It's good to talk

Great news http://is.gd/xGS1 from the FIA and the Leisure Database Company about the resilience of the health and fitness sector.

A few key facts from their latest piece of research:

3% annual growth
Market value of £3.77bn
Membership numbers have grown by 0.8%
12.1% of UK population are members of a health and fitness club/public owned fitness facility
114 new public/private fitness facilities
119,000 new members at these new sites

Let's hope this gives the private and public operators alike the confidence to keep investing in their facilities and their staff. It is too easy in these challenging times to batton down the hatches 'just in case' but qualified research like this should help justify a more 'business as usual' approach.

We have probably talked ourselves deeper into the recession than was necessary but equally we should be able to talk ourselves out of it too so spread the word.