Recovery is entering climbing industry dialogues in the US, but it’s important to remember different countries are not in the same situation. In India, for instance, the pandemic is worse than it’s ever been. And in Europe, according to an Inside The Games article on April 12, climbing halls were closed in Belgium, Germany and Switzerland; gyms have also been closed in France, according to the iHRSA.
After a recent spike in COVID-19 cases, multiple climbing facilities in Canada have had to reclose as well. Gyms in Montreal, for instance, closed again after only 12 days of being reopened, in accordance with Quebec’s various alert levels by region. The situation is similar for gyms in Toronto, where there is a province-wide stay-at-home order in effect. Climbing gyms in cities like Vancouver and Winnipeg, however, have been allowed to reopen with restrictions.
The Climbing Wall Association recently published an update to its March survey dashboard which shed more light on the state of the industry in Canada. While 99% of the 73 US climbing gyms taking the survey had reopened, 50% of the 14 respondents from Canada were temporarily closed. And whereas consumer demand was the biggest limiting factor to increasing revenue for US gym (47%), 86% of the Canada gyms identified capacity restrictions as the main factor.
As a result, only 29% of these Canada gyms believed they are not in danger of going out of business (66% for US gyms), and 93% expected it will take over one year for membership and revenue to recover (59% for US gyms). However, among all the responding US and Canada gyms, zero outbreaks of COVID-19 had been documented at their facilities.
The complete March survey results (US and Canada) can be found at Climbing Wall Association’s website. For a summary of the results in the US, visit the Climbing Business Journal news article here.
Climbing Business Journal is an independent news outlet dedicated to covering the indoor climbing industry. Here you will find the latest coverage of climbing industry news, gym developments, industry best practices, risk management, climbing competitions, youth coaching and routesetting. Have an article idea? CBJ loves to hear from readers like you!
