PADUA – «In gym Less than one in two people returned ». It is Sandro Cucuccio who draws the sums with bitterness and they are heavy numbers, cut in half by the Covid cleaver and an ongoing situation of regulatory uncertainty e sanitary that is slow to settle down. The Ascom delegate of the sector, as well as the owner of the Èlan Vital fitness centers in Padua, collected the data of the sports centers of the city and province to draw up the sad end-of-year balance sheet. On January 10, the obligation to show the reinforced Green pass will come into force also to enter the gym, but it is not this new burden that scares customers and managers.
UNCERTAINTIES
«It is not so much the Super green pass that makes the difference – explains Cucuccio – the truth is that the return to the gym has never happened, since the reopening in September. Beyond the current moment, which makes everyone worry in terms of contagion e quarantines and that could justify it little influx, what is most frightening are the fear of new closures or the fears generated in the last two years about our environment “.
The fear of customers is not only linked to the virus, therefore, but also to see the gyms close again, to risk losing the money spent on subscriptions or having to recover who knows when the lost training period, through vouchers. Hence the precautionary choice of many employees in the sector to charge for the activities month by month, to avoid the hypothesis of vouchers to be issued retrospectively, in place of unsecured services.
“Currently we are talking about 45% of subscribers compared to 2019 and the risk is to lose another 10% due to current contingencies – continues Cucuccio – For sectors that do not have high margins, it is a real disaster. Some colleagues have created semi-open structures to improve the perception of safety, but these are still insufficient solutions. We are all working at a loss, even the lucky few who have reached 70% of paying customers: no one is doing well ».
THE MOODS
The trend is confirmed also in the province by Gabriele Momolo, owner with Andrea Bergamasco of the MarTe Fitness Planet of Due Carrare: «The last period was disastrous and with low margins: paradoxically last year there were more customers. People have started training at home, they are more cautious, not to mention the last few weeks in which we are serving the many quarantines ».
The reinforced Green pass is the least of the problems according to Momolo. «From this point of view no one has said anything. Perhaps even the most skeptical have resigned themselves. From what we see, most of the users are vaccinated and someone has done so in recent days ».
Luca Varotto of the Q10Sport gym in via del Commissario in Padua also shares the same opinion: «Most of our visitors are vaccinated, so the new restrictions are not creating problems. Virtually everyone has the Super green pass. If there is any defection we will find out with the rest of January and the return from holidays, given that the turnout during the holidays decreases enough and remains about 50% of the users. Until now, the scanning of the QR code did not allow us to understand if the green pass came from a vaccine or a swab, while now with the differentiation we begin to discover it and the feeling is that it is already strengthened for everyone. Indeed, most of the time it is already the people, handing it at the entrance, who say they are waiting for the third dose or have already done it, with a great spirit of collaboration “.
.