“Managers will appreciate the need to adapt to changing situations. They will also be made aware of the demand for more individual and social leisure pursuits.” Torkildsen (1999) Page 131
Torkildsen (1999) page 158 goes on to say how the latter part of the 20th century led the way for social change, as more participants began to take part in leisure activities thus from the changes that began to take place in the work and home environment. From an increased population and increased disposable income, greater emphasis was being placed on personal independent lifestyles, as society was beginning to put emphasis on self-satisfaction. With more leisure time, leisure providers began to do more research on what the needs of the participants are, focusing on the future changes and planning for likely developments. Haywood et al (1985) page 267, examines what successful leisure forecasting involves; Haywood explains it as using a mixture of quantitative data (demographic, class, disposable income etc) and qualitative data (leisure lifestyles, sub-cultural styles in leisure, etc). This information would enable managers of leisure to identify with their consumers and enable more predictions to be accurate for future results. Torkildsen (1999) page 159 clarifies the importance of leisure managers need for understanding information about trends, knowing both the types of activities, which are popular, and when participating in leisure is taking place. From this general background, managers can then begin to create different profiles about the separate market segments more precisely.
Managers need to be aware of the local community trends and need to have a basic understanding of the market, any type of future business propositions need to be fully explored in terms meeting customer demands. Haywood (1994) page 27, claims that recently more emphasis is being placed on “the leisure needs of the elderly, as demographic trends increase their significance as consumers are being slowly recognized”. There is distinct different in the leisure market for both the elderly and the youth, as they are targeted in a different ways, by the leisure managers. Every year increasingly more young people are becoming more influential in terms of how they dictate and spend their leisure time, what they do in their leisure can be determined by leisure managers. As global communication is beginning to take over everyday activities, more leisure time and activities are being aimed at technological advances. For example the Internet, which gives great way for new trends and faster communication from other influencing nations, such as the USA. Regarding sports, the UK is directly influenced by the USA; predominately in the sports industry, with such sports as basketball and more recently the large interest in golf. Much of what leisure centres focus upon with young people in sports is basketball and it has become a favoured and trend setting sport for leisure managers to target.
“Sports like golf, squash and sailing, which used to be associated with elite groups, and restricted membership clubs, have been ‘popularised’ and made available to a much wider range of people through municipal golf courses, sports centres and water sports facilities.” Benington & White. (1988). Page 247
Leisure trends are taking place in various different scenarios, from increased leisure time during infancy through to adulthood, where people are beginning to experience more self-employment and early retired leaving them with more freedom. Veal (1985). Page 103, “favourable leisure trends include increased self employment, more working at home and growth in part time work, unfavourable leisure trends include enforced leisure through unemployment and enforced early retirement.” ‘Some Example of Current Trends’ Table 4. Leisure managers can research what the trends are by assessing what the public is able to cope with, in terms of free time and availability. From this, leisure managers can influence and direct people what to think, for example through advertising and pressure from other associates who can share personal and emotional experiences, so by getting their point of view across they can dominate others thoughts and put suggestions, getting them to agree and lead others. The popularity of certain cultural themes can often lead others to explore and set new trends, as often people influence changes and leisure managers recognise and exploit these to their full potential. With the decrease in functional leisure time, Argyle (1996), page 272 goes on to say the general trends in leisure activity show that there is an increase in domestic leisure such as “watching TV, sport and exercise, reading, trips in cars, DIY” and various others.
As more leisure is becoming home-based, it is some times “impossible to predict”, such as “fads, fashions and crazes, but long term change can be mapped, monitored even predicted.” Veal, A. J. (1994). Pages 121-122. The everyday changes need to be monitored and regularly updated by the leisure managers so that they are continually enticing their audiences and bringing them something new and interesting, thus keeping them engaged to their plan. New trends are always being pushed into public attention and the most favourable trend-setting group is youth, as they are easily influenced and can be easily manipulated into spending money and exploited for their misinterpretation of issues.
Leisure managers need to know what they are dealing with so that they can supply and demand the needs of the given market or community. They also need to have background knowledge and information to be able to make certain judgements from any information they obtain, thus this information is only worthwhile to them if they can understand, interpret and develop their own perception of it. From this they can use the opinion and assess the right choices to make for the future and forecasting is essentially all about the future and its effects. By having all the essential information, to plan, leisure managers will have a better chance of getting results that are more accurate, they will begin to get a better, and more improved response from the public. From this they will have an established audience for their future predictions and be able to use any previous research they gathered from earlier projects.
The plans and forecasts need to be accurate so that the intended outcome can be put forward to the consumers and they can relate the ideas and enjoy different styles and different approaches to the future of planning. Without being able, to relate to the needs of the public the managers will not succeed in any new trials they intend to employ and the essential part of this is, being able to understand and interpret the trends so that the leisure managers are providing their market with their demands. To have a good understanding of their markets needs the managers need to have general idea on what and when they going to be selling and advertising to the diverse leisure individuals so that they aim the right products to the right ‘audience’. The idea of leisure managers is to put forward future products and see whether these make new trends and overall as Veal (1994) quotes page 122, “influence people’s behaviour”. Thus, leisure managers need to understand, have knowledge about their market and the needs of the people, and they need to be manipulative in their strategy of getting the knowledge of the trends to their market segment.
Overall, leisure managers need to have experience in all departments, especially being able to understand and interpret future trends, so that they can exploit their powers and develop their knowledge further in terms of their ability. The more dominant and persistent leisure managers strongly affect people but if there is no need for certain leisure activities, then, their will be no public response and the trend will easily fade out and new trends will takeover. Sport is a very easy trend to take advantage of, as most leisure managers target the young people, since the leisure managers are aware that young people are at a very impressionable age can easily become involved in general excitement and ‘hype’ about leisure activities.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
-
Argyle, M. (1996). The Social Psychology of Leisure. Penguin Books. London
-
Benington, J & White, J. (1988). The Future of Leisure Services. Longman Group Limited. England.
-
Haywood, L; Kew, F & Tomlinson, A. (1985). Understanding Leisure. Hutchinson. London.
-
Haywood, L. (1994). Concepts and Practice in Community Leisure and Recreation in Haywood, L. (ed) (1994). Community Leisure and Recreation. Butterworth-Heinemann Ltd. Oxford. Pp 26-50.
-
Torkildsen, G. (1999). Leisure & Recreation Management. Fourth Edition. E & FN Spon. London.
-
Veal A. J. (1985). “Leisure and The Future: Considering The Options”. In Parter, S. R & Veal, A. J (1985). Politics, Planning & People. Volume Two. Conference Paper No 23. Work, Non-work & Leisure. Leisure Studies Association. London.
-
Veal, A. J. (1994). Leisure Policy and Planning. Longman Group Limited. United Kingdom.
