Gyms Warn They'll Go Bust Without More Govt Help

Members of the fitness industry have warned that a number of gyms are at risk of collapsing unless the government provides more financial assistance to those struggling amid the Covid-19 outbreak.

A group of fitness centre owners and coaches told reporters at a press briefing on Thursday that they want the government to provide between HK$280,000 and HK$2 million to compensate gyms for losses incurred during their forced six-week closure.

They also want the government to pay 80 percent of the salaries of staff, including self-employed workers.

The government's second round of anti-epidemic relief funding included a HK$100,000 one-off subsidy for fitness centres, and the government had estimated that this move would benefit some 1,000 gyms.

But according to Civic Party lawmaker Tanya Chan, who has been helping the group, there are actually more than 2,000 fitness centres and studios in the SAR that teach dancing, yoga, pilates and martial arts.

"For individual trainers they face their own difficulties by having too little money for a very short period of time, and for the owners they can only have ... HK$100,000 one-off, without any details [on how to apply], so it’s very difficult for them to survive and even to plan ahead," she said.

Chan said the government should also consider allowing some smaller fitness centres to re-open if they can enforce social distancing measures.

Rex Cheung, the owner of a fitness centre offering boxing and yoga classes, said he still had to pay rent and workers’ salaries while his centre remained closed for the past few weeks, and he has already incurred losses of between HK$500,000 and HK$600,000.

"My own fitness centre would be considered a medium-sized business, it’s about 8,000 or so square feet. If I were to get the HK$100,000 one-off payment, that’s barely enough to cover two weeks of rent. How is that enough to make a living?"

Another fitness centre owner Ray Or said he has been thinking of shutting down his Thai boxing studio, and he understands that at least 30 Thai boxing centres went out of business in the past few weeks.

He said the fitness industry has shrunk rapidly during the Covid-19 outbreak, but it's not clear how many fitness centres have been shut.