Many gyms have lost almost a third of their members during the corona crisis, reports NU.nl.

Managing director of the gyms association NL Actief Ronald Wouters has told the news site that on average 30% of members had cancelled their subscriptions three weeks ago.

At the time, the expectation was that gyms would reopen in September, but earlier this week Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte announced that due to the low rate of corona infections, contact professions and gyms can now restart from July 1.

Wouters reportedly said that this had offered a lifeline to the struggling industry. ‘It would have been worse if we could only open again from September,’ he told NU.nl.

‘A large group of gyms gave their clients the message: keep paying otherwise I will go bust. Around 60% of members did this in the end.’

He said that many of these gyms offered such clients discounts in the future or gifts such as personal training. His organisation represents 1,000 gyms, a quarter of the total in the Netherlands.