. This is almost a third of the annual turnover, she points out: if the situation does not change, by the end of 2020 there will be no trace of 70% of the industry, and it will take years to recover.
World Class has 36 clubs in Moscow, all of them comply with the recommendations of the federal Rospotrebnadzor, another 40 are closed in the country, and the rest of the regional clubs (in total there are 100 clubs in the network) are open with restrictions, which are often completely illogical, says Pryanishnikov: for example, in Sochi in showers operate in clubs, but saunas cannot be opened for visitors. The situation in the Krasnodar Territory is paradoxical, and Yusina agrees: only gyms can be opened, and rooms for group training and swimming pools cannot be opened, although large conferences are held in hotels and swimming pools are open. Alex Fitness has 60 clubs open with restrictions, the rest are closed, Kovalev shares. People are tired of staying at home, he continues, but until now training in many regions is available only in “underground rocking chairs.” Why are the recommendations of the Federal Rospotrebnadzor ignored? All experts are perplexed.
The fitness industry has always been under the strict supervision of the sanitary services, which made it possible to pass all outbreaks of acute respiratory viral infections and influenza without any problems, and clubs have never been hotbeds of infection, Kiseleva notes.
If there is no communication in the regions, we recommend that you officially contact the federal Rospotrebnadzor, says a representative of the service.
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