Changing Leisure Interests

The leisure interests of Canadians are shifting, largely as a result of the following larger socio-demographic and economic trends:

• an aging society and changing family structure
• structural economic change and the need for economic restraint (personal, corporate and government)
• work and workplace trends
• the women’s revolution, particularly workforce participation trends
• the environmental imperative, and
• value shifts.

The following nine leisure trends are already well entrenched and will continue to guide the future of leisure choices and activities.

Shifting FROM	Shifting TOWARDS
formal, highly structured activity team sports and activities directed programs - teaching physical fitness focus active orientation indoor, facility focus consumptive activities doing something activity as an end	self-scheduled, casual activity individual activities self-directed learning holistic wellness relatively passive home and outdoor focus environmentally-friendly activities experiencing - the adventure quest activity as the means (to bigger ends)

From Structured to Casual Participation

The relative popularity of formal, highly-structured activities will diminish in favour of relatively informal, self-scheduled and casual participation patterns. Life is simply too complex to support the normal series of ten, weekly, two-hour recreation lessons or sessions; its easier to cope with a ‘drop in’ format or the more compact workshop approach. Structure is important and even appealing to children but is not a requirement of an adult-oriented, aging market.

Society is moving from an era where the participant was prepared to fit into a mold designed by someone else (sacrifice of self) to one where self-expression and individualized definitions of success (celebration of self) are much more important. Information technologies will increasingly allow us to participate in the design and delivery of customized leisure opportunities, reducing the marketability of standard packages. In many cases, activities will be the same, but they will be accessed in different forms, places and times. The organization that can facilitate the matching of participants, spaces, equipment and leadership resources without imposing a pre-arranged structure is assured of a promising future.

From Team to Individual Activities

Many of the same trends lead us to the conclusion that the shift from team sports and activities to individual activities will continue. Team or group-oriented leisure activities must be structured and will be negatively affected by the first shift outlined above. These activities generally have more appeal to children and youth, and will lose further ground as the shadow baby-boom matures.

New research is questioning assumptions about the value of team activities – challenging the mythology about character building, the learning of cooperation, and the development of leadership (‘Lessons from the Locker Room: the Myth of School Sports’ by Andrew Miracle and C. Roger Lees – Prometheus Books). The cost of building specialized facilities for each popular sport will be increasingly suspect as public sector constraint continues and the percentage of the community actually participating decreases. Moreover, the accident rates and resultant health costs of sports such as football and hockey are becoming less acceptable to parents, participants, and the general public in a climate that increasingly emphasizes prevention rather than rehabilitation.

From Directed Programs to Self-Directed Learning

The first two shifts lead to a third conclusion about the future. The market will reject situations where a teacher leads us through a formal, pre-planned developmental program in favour of opportunities that allow participants to set their own objectives, learn from a variety of resources, set their own learning pace, and decide for themselves what success looks like.

Learning technologies are advancing at miraculous rates. Our leisure learning will be assisted by a wealth of new books, videos, and CDs; by interactive programs available in our own homes at our own convenience, and by distance education that gives us access to the very best teachers in the world, not simply the best available in our community. The perspectives that we gain from the workplace revolution, stressing team learning rather than regulation, will transfer to our leisure patterns. Individually, we will determine the balance between working at developing a new skill and enjoying what we already know how to do; the most popular ‘programs’ will be the ones that transfer the agenda to the participant. The organization that best understands how to respect the learner, rather than having the participant jump to the demands of the teacher, will be the most successful.

From Fitness to Holistic Wellness

Narrow perspectives on health that stress illness care and assume that health is simply a physical issue are losing ground to a broader understanding that stresses prevention and integrated approaches involving mental, physical, social and spiritual well-being. Individuals that once used their leisure for physical fitness are increasing viewing this basic requirement of health as a maintenance activity (similar to eating, sleeping and personal hygiene) and are finding ways to integrate fitness-producing activities into day to day activity. If life can be divided into work/education, maintenance activities, and leisure; fitness is slipping from the leisure domain.

Fitness will be seen as a ‘given’, to be taken care of as quickly and efficiently as possible. Leisure will increasingly be seen as the opportunity to pursue balance, to develop and integrate various aspects of the wellness spectrum. Demand for purely physical recreation will likely decline as those who once ran marathons, for example, downsize their running programs to make room for more yoga, music, reading, socializing or community participation. Physical activities that have a social, spiritual and/or mental component will prosper.

From Active to Relatively Passive

The abovementioned shift will hasten a trend that is moving leisure from an active focus to a relatively passive one. In addition, although we expect aging baby-boomers to be more active than previous generations, the activities selected will be modestly active (e.g. from running to walking, from tennis to golf). In the search for life balance, arts and cultural activities are gaining ground at the expense of physical recreation and sport. Also, the magnetic attraction of the home ‘electronic entertainment cocoon’ will undoubtedly create a more sophisticated, but equally inactive, couch potato. Even those who thrive on active leisure pursuits will moderate their participation rates as they age, as scientific evidence reveals that their efforts are largely overkill given their goals, and as new interests develop.

Leisure is Moving into the Outdoors

For the past three decades, the fastest growing recreation/sport activities have focused on the outdoors. Think of ‘in line’ skating, mountain biking, walking for pleasure, golf and snowboarding. Repeated studies show that participation in outdoor recreation increases with education level, urbanization, and household income & all are increasing. Recreation is most expensive when an indoor facility and/or structured program is required; the outdoors offers a multitude of cheaper alternatives. Both forecasts and actual participation rates since 1990 have pegged virtually all outdoor recreation activity growth rates higher than population growth; the opposite has been true for the majority of traditional indoor pursuits such as hockey, pool swimming and gym sports.

From Consumptive to Environmentally Friendly

Virtually every facet of human life is being viewed through a ‘green lens’; leisure will be no exception. As we understand more about the environmental impacts of driving for pleasure, powerboating, golfing, downhill skiing, and other activities that consume non-renewable resources or disrupt habitat, we will increasingly chose environmentally friendly replacements such as cycle touring, sailing/canoeing, hiking, and cross-country skiing.

This perspective will be instilled in our children and youth at school as environmental issues are discussed and the teaching of life-long physical education skills adapts. The ‘fur coat’ analogy will apply and rejection rats for consumptive activities will increase as awareness of the true ecological cost increases, as availability of natural and protected land near urban areas decreases, and as negative public opinion influences pride in participation.

The following categories of activity will be suspect:

• any activity requiring expensive, large, energy consuming indoor facilities that require a public subsidy – swimming in winter and skating in summer
• any activity that requires that we tame, flatten, manicure and monoculture natural areas – particularly if it requires large amounts of chemicals to maintain
• any activity that disrupts habitat – golf, foreshore developments, ATV/off-road, horseback riding
• any activity that kills wildlife – hunting, eventually fishing.

From 'Doing Something' to 'Experiencing'

Value shifts emphasize self-fulfillment, self-expression, inner-orientation, self actualization and individualized definitions of success. We are increasingly looking for real and personally meaningful experiences, for real quality of life, and we are more and more interested in investing in a first class experience than in a first class thing.

Way back in 1990, in their Environmental Scan for the Western Region of the Canadian Parks Service, Coopers & Librand made the following observation:

“Recreation pursuits are moving away from a facilities or
quantitative orientation towards one emphasizing experiences
and quality of life. People no longer want to just see (or do) things;
instead they want to come away with an experience, an adventure.
In fact, some researchers are describing the future of the recreation
and tourism industries as the ‘experience industries’.”

Consumers are looking for depth. The concept of ‘value added’ will be key. Any supplier that can add quality to what was once a basic recreation activity through superb leadership, excellent social interaction, customization, creativity, challenge and/or fun will have the edge.

From Activity as 'End' to Activity as 'Means'

All of the abovementioned shifts suggest that the consumer will be much more aware of the reasons that motivate their participation. Should providers understand and the ‘benefits’ or ‘outcomes’ be desired, there will be a match. Both buyer and purchaser will focus on the delivery of real and tangible payoffs to the participant and the community.

There will be a greater willingness to switch activities (means) to ensure that the sought after ‘end’ is delivered: from hockey to soccer, from jogging to cycling, from aerobics to creative dance. We will see the expansion of purposeful leisure.