The Diversity of the Leisure Industry

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1. The Diversity of the Leisure Industry

Introduction

Leisure is spare time in between everyday work and life where people are free to do whatever they wish. Leisure comes in all forms of activities.

Different people enjoy completely different types of activities, but they are all leisure activities. There are two main types of leisure activities: active and passive. Active leisure is leisure which usually involves exercise, such as sport. Active leisure can either be high impact (rugby, football, running) or low impact (yoga or walking). Passive leisure involves more relaxing activities, such as the cinema or eating out. Leisure can also either be home-based (activities at home such as reading or computer, usually passive) or outside-based (activities done outside the home, which can be either active or passive).

People may have reasons for participating in a particular activity, whether it is passive or active. These reasons can be:

  • Physical- People may choose an activity which makes them or keeps them fit or to improve their health. This is usually active leisure.
  • Psychological- People may choose an activity which helps them psychologically, to help them feel better about themselves.
  • Social- People may choose an activity which involves socialising. This may be linked with psychological benefits, as it improves social skills and also helps people feel better about them.

People also have different motivations to do a particular type of activity. The two main motivations are known as intrinsic, which is internal, or from within (e.g. to be the best athlete or for personal satisfaction. The other motivation is extrinsic, which is external (may be encouragement from relatives or peers, or even a role model inspiration).

It has been found that people who have more money to spend on leisure activities do not have the time to participate in leisure activities and people who don’t have the money to spend on leisure tend to have more time to participate in leisure. This may be to do with schooling and work taking up free time, and retirement taking up money.

Active leisure activities

Active leisure usually involves exercise or sport. Active leisure covers all three “benefits”: physical, psychological & social. There are hundreds of examples of active leisure, put into hundreds of different categories, such as sport:

  • Indoor- badminton, basketball & bowling
  • Outdoor- jogging, football & canoeing
  • Team- volleyball & hockey
  • Individual- horse-riding & paragliding
  • Countryside- hiking & sailing
  • Urban- yoga & keep-fit

   There are many benefits to participating in active leisure, whether       it is high or low impact, has psychological, physical & social benefits:

  • It makes (or keeps) us fit- (physical & psychological)
  • Improves general health (physical & psychological)
  • Gives us opportunity to make new friends (social)
  • Allows us to travel (psychological)
  • Team sports teach co-operation (psychological & social)
  • Increases self esteem (psychological)
  • Can extend life (physical)

     

   All active leisure pursuits can be seen to have common characteristics, they are dynamic, require high levels of skill & motivation, and are usually practised outside the home, with others.

Participation in active leisure

There is a lot of difference between participation rates in sport/active leisure in England.  A survey on www.statistics.gov.uk said that in 2002 75% of adults had taken part in some form of sport, game or physical activity during the twelve months before the interview. 59% had done so four weeks before the interview. The most popular sports mentioned in the interview were:

  • Walking (46%)
  • Swimming (35%)
  • Keep-Fit/Yoga (including aerobics and dance) (22%)
  • Cycling (19%)
  • Cue Sports- billiards, snooker and pool (17%)

This graph from the 2002 National Online Statistics Survey shows the percentage of participation rates (over twelve months and over four weeks) in all activities (the blue bar) and participation rates in all activities excluding walking (the grey bar), because walking seemed to be quite a few people’s only activity.

There were quite a few factors affecting participation rates, such as gender and age:

The survey found that participation decreased with age. It was found that 72% of young adults (aged 16-19) compared with 54% of adults (aged 30-44) and 14% of adults aged 70 or over had participated in at least one activity (excluding walking) in the prior four weeks to interview.

A trend that has continued over many years is that men were more likely than women to participate in sports activities (either including or excluding walking) in the four weeks before the interview. It was found that in 1996, 54% of men and 38% had participated in at least one activity (excluding walking) in the four weeks before the interview. In 2002 participation had fallen to just over half (51%) of men compared with 36% of women, showing that the population is participating less and less every year.

Passive Leisure Activities

Passive pursuits usually involve little or no physical activity. They are usually used as a relaxing method. Passive leisure usually only covers “psychological” and “social benefits”, because passive leisure doesn’t keep you fit or improve general health, therefore cannot be physical. There is not so much diversity of passive activities compared to active leisure activities.

Passive leisure can either be home-based or outside the home.

Some examples of passive leisure are:

  • Visiting the cinema
  • Visiting the town/shopping
  • Eating out
  • Gardening
  • Reading
  • Watching TV etc.

Passive leisure can also have cultural links, as visiting famous cultural sites and reading up on culture can be classed as passive. Also, passive leisure varies with each culture. The 2006 Social Report found that in Europe 51% visited an art gallery, 39% has seen a popular live performance, 30% had seen a theatrical performance, and 14% had visited a marae in the last twelve months. It also found (over a period of four weeks) that 45% of Europeans has purchased a book, 39% had visited a public library, 34% had purchased music, 31% had hired a DVD or video and 30% had been to the cinema. Europeans generally had the highest participation rates out of the three cultures interviewed (Europeans, Pacific and Maori), apart from the marae visiting.

Passive leisure has been found to have many mental health benefits, as it provides an outlet to the mind. It can also provide physical rest, tension release and opportunities to enjoy nature and escape from the daily routine.

Home-Based Leisure Activities

Home-based activities, as the name suggests, can only be done in the home. Home-based leisure is often passive leisure. Home-based leisure, much like passive leisure, only covers the psychological and possibly social benefits of leisure, as home-based leisure is often done to unwind from the non-leisure activities. These may be done alone, or with a partner/friend. There is even less diversity of home-based leisure activities compared to both active and passive leisure activities. Examples of home-based leisure include:

  • Gardening
  • Radio
  • Television, DVD and Radio
  • Cookery
  • DIY
  • Puzzles and Games
  • Sewing and Knitting
  • Reading

A study by the National Statistics Online found that watching television was the most popular home-based activity among both males and females in 1977, 1987 and 1997.

This graph from www.swivel.co.uk shows the most popular types of home-based leisure currently in the UK                

There is also a very obvious gender spilt between what home-based activities they participate in. In the 1997 interview, a higher proportion of men had done DIY in the last four weeks prior to the interview than women, and there were a higher proportion of women doing needlework/sewing than men. It was also found that the percentage of dressmaking/needlework by women had significantly decreased since 1977, whilst percentages of DIY grew.

Regional Variations

The UK is made up of many different regions, but every single region has a different range of activities they participate in. This may be to do with differing cultures, climates and ways of living.

There are quite a few differences between the North of England and the East of England:

                                                N England                     E England

Watching TV                                99                                99

Listening to the radio                        89                                91

Listening to records/tapes                83                                83

Reading books                                70                                63

Singing/instruments                        13                                10

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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, ...

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