Dancing 11 10
Painting 12 9
Writing stories/poetry 5 4
Performing in a play 2 2
This table shows the North of England participate in more reading, singing (13% compared to 10% in E England), dancing (11% compared to 10% in E England) and painting (12% compared to 9% in E England) than the East of England. This shows that the North of England has more creative tendencies. The only activity that is the same for both regions is watching TV at 99%
The East of England has many historical activities to participate in, such as abbeys, monasteries, castles, cathedrals, museums, historic houses, gardens and manors, whereas the North of England has more sport-based activities such as golf-clubs, stadiums, climbing centres, and surf schools. North England also holds the Great North Run. The East of England also holds sporting activities, although these differ from North England sporting activities, for example, horse riding and adventure parks.
There is a difference between parts of Britain and their participation in active leisure. 62% of people who live in Scotland participate in active leisure 58% of people who live in England participate in active leisure and 57% of people who live in Wales participate in active leisure.
In the UK, the top five most popular active leisure activities are walking (with over 40% of the population participating), swimming (with over 30% of the population participating), keep-fit/yoga (with over 20% of the population participating), cycling (with over 20% of the population participating) and cue games (with over 18% of the population participating)
The top 3 most popular passive activities in the UK are watching TV (with over 99% of the population participating), listening to the radio (with over 88% of the population participating) and reading books (with over 62% of the population participating).
Summary
The UK and Russia have very different climates and cultures, so therefore their leisure activities are also very different. Russia is a keen sporting country, successful in sports such as boxing and ice-skating, a sport which could rarely be done in the UK due to its climate. The UK’s most popular sport is football, but also participates in rugby, cricket, tennis and golf.
Russian residents also enjoy watching the theatre, whereas the UK has been more influential in the cinema.
Russia holds many celebratory events such as Music Spring, an international music festival, White Nights, where the last 10 days of June are celebrated with merriness and staying up late. A film festival is also held in odd-numbered years. A popular event is the Russian Winter Festival, celebrated in St. Petersburg, Moscow and Novgorod, from late December to early January. In the UK, the events are Guy Fawkes Night, Christmas, New Years, Halloween, St. George’s Day, St. David’s Day and various music festivals, such as Glastonbury.
There is also a difference in leisure spending between the countries.
Russia:
UK:
There is also a difference between employment rates.
In 2005, there were 73,229,575 Russians in employment.
Agriculture, forestry & fishing 10% of workforce (2005)
Industry 30% of workforce
Services 60% of workforce
Unemployment rate 8.6% of workforce
In 2005, there were 28.61 million British people in employment, and at 4.7%, the UK has the one of the lowest unemployment rates in Europe.
Between UK and the rest of Europe, there is a diversity of what they participate in. In most of Europe, they participate in basketball, whereas the UK participates in basketball, sailing, skiing and rugby.
Scale of the industry
Leisure has become a consumable item. We are now willing to pay for more of our leisure activities than ever before.
There is economic value (growth in sales, employment in leisure related jobs, and the amount of consumer spend) and social value in leisure.
Annual Consumer Expenditure in the UK
Expenditure % of total
Sports Goods (£ million) (rounded)
Clothing & Footwear 3,086 20
Equipment 969 7
Boats 768 5
Publication 639 4
TOTAL 5,462 36
Sport Services
Health & Fitness 1,243 8
Participant 1,681 11
Spectator 813 5
Gambling 3,111 20
TV/Video 1,542 10
Travel 987 7
Other 398 3
TOTAL 9,775 64
TOTAL 15,237 100
According to www.thisismoney.co.uk, in 2005, British people spent 14% of their income on leisure and its services- equating to £59.60 per week. This amount is almost double of what was spent in leisure in 1982, and reflects how much disposable income is now available to people.
Importance of the industry
There are hundreds of leisure activities people can participate in, from watching TV, painting, singing to football, rugby and walking.
There is a huge diversity of activities that different people participate in.
This table above shows the participation in home-based and passive activities for males and females in the UK.
This table shows the differences between men and woman participating in different types of sports and active leisure in the UK.
I also created and distributed a questionnaire of my own, on the subject of how people spend their leisure time. My questions explored; what they did for leisure, how much time they had for leisure, who they spent their leisure time with, how much money they spent on their leisure time and what motivated them to do leisure. I made a questionnaire analysis from my results:
I interviewed five people, four females and one male. The age groups were between 10-16 and 36-50.
I found that the most popular leisure activity amongst both age groups was shopping, however, the 36-50’s also enjoyed eating out, which the 10-16’s did not mention. The 10-16’s tended to prefer going to the cinema, which the 36-50’s did not.
The 10-16’s said that they participate in leisure activities with both family and friends, whereas the 36-50’s said they only participated in leisure activities with family/partners only.
The 10-16’s said that they only spent £1-£10 p/w on leisure activities, but the 36-50’s said that they spend £21-£30 p/w; this may be to do with the preference of eating out and the fact that they would have more money to spend than the 10-16 year olds.
Much like the “Who do you partake in leisure activities with?”, the 10-16’s said that friends and family motivates them to do leisure activities, whereas the 36-50’s said that it was family or themselves that motivated them to do leisure activities.
The 36-50’s said that they had 7-10 hours a week for leisure time, whereas the 10-16’s said they only have 3-6 hours per week; this may be due to the 10-16’s having school during the week, and only the weekends free.
Overall, I found that the 36-50 year olds that I interviewed tended to have more money and more leisure time than the 10-16’s, 36-50’s were more likely to eat out or shop in their spare time whilst the 10-16’s did more socialising, and that 10-16’s did more leisure activities with their friends compared to the 36-50’s.
2. The Nature of the Sectors in the Leisure Industry
2.0: Introduction
Over the years it has been proven that British people have got more and more disposable income to spend. This means leisure organisations have to become “business like” in order to compete with other industries (i.e. retail).
Organisations act like businesses because they must market their services in order to attract customers. They also adopt the four “P’s” marketing strategy, they advertise and they use promotions much like other industries.
2.1: The Commercial Sector
One example of a commercial leisure industry is Next Generation Gym, a chain of fitness centres all over the UK. Next Generation’s purpose is to offer a service whilst gaining profit. They do this by offering a membership service, where people pay a certain amount for unlimited use of the gym’s equipment over a period of time. From their profit, Next Generation can offer more facilities and activities, such as tennis, gym equipment, swimming pools, restaurants, sun beds and even a hairdressing salon. This often means that non-profit gyms cannot compete. Other examples of companies in the commercial sector are: Cineworld, a cinema chain with 43 sites all over the UK. Cineworld provides over 10 screens per cinema, with a large selection of food and drink to purchase and a bar upstairs. Cineworld, much like Next Generation, offers a month’s worth of unlimited film watching for a certain amount. The Ipswich Town Football Club makes their profit from sale of tickets and merchandise. ITFC provides a 30,000 capacity stadium, with merchandise shops and food stands. As with Cineworld and Next Generation, ITFC offers an “annual pass”, which is a years worth of entry to matches for a certain amount.
2.2: The Commercial Sector
The Commercial Sector are companies providing leisure activities for profit. Some examples of the commercial sector are:
Food outlets have increased in popularity, therefore the numbers of restaurants have increased
Entertainment venues are attracting more visitors, and increasing numbers of young people are using them
- Health and Fitness chains
There has been a huge increase in Health and Fitness chains in the UK and Europe, and now there is a greater choice and higher standard. The increase may have been affected by the growing concern for health, obesity, stress and the desire to look/feel good.
Retail operators have thrived due to the growing interest in internet shopping; however, there is still profit from magazines.
If an organisation in the commercial sector is to survive, they need a selection of people to run the organisation to meet its aims and objectives:
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The Board of Directors: These people make strategic decisions and answer to shareholders.
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Management: These people implement company policies, and make decisions on running the company.
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Staff: These people do all the jobs required to keep the company running.
Aims of the commercial sector include: to have the best leisure products on the market, to have zero consumer complaints, to achieve a quality award, to have a great image with customers, to be the employer of choice, to be the number one provider and to diversify their range of products
Objectives of the commercial sector include: to make at least 10% profit, to increase dividends by 2%, to increase market share by 5%, to cut costs by 3%, to sign up 100 new members every month, to open up new branches and to attract 1000 new customers a year.
There are issues that can affect the Commercial sector, which can make them lose money and business. These include:
- Changes in legislation
- Fall in profits
- Increased competition
- Failure of some outlets to meet targets
- Change in technology
- Need to re-structure
- High staff turnover
- Desire to expand a small business
- High level of consumer complaints
2.3: The Non-Commercial Sector
One example of a non-commercial organisation is Crown Pools, a swimming pool in Ipswich. Crown Pools offers three pools, a leisure pool for all ages, a competition pool, for galas and practicing and a children’s pool for swimming clubs and babies. Crown Pool also has a gym, which costs much less to attend than a commercial sector gym. Although Crown Pools is funded and maintained by the local council, which puts it into the non-commercial sector, Crown Pools also generates revenue (not on the scale of a commercial organisation) through a charge to swim, selling food and drinks from vendors and a café and the sale of swimming equipment. Other examples of non-commercial organisations are The Regent, a theatre in Ipswich which holds pantomimes, live concerts and other performances, The Corn Exchange, another entertainment venue which holds music nights, cinema screenings and stage performances for a reduced price. These organisations also generate revenue, but their main purpose is to provide a leisure service.
2.4: The Non-Commercial Sector
The Non-Commercial sector is made up of the public and the voluntary sector. The Non-Commercial sector’s aims are to provide a service rather than make a profit.
The Public sector is local authorities that cater for markets that commercial operators are not interested in. Examples of organisations that are in the public sector include:
- Swimming pools
- Leisure Centres
- Sports Halls
- Pitches/Parks
- Libraries
- Museums
- Children’s play areas
These activities are usually maintained and run by the local council.
The Voluntary Sectors are specialist organisations that cater for a specific leisure activity or hobby or for groups of people who club together for their benefit. This covers active, passive and home-based leisure:
- Tennis clubs
- Chess clubs
- Photography
- Swimming clubs
- Chat rooms
- Choirs or bands
- Keep-fit groups
- Dancing
- Pub Football Associations
- Book clubs
These activities are run by volunteers and are usually free of charge.
2.5: The Commercial and Non-Commercial Sector Differences
There are many differences between the Commercial and Non-Commercial sector but probably the biggest difference is their purpose. The Commercial sector’s purpose is to make a profit, whereas the non-commercial sector’s purpose is to provide a service. Organisations in the Commercial Sector are usually funded and maintained by the profits they make, and run by a team of people, from the board of directors to managers to staff, whereas organisations in the non-commercial sector are run, funded and maintained by local borough councils or volunteers. Although organisations in both sectors can make a profit, commercial organisations will make much more profit than non-commercial organisations.
According to www.shef.ac.uk, the commercial sector accounts for 17.5% of GDP, 10% of employment, 28% of consumer spending and over £20 billion in foreign earnings.
2.6: Commercial Funding Sources
Some of the funding for commercial organisations comes from membership schemes for regular customers (such as Next Generation Gym, who provide unlimited use of their facilities for a certain amount of money and for a certain period of time and Cineworld, who provide an unlimited amount of movie screenings for a person for a certain amount of time for a price). Organisations may also use annual passes (theme parks and football clubs). More established commercial organisations will sell shares in their company to generate funding.
The bulk of commercial funding comes through the sale of the actual product being provided by the organisation.
Some commercial organisations will have a franchise option, such as McDonalds in which members of the public can buy/fund a restaurant and run it as they like, and in exchange for using the brand name, they give McDonalds a portion of the profits.
2.7: Non-Commercial Funding Sources
Non-Commercial organisations get some of their funding from profits made from products sold (i.e. swimming equipment from Crown Pools or tickets from The Corn Exchange and The Regent), but if they are owned by the council, funding will come from the local borough. Council-owned organisations may also use residential taxes and the government for more funding.
For non-council owned organisations, and ones in the Voluntary Sector, financial help and funding can come from specialist funding organisations, such as Sport England for sport centres, the Youth Hostel association for Youth Hostels and the Arts Council for drama groups and theatres. The Big Lottery Fund also provides money for voluntary organisations.
2.8: Marketing Strategies
Marketing is a powerful tool in the leisure and business sectors. There are four “P” words for marketing: Price (which means ensuring the prices you charge are attractive and affordable), Place (which means the location of your organisation is easy to find), Product (which means ensuring the product you’re trying to sell is attractive) and Promotion (which means ensuring you offer deals and discounts for people using your facilities). These four aspects help organisations attract more customers and in turn more profit. For organisations both in the Commercial and Non-Commercial sectors, marketing is important so that their organisation is well publicised, which increases the number of people using their organisation. Commercial sectors will often offer deals and discounts to first-time visitors or regular customers. Another way for the sectors to market their product/facility is by advertising. Advertising is one of the most popular ways organisations can publicise their services. Non-Commercial organisations will use posters/flyers, radio, signage, junk mail and will advertise through schools. Commercial sector organisations will have more money to spend on advertisement, and will incorporate television adverts, internet adverts and in-store offers on top of what the non-commercial sector already use.
2.9: Partnership Initiatives
Often organisations will partner with other companies to hold events to market their services or generate income. Sometimes, commercial and non-commercial organisations will partner up at events (such as the Scouts Brigade and BBC Radio and The London Marathon and Flora Butter). These are known as PPP’s (Private-Public Partnerships), which are approved by the government. Another form of partnership is the PFI (Private Funding Initiatives), in which local authorities have a part-share or control in leisure venues as they own the land on which the organisation is built or where companies help each other out by arranging lease-back agreements.
Key Features of PPP’s and PFI’s
PPP’s
- Approved by the government
- Overseen by the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions (DETR)
- Can include the “whole process”: Design, Build, Finance, Operate (DBFO)
- Allow local authorities to modernise or expand their provision
- Give developers new markets
- Public gains private-sector skills and abilities which they don’t have
- Local communities ultimately benefit
PFI’s
- Local authorities help provide land and planning
- Private sector funds development in return for future income from lease-back or franchise schemes
- Capital from one source gives income (revenue streams) for both partners
- Help circumvent the lengthy bidding process which local authorities have to go through to attain funds
- Approved and overseen by the DETR
3. Current Developments in the Leisure Industry
Introduction
The leisure industry is always changing, as customers gain different needs and shopping habits. An example of this is bookstores, eg Waterstones, who are quickly losing popularity over the internet-based booksellers such as amazon.com. This is because online shopping is now a lot easier than having to go out into a town or city centre, therefore customers are changing.
There are also quite a few other factors that cause the leisure industry to change, such as:
- Changes in the levels of disposable income available
- Increasing levels of car/house ownership
- Changes through the years
- Changes in participation
- Changes in fashion
- Changing influences from the media
- Technological changes
- Changes in what consumers are spending
The leisure industry has had to almost completely change since the 1960’s and before. Advances in technology, changes in lifestyle and media influence have cause consumers to change the way they spend and the way they live. This means that the industry has to change with them. In the future, the technology is going to be more advanced, the changes in lifestyle are going to be greater, and there will be more media influence, so the leisure industry will have to keep changing and changing.
Recent Innovations
The leisure industry is constantly changing to keep up with the changing needs of consumers. Since 1960, the industry has changed completely. This is due to many different factors, such as
- Car ownership: Car ownership has a major influence in trends, as it allows people to travel to different places easier, such as holiday destinations. Levels of car ownership have increased over the years, as a survey by www.statisics.gov.uk found that in 1989-1991, 72 per cent of households in such areas had access to at least one car - by 1999-2001 this figure had grown to 78 per cent. In the 2001 Census it was found that in England 27 per cent of households do not own a car or van while 44 per cent of households own just one, 24 per cent own two, 4 per cent own three and 1 per cent own four or more.
- Home ownership: nearly 2/3 of people in the UK own their own houses, as opposed to other parts of Europe where renting is the norm. This means that people who own their houses have more disposable income compared to those who rent (also people who own their own houses are more likely to be a part of the “grey market” [people who are 50 or over]) However, home ownership is set to increase once again, as house prices are on the decline after a couple of years of increased prices. The 2001 Census found that for England more than two-thirds of homes were owner occupied and 31 per cent rented. 29 per cent were owned outright and 39 per cent owned with a mortgage.
- Health Awareness: There is now bigger health awareness than ever before, with advertisements, articles and news reports. There has been a crackdown on obesity, both in children and adults. This means people are more likely to join gyms. McDonalds have introduced a “healthy eating” menu, which means that people who like to eat healthily can now eat at McDonalds, once a solely fast-food place. The smoking in public places ban on the 1st July 2007 means that people have given up smoking, or don’t go out because they cannot smoke, which means that pubs and clubs experience decreases in visitors.
- Changing in holidays: people nowadays have been found to participate in more “extreme” holidays, such as bungee jumping, sky-diving and wild-water rafting. This means that there is a change in the holiday market, and how the travel agents should advertise their holidays.
- Demographics: demographic change means alterations to the population profile. In the UK some current demographic trends are having discernable effects on consumer demand and product supply.
The first we have is aging population. At the turn of the last century, ½ of the population were 50+. Commercial organisations including leisure are increasingly looking at older consumers as they have good earning power if they are in work or good disposable income if retired. As a result- facilities and events are now geared towards the “grey market”. However, people that are 24-35 have decreased over the years, therefore there is a reduction in the market that is geared towards them.
Technology
Technology plays a major influence in leisure, because as technology gets more and more advanced, industries must change to keep up with it. An example of this is online shopping. Before the internet became popular, people would go into shops to buy their clothes and other things, but with the introduction of internet shops such as next.com and argos.com, people now are more likely to order their things online, and it get it delivered, as it saves time and sometimes money (because of internet discounts and offers).
Over the years, technology has become so much more advanced. In the 1960’s, televisions and other forms of media were only slightly popular; therefore it was hard for leisure industries to see what was influencing people. In the 1980’s, heavy television advertising meant that certain “crazes” became popular (such as the Rubik’s cube). Now in the 2000’s, technology plays such a large part in the leisure industry, that without it, leisure services and products would become a lot less popular than they are today.
The digital change-over in 2013 and other technological advances means that there will be a greater need for employment, as interactive media already employs 53,100 and TV and Radio collectively employ 53,700 people, and these amounts are set to increase by 2010.
Influence of the Media
The media influences the leisure industry via their consumers. As people are influenced by the media, this can mean that their spending, participation and needs change, which means the leisure industry must change along with it. Examples of how the media influences people include:
- TV: Programmes such as Top Gear, gardening based, DIY (Changing Rooms etc.) and Holiday influence people, as it shows what people could do with their homes/lives. Also, screening football games, snooker matches and other sports encourages people to participate in a form of sport, which means the leisure industry would gain with gyms, sport centres and merchandise.
Leisure industries tend to target certain services and products at different “groups” of people, such as cinema discounts for children’s movies and discounts for the “grey market”. This isn’t just the case in cinemas, it happens in shops, restaurants (sometimes a special meal is set aside at a discount for a certain group of people) and at swimming pools/gyms (such as a discounted price for people who swim before 10am). It is even used in pubs and clubs, where drinks are cheaper between the hours of 10pm and 12am.
However, the media doesn’t always help leisure industries. Since England are out of the Euro 2008, major television channels will not screen many games from the competition, which means that pubs will lose out, as people won’t go and watch them on the big screens, clothing shops will lose out on unsold merchandise, and fast-food companies will lose out on sponsorship.
As the media will continue to influence more people, the employment levels will increase. The amount of people employed by the media is set to increase from 175,000 to 230,000 by 2010, which means companies may have to look into employing more of the “grey market” to keep up with the employment demand.
4. Reasons for participation and non-participation
Introduction
For a particular service or product, especially in the leisure industry, there will always be factors creating demand and factors working against demand. This creates a division in the type of people that do and don’t participate (i.e. People with a lot of disposable income and time will be more likely to participate than people who have a low amount of disposable income). Demand is created by people who have aspirations, a need to be healthier and fit, a need to make new friends and have a good social life, and a need to improve their self esteem.
Factors against demand are created by people who: cannot afford the services, people who cannot travel to the services, people who are disabled and people who live in places which do not have services and are too far away to travel to one.
Providers may need to offer services for demand to be raised, such as a minibus service or improve facilities.
Factors creating demand and participation
There are quite a few things that create a demand for a certain product or service, such as:
- Aspirations- Aspirations provide intrinsic motivations to apply ourselves. Therefore, if someone has an aspiration to be good at football, then this may provide a motivation to join a football coaching club or something similar.
- Health and Fitness- Another demand may be the current drive against obesity. With all the media coverage of the growing obesity problem, this may drive people to take part in a high impact leisure activity. This, in turn, would create more demand for an organisation.
- Friends and Social- There may also be a social factor. A group of friends may decide to join a leisure organisation, to help their social life.
- Self Esteem- If a person has low self esteem, they may find it beneficial to join or participate in a leisure activity to help them get fit or make friends.
Factors working against demand and participation
As well as there being quite a few factors creating demand, there is also many factors working against demand. These include:
- Cost- People who have low income and a small amount of disposable income will find it hard to get money to pay for entrance fees and other costs that come with leisure organisations.
- Transport- People living in a small, secluded village with poor or no public transport would also find it difficult for them to travel to places where leisure activities may be held.
- Disabilities- Even though the Disability Discrimination Act 2005 ensures that all places have adequate equipment to cope with disabled people, it may still be difficult for disabled people to participate as well as an able person would.
- Location- People may live in places that are quite small and “out-of-the-way”. This means that there may not be the correct facilities to have leisure activities.
Barriers to participation
There are hundreds of barriers that people face when it comes to participation. Examples of these barriers include: lack of money, age, lack of time, motivation, disability, transport. Economics also plays a part- people may not be able to participate due to low wages, unemployment, poverty and people trying to save for things. Where a person lives may also effect participation, as there may be poor or no provision, poor or no public transport, lack of awareness and lack of choice.
However, organisations can help more people to participate by introducing new features, for example:
Disability access and provision
Being disabled can hinder participation in leisure, as you will need special facilities that organisations may not have. However, The Disability Discrimination Act 2005 ensures that all leisure and other organisations must provide facilities for disabled people, or the organisation could face a fine or closure. Examples of these facilities include wheelchair hire, wheelchair ramps, disabled toilets, inducted hearing loop, Braille signs, widened paths to accommodate wheelchairs, parking, lighting and accommodation etc. The legislation says that organisations must:
- provide ramps into buildings
- install lifts for libraries
- have a low level counter at a reception or till
- have special fittings and toilets
- train staff to deal with disabled people
- have extra space in planes and cinemas
- for disabled people to be able to be included in the school curriculum
Equity and Diversity
- equal funding
- equal leisure opportunities throughout UK
- setting the criteria for resources
- provision for all levels of participants and ages
- opportunities for all types of interaction, recreational, competitive, social, cultural and educational activities.
- training for leaders and coaches in equality.
- racism may also effect certain ethnic groups joining organisations
Economic Factors
- This is derived from employment type, disposable income and level of education. Therefore, if you have a low paying employment type, little disposable income and a low level of education, you may find it hard to spend money or time doing leisure activities.
Choice
- Depending on where a person lives, the choice of activities may be severely limited, or may have no activities at all, which will be a barrier to participation.
Overcoming Barriers
As previously mentioned, facilities may need to introduce new services to overcome barriers faced by some people. For ethnic barriers, such as men and women not being allowed to participate in certain activities together, some organisations may have to introduce a “men’s only” and a “women’s only” night, so that ethnic groups can also be included in leisure activities. For disabled people, organisations may need to introduce a special disabled people’s night, where activities can be focused on disabled people only. For location and transport problems, organisations can introduce a service where a minibus or coach travels to a designated point (i.e. a village hall) to pick up people interested and take them to the activity. For people facing problems with costs, organisations can introduce special discounted nights (i.e. pensioner nights) where people facing difficulties can participate for a reduced cost. There are many things an organisation can do in order to overcome barriers to raise participation.
Amy Witham Leisure Studies Coursework