The Phenomenon Of Gym Places Donating In The Midst Of Increasing Sports Interests

Outdoor sports are now in great demand by the public, so it is said to be one of the causes of the fall of a number of fitness centers. (Unsplash)

JAKARTA The closing of the Gold's Gym fitness center in Indonesia since June 30, 2025 is quite surprising, especially in the past few years, the interest of the Indonesian people in sports has increased, according to the survey.

The chaos about the closure of all Gold's Gym branches in Indonesia has become a topic of conversation since last week. According to a number of sources, the closure of Gold's Gym caused billions of rupiah in losses for thousands of its members.

The Gold's Gym Indonesia Victim Forum (FKGGI) claims to have at least 1,160 members consisting of members, staff, and personal trainers. They claimed to have suffered a total loss of Rp7.6 billion to 1,032 members.

Before the chaos of the closure in Indonesia, Gold's Gym permanently closed 30 business places throughout the United States in 2020, due to the lack of visitors during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Gold's Gym is known as a global icon in the world of fitness. It was Joel Gold, founder of the Gold's Gym for the first time in Venice Beach, California, USA in 1965. Gold's Gym has also succeeded in becoming an important symbol in the world of fitness and global bodybuilding, where famous bodybuilders like Arnold Schwarzenegger practiced.

In Indonesia, Gold's Gym has been operating since 2007 under the auspices of PT Fit and Health Indonesia. But now, Gold's Gym is no longer operating, aka closing all branches in Indonesia.

Gold's Gym is not the only fitness center to close its outlets in Indonesia. At the end of 2024, Superstar Fitness, which operates in Jakarta and its surroundings, will first close all branches.

At that time, the management said that all operational locations were temporarily closed without certainty when they would reopen. The closing of the Gold's Gym and Superstar Fitness is shocking news, because this is happening amidst the increasing number of people exercising.

At least that is what is stated in Populix' report entitled 'Unstandarding Indonesia's Sports Trends' which states that nine out of 10 Indonesians regularly exercise. This Populix survey was conducted in 1,030 respondents in November 2024.

In a survey, the majority of respondents are millennials and Gen Z, revealing that the majority of people are now making sports a part of their lifestyle. However, most of them still prioritize sports that are easy and comfortable to do at home and in the environment.

"Of our survey respondents, 94 percent admitted that they regularly exercise at least once a week," said VP of Research Populix, Indah Tanip.

The Populix survey shows that public interest in sports is supported by data on the Sports Development Index (IPO) score released by the Ministry of Youth and Sports (Kemenpora), which also shows an increase in national sports participation. In 2024, Indonesia's IPO will increase by 0.007 points to 0.334, from 0.327 in 2023.

From this data, it was found that 78 percent of people exercise with the main goal of maintaining health. This shows that public awareness of the importance of exercise for body fitness is increasing.

If sports participation increases, why is the fitness center booming?

In this regard, Populix's survey may be one of the answers. As many as 90 percent of respondents admitted to exercising off the field. That means, public interest in indoor exercise, such as in a fitness center or gym, has decreased.

According to Prof. Dr. Djoko Pekik Irianto, M.Kes, a Professor of Sports Science at the State University of Yogyakarta, concluded that a number of fitness centers that are currently happening are due to a shift in sports trends in society.

Currently, people prefer outdoor sports such as running, cycling, or other physical activities that do not require membership costs.

In addition, there are also regulatory issues that burden the fitness industry. He gave an example of the DKI Jakarta Provincial Government's policy of including a fitness center tax in the entertainment tax category.

"Most outdoor sports are chosen by the public because they have advantages, which are not boring. Plus, the DKI Provincial Government's policy of attracting a fitness center (gym) business tax as an entertainment tax burdens gym entrepreneurs," said Djoko.

Meanwhile, sports medicine specialist dr. Antonius Andi Kurniawan, Sp.KO actually highlighted the segmentation of the finance industry itself in the midst of the phenomenon of closing a number of fitness centers recently. He saw the new manygyms that offer facilities at relatively affordable prices and segmentation of the middle and lower class market.

With the presence of these new gyms, it provides an option more affordable for the public than fitness centers that fall into the premium category such as Gold's Gym.

If you look at the low-middle-to-low industry, such as FitHub, FTL is quite mushrooming. If there is one in Jakarta, maybe there is one in every sub-district. So, I think (industrigym) by using cheap partnerships, maybe it is affordable for middle to lower obstacles to still survive, "said Antonio.

Even so, he still provides notes on the proliferation of fitness centers at affordable prices. According to him, the public must still pay attention to whether the quality of the tools, service quality, and personal quality of these trainers are new or not.

"Don't let them not be well educated or untrained, causing injury. That is also a challenge or a question for me as a sports medicine specialist," he concluded.