{"id":18715,"date":"2017-08-14T13:51:59","date_gmt":"2017-08-14T12:51:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ukactive.com\/news\/an-evolving-sector-that-recognises-its-place-in-the-world\/"},"modified":"2017-08-14T13:51:59","modified_gmt":"2017-08-14T12:51:59","slug":"an-evolving-sector-that-recognises-its-place-in-the-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ukactive.com\/cy\/news\/an-evolving-sector-that-recognises-its-place-in-the-world\/","title":{"rendered":"An evolving sector that recognises its place in the world"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Addressing negative perceptions<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In the last decade the physical activity sector has taken major strides to change its image. It\u2019s gone from a sector associated (perhaps unfairly) with burly body builders and inflexible gym contracts, to an industry leading the fight against unhealthy lifestyles and supporting the work of government and business with a focus on data-driven decisions, innovation and most importantly putting its consumers &#8211; the public &#8211; first.<\/p>\n<p>In certain areas, it\u2019s fair to say the physical activity sector was battling a perception problem until relatively recently. Perhaps the most striking example of this was in January 2012, when the Office of Fair Trading opened an investigation into unfair health and fitness club membership contracts. However, through serious soul searching, reflective critique, innovation, collaboration and investment \u2013 the landscape has changed dramatically, as has the image of the sector.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Recognising what we stand for<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Now, more than ever, public and private leisure operators and suppliers across the UK are the beating heart of the fight against the inactivity pandemic. This is a sector that understands that as well as providing a service to customers, it has the added responsibility of often being the first port of call in an individual\u2019s journey to becoming healthy and active.<\/p>\n<p>Today, amongst major operators and smaller operators alike, memberships can be cancelled due to material changes to one\u2019s circumstances, pay-as-you-go and flexible contract lengths abound, while quality customer service is a basic expectation. The breadth and variety of fitness options and the level of competition within the sector has never been stronger. New innovations mean that the power is with the consumer to shop around for the most cost-effective, convenient and compelling fitness offerings that suit their particular needs.<\/p>\n<p>A changing market landscape \u2013 shaped by the rise of budget operators and the increasing prominence of boutique fitness studios \u2013 has created a highly competitive market that has empowered consumers. Put simply \u2013 the customer is king in the fitness sector, now more than ever before. Whether you\u2019re using a budget operator, a premium club, ordering specialised home equipment online, paying per class at a boutique fitness studio or mixing sessions between clubs to create a customised package, there is something for everyone.<\/p>\n<p>What is more, new innovation \u2013 from fitness trackers to specialised equipment and classes \u2013 is making fitness more interactive and personalised, and bringing an increasingly divergent range of organisations into the sector as ukactive\u2019s innovation accelerator ActiveLab demonstrates.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Supporting the work of government<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>It is not just our duty to consumers that the sector has recognised; we have also acknowledged our duty to facilitating the health of the nation through working closely with government. Major public health campaigns such as Change4Life, One You and This Girl Can have been supported by the sector through practical delivery up and down the country. The sector played a major role in supporting the Department of Health\u2019s Responsibility Deal through the Physical Activity Network, while through programmes like Let\u2019s Get Moving we\u2019re using behaviour change principles to get the long term inactive moving.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The future<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>There is little doubt that the physical activity sector is seen in a more positive light today than it has been in the recent past \u2013 but this is just the start. As NHS England CEO Simon Stevens reiterated at last year\u2019s ukactive National Summit \u2013 it\u2019s estimated that more than \u00a318bn of headroom in the NHS national budget could be created if we actually made serious improvements in physical activity across this country. The time is now for the sector to take up the mantle as the preventative frontline of the NHS, continue to champion public health and continue to get more, people, more active, more often.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Addressing negative perceptions In the last decade the physical activity sector has taken major strides to change its image. It\u2019s gone from a sector associated (perhaps unfairly) with burly body [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":18518,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_price":"","_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_header":"","_tribe_default_ticket_provider":"","_tribe_ticket_capacity":"","_ticket_start_date":"","_ticket_end_date":"","_tribe_ticket_show_description":"","_tribe_ticket_show_not_going":false,"_tribe_ticket_use_global_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_global_stock_level":"","_global_stock_mode":"","_global_stock_cap":"","_tribe_rsvp_for_event":"","_tribe_ticket_going_count":"","_tribe_ticket_not_going_count":"","_tribe_tickets_list":"[]","_tribe_ticket_has_attendee_info_fields":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[100],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18715","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>An evolving sector that recognises its place in the world | ukactive<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/ukactive.com\/cy\/news\/an-evolving-sector-that-recognises-its-place-in-the-world\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"An evolving sector that recognises its place in the world | ukactive\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Addressing negative perceptions In the last decade the physical activity sector has taken major strides to change its image. 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