GO fit continues to make its way in the international market. After consolidating in Iberia, where it operates with 20 sports centers in Spain -with the 21st on the way-, and two in Portugal, and certifying its entry into Italy with separate management agreements in Milan, Turin and Bologna, the Spanish company would be trying to add a fourth market.
The chosen one would be the United Kingdom, where the chain would be studying its entry “with great interest”, as confirmed by the company’s executive president, Gabriel Sáez, who describes the British market as a “great opportunity” for the public-private management model. Spanish. Especially after the latest events in which, according to the businessman, “the British model has failed”, seeing the GO fit proposal as “a solution for this market”.
The United Kingdom constitutes “an incredible opportunity” for GO fit, as Sáez assesses, and it is a market that has been in the spotlight of the Spanish company for years. Not surprisingly, the company Ingesport UK Ltd, based in London, already registered in January 2020, which has remained dormant waiting to reach an agreement, as has already happened in Italy.
There, Ingesport was awarded in October 2020 a public tender for the management of the Lido sports facility in Milan, for a period of 42 years, with no opening date yet. To which have been added in the following years a contract in Turin for the opening of a GO fit in Torino Mercato dei Fiori and, recently, a pre-agreement in Bologna for the transfer of the land of the Cierrebi Sports Center.
United States and Asia, future projects
Sáez, who this January 2023 has taken a step aside by becoming executive president of Ingesport and putting Mario Barbosa in command as the company’s new CEO, believes that the company he founded today has “huge shareholders, honest, smart, with a lot of lungs and an incredible ability to see growth”, reasons that make him optimistic about the international projection of the chain.
So much so, that GO fit plans would not stop in Europe. “In a second phase, there is the possibility of reaching the United States, and in a third phase, to the Asian zone”, he assures.
Room for one more ocean liner
In addition to the international level, the chain does not rule out continuing to expand its presence in Spain, where it is building a sports center in Tenerife. As Sáez sees, “when talking about large facilities, the capacity of a company is not only limited by the economic aspect, but also by management. For this reason, it is important to focus and in the case of GOFit we have focused on the ocean liners of sports facilities, and there is still room for some more in Spain. Although for this reason we are opening up to new markets”.
In addition to expanding its footprint in the market, GO fit is also innovating in product, with a strong investment in digitization and data management. To which is added the recent agreement on artificial intelligence with Telefónica, which Sáez considers “the definitive partner”, after several failed attempts.
