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Survey: Only 6 percent of Romanians are doing sports regularly
Just 6 percent of Romanians are doing sports regularly, a figure below the EU average of 8 percent, while 61 percent of the population does no form of sport or exercise at all, shows a specialist survey referred on Thursday.
On a market estimated at 223 million euro in 2015, 61 percent of the population does no sport at all, 15 percent does sport occasionally and 18 percent only rarely does physical activities, which places Romania below the EU average of 8 percent. The frequency of physical activities has increased in recent years, as did the per capita value of the fitness market from 5.1 euro in 2012 to 11 euro in 2015.
The fitness market's potential for the corporate sector is very high, as this is an underdeveloped segment with just 3 - 5 percent of the companies paying their employees a subscription to a gym. Most companies in this category operate in sectors such as IT, telecom, pharma, professional services, media and communication.
At the same time, 60 percent of the companies have signed a partnership with a provider of sports services, facilitating their employees' access to sport activities for rates negotiated at group level. Many of these companies are from the banking, retail and automotive sector. More than 15 percent of them are running on Romanian capital and 40 percent operate outside of Bucharest as well. Excluding Bucharest-based companies, just 5 percent of the employers include a subscription to a sports center among employee benefits.
Currently, more than 16,000 employees actively use the 7card (sports & fitness card), and estimates show that by the end of 2016 their number will exceed 18,000 nationwide, compared to nearly 10,000 active subscribers at the end of 2015. Also, the number of companies that use this card as a salary benefit has increased from 400 in 2015 to nearly 600 this year. The employees have access to a network of 400 gyms and wellness facilities in 29 cities, 200 of which are outside of Bucharest.