February 2025
I developed an algorithm that uses the Google Places API to divide Dubai into 500 x 500 m grids. I then conducted a grid search to extract gyms from Google Maps across the city. The extracted data included gym locations, Google ratings, and the number of reviews for each business. I used AI to translate any Arabic names where necessary for natural language processing, and subsequently filtered the dataset by:
The final dataset provides a real-time snapshot of Dubai’s fitness market, revealing 413 operating commercial gyms, 130K Google reviews, and a weighted average rating of 4.58.
Assuming an estimated 700 active members per gym (an informed guess), this equates to a market size of approximately 290K members. Dubai’s population was 3,655,000 in 2023 (according to the Dubai Statistics Centre), suggesting a fitness penetration rate of roughly 8%.