Türkiye

Country Insights

Fitness Positioned as Preventive Public Health Infrastructure

By Mahmut Talha Saglikli, Vice President, The Turkish Bodybuilding and Fitness Federation (TVGFBF)

Industry Performance and Market Dynamics

The Turkish fitness sector continued to expand in 2025/2026 as health awareness, obesity concerns, and demand for structured exercise strengthened. Boutique studios offering functional training and personalized programming continued to grow, while flexibility remained the defining consumer expectation. Multi-gym access subscriptions, freeze options, and app-based membership models with point systems are now standard across the market.

A nationwide fitness trends survey conducted in late 2025 across the Turkish Bodybuilding and Fitness Federation's (TVGFBF) professional network analyzed 1,076 responses from personal trainers, group exercise instructors, strength and conditioning coaches, facility owners and managers, health professionals, and academics. Functional fitness training ranked first, followed by exercise for weight management, personal training, traditional strength training, outdoor fitness activities, body weight training, core strength, mental health and well-being, group fitness classes, and youth athletic development.

The results indicate that the sector is developing along three major axes: functional and strength-based training focused on movement quality and long-term physical capacity; individualized coaching that provides guidance, accountability, and social motivation; and a health- and well-being-oriented understanding of exercise connected with obesity prevention, metabolic health, stress management, psychological resilience, and sustainable lifestyle change.

Outdoor fitness emerged as one of the most visible growth stories of the period. Walking and running communities, outdoor group training, and nature-based activity programs expanded rapidly, supported by Türkiye's climatic and geographic diversity and by growing public appreciation of the mental health benefits of exercise in nature. Demand for women-focused formats such as yoga, Pilates, and postpartum fitness also sustained momentum.

Corporate wellness continued to mature as a market segment. Large employers increasingly offer in-house or online wellness programming, workplace movement initiatives, and employee sports clubs to improve productivity, engagement, and long-term health outcomes. Fitness instruction also solidified its position as an attractive career path for young people as certification pathways expand.

Policy, Advocacy, and Public Health

Public policy continued to shape the fitness industry throughout 2025 and into 2026. According to the Ministry of Health's Chronic Disease Risk Factors Survey, 87% of women and 77% of men fail to meet recommended physical activity levels. National health and nutrition data show that 34.1% of adults aged 19 and over are obese, and roughly two-thirds of Turkish adults fall into the overweight or obese category. Official projections warn that adult obesity prevalence could reach 55% by 2035.

In May 2025, the Ministry of Health published the Türkiye Action Plan on Combating Obesity and Physical Activity 2025-2028 under the long-running Healthy Nutrition and Active Life Programme. The plan focuses on adult and childhood obesity prevention, physical activity promotion, and monitoring and evaluation. For the fitness industry, it is highly significant because it promotes physical activity as a daily-life habit for adults, structured movement for children and adolescents, and functional-capacity exercise for older adults - priorities that map directly onto the sector's core services.

The Action Plan also formalizes the workplace as a priority setting for health promotion. It expands the Nutrition-Friendly and Physical Activity-Supporting Workplace certification scheme, calls for health and physical activity content to be added to occupational health and safety training, and encourages employers to support digital health and wearable technologies. These measures give regulatory tailwind to corporate wellness and create structured demand for qualified exercise professionals.

Professional standardization also accelerated. The number of TVGFBF-certified trainers reached 30,278 in 2026, supported by the Federation's consolidation of provincial trainer registries into a unified digital database. This has improved certification transparency, enabled better supervision of the profession, and strengthened consumer confidence in qualified instruction. The Sports Facilities Safety and Hygiene Regulation is now embedded in facility operations; although compliance costs remain a burden for smaller operators, standardization has strengthened consumer trust.

Municipal free group exercise programs and discounted access schemes for low-income groups continued in several metropolitan areas, with particularly strong participation among women.

Economic and External Context

The 2025/2026 period marked a turning point for Türkiye's macroeconomic environment. Following the peak inflation levels of 2024, the government's tight monetary policy and disinflation program began to deliver visible results: according to TÜİK, annual consumer inflation declined from approximately 44% at the end of 2024 to 30.9% by the end of 2025, while the Turkish lira displayed greater relative stability.

Despite this improvement, household purchasing power remains under pressure, and consumers continue to be highly price-sensitive in discretionary spending categories such as fitness. The lasting effect of the high-inflation years has been a structural shift in consumer behavior: demand for flexible memberships, pay-as-you-go models, multi-gym access cards, and hybrid services has become permanent rather than cyclical.

Outlook and Key Drivers

With obesity a national policy concern, health awareness rising, and macroeconomic conditions gradually normalizing, Türkiye's fitness industry is positioned for sustained growth in 2026 and beyond. Ministry of Health projections estimate that the direct burden of high BMI on Türkiye's health system will rise from US$2.7 billion in 2020 to US$5.2 billion by 2035, with obesity's total impact reaching 2.5% of national GDP. Against this backdrop, the fitness sector is increasingly recognized not merely as a service industry but as a frontline instrument of preventive public health.

The strongest growth areas are expected to include functional and strength-based training, individualized coaching, weight management, mental well-being, outdoor activity, corporate wellness, and youth athletic development. Recovery-based therapies, wearables, data-driven platforms, mobile applications, and AI-powered fitness are also gaining momentum, though they have not yet matched the dominance of the leading training-based trends.

TVGFBF remains committed to supporting this development by raising professional standards, expanding its certified trainer base, improving access to quality instruction, and advancing public health through physical activity. The Federation views the national Action Plan as a strategic framework for this work and positions its trainer network, facility standards, and community programs as key delivery channels for the plan's physical activity objectives. Through ongoing collaboration with HFA and other global organizations, Türkiye aims to strengthen its presence in the international fitness community and help more citizens lead active, healthy lives.