A More Tenable Marketing for Leisure Services and Studies

The integration of marketing principles and practices into leisure services and studies over the past 25 years has been met with significant confusion and skepticism. Recent theoretical re-conceptualizations of public leisure services marketing suggest that a new marketing philosophy is needed to guide marketing efforts in this context. This paper argues that social marketing, previously largely ignored in the leisure literature, offers a perspective more consistent with the mandate of public leisure services. An explicit goal of the essay is to clarify confusion surrounding marketing and to describe a more tenable philosophy so that a wider range of subdisciplines in leisure services and studies might take advantage of some or all of the beneficial aspects of marketing.     

‘It’s a Harsh Fact of Life with the RMA’: neo-liberalism and the realities of community sports facility development by the private sector in New Zealand

Despite the importance of facilities as primary sites for delivery of leisure and sport services, there has been a scarcity of academic literature on the provision of community sports facilities and the processes through which they are developed. In particular, this paper provides empirical analysis of leisure facility provision with a focus on practice and experience of policy and planning actors. By employing a case study approach and semi-structured interviews, the study identified a sharp contrast between the discourse of neo-liberalism and the realities of a highly regulated environment for the private sector under a national legislation of New Zealand, namely the Resource Management Act 1991. While both public and private actors recognised benefits of the resource consent process in mitigating the negative environmental impacts and facilitating public input, the findings also revealed its potential impediments to both private and philanthropic developments and their potential resultant benefits to communities and social citizenship due to its costly, restrictive and undifferentiated nature. Consequently, the paper suggests that future research needs to examine empirical evidence of how social citizenship and citizen engagement are enhanced by both public and private sectors through planning and development of community sports facilities and services.     

Reformulating the conceptualization of marketing in the context of public leisure services

The authors deconstructed the prevailing conceptualization of public leisure marketing and concluded it rests on three principles: voluntary exchange, an open system organization, and self-interest motivation. A review of the genesis of these principles revealed that alternative principles were ignored. These were analysed and a panel of eight experts was interviewed to solicit their views on the relative merit of the prevailing and alternative principles. Based on an analysis of the alternative assumptions and the panel's input, a revised conceptualization of public leisure marketing was suggested which incorporated the principles of redistribution, the features of a closed-system organization, and public interest motivation. A revised definition of public leisure services marketing is offered based on these principles.     

Practitioner perspectives on arts tourism marketing

Public sector organizations in the UK, especially those responsible for tourism and leisure services, have embraced the private (business/commercial enterprise) sector paradigm apparently in order to improve efficiency, increase usage and provide higher levels of customer service. This paper presents the findings of an initial study of UK arts and leisure managers responsible for the marketing of their venues and services. Applying an interpretivist methodology, the study identifies perceptions and applications of marketing concepts to this highly sensitive area of cultural development and expression. Key marketing tools are identified and their suitability for use in achieving sponsor, provider and customer objectives evaluated, as is the impact of marketing activity. The rationale for (marketing) decision‐making is explored. The methodology developed and employed in this research is transportable to other marketing applications and is therefore significant in terms of research development. The discussion and conclusions show the way forward to this end, particularly within the tourism and leisure field, which is the immediate focus of this study.     

Northern Ireland: the politics of leisure in a divided society

The public provision of leisure services and the impact which this has on the community has become a political issue. Nowhere is this more the case than in Northern Ireland where economic and social problems, together with the Troubles, led to a massive increase in central government's sponsorship of public leisure provision in the 1970s. This was a political gesture made more political in the manner through which district councils and local government officials discharged their devolved responsibilities and the way in which local communities appropriated leisure facilities. The resultant pattern of leisure provision reflects existing community boundaries and, as such, reinforces rather than ameliorates sectarian divisions.     

Engendered ideologies and leisure policy in the UK. Part 2: professional ideologies

This article draws upon PhD research to examine the restructuring of engendered ideologies in leisure policy in the UK in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and to consider the implications for leisure provision for women. The article is in two parts. In Part 1 the kinds of gender ideologies circulating in leisure policy were outlined; in this second part of the article, the articulation of gender and professional ideologies is examined in order to trace the historical emergence and predominance of particular configurations of ideologies from the mid 1970s to the early 1990s. The research on which this article draws indicates that in the emergence of welfare reformist and community development ideologies in the late 1970s and the mid 1980s respectively, feminist ideologies made a significant impact, but that with the emergence of market ideology in the late 1980s, feminist ideologies were losing ground. It is argued that the predominance of market ideology at a time of economic restraint fuelled by the emergence of post-feminism, is likely to lead to a three-tier system of local leisure provision for women: niche marketed leisure provision for women with substantial resources; mass marketed leisure for women with fewer resources; and even less public leisure provision than previously for the most disadvantaged groups of women.     

Altering Perceptions Through Repositioning: An Exercise in Framing

This research was conducted to examine the efficacy of repositioning public parks and recreation services in the public mind. Respondents were recruited at various venues throughout a large Canadian city and randomly assigned to one of five groups. After reading hypothetical newspaper format articles, respondents completed questionnaires investigating their beliefs, attitudes, and behavioral intentions regarding a local recreation agency's efforts to reduce youth crime. Four treatment messages contained various combinations of real, psychological, and competitive repositioning messages, while a control group received no information. All types of repositioning messages were effective in improving beliefs and behavioral intentions, but not attitudes. There was no significant evidence that numerical treatment messages were more effective than non-numerical messages or that the cumulative effects of various repositioning messages were more effective than a single type of message. Discussion focuses on efficacy of various framing messages, on suggestions for future research related to repositioning, and on considerations related to social marketing efforts of this nature.     

Family Leisure and Leisure Service Provision: Making the Case for Including Perspectives from Practice

ABSTRACT

Research over the last 20 years has contributed to the conceptualization and theorizing about family leisure. Missing from this body of knowledge has been research that focuses on the provision of family leisure programs and services that includes the perspectives of practitioners. Also missing from this research are the perspectives of those who engage in programs and services that have been designed for or offered to families. The first purpose of this article is to, through a discussion of the literature, demonstrate the potential value of engaging recreation and leisure agencies in research that advances knowledge about how family leisure is practiced in program and service contexts. The second purpose is to identify potential areas of inquiry that not only will contribute to advancing theory about family leisure but also support practice in delivering recreation and leisure programs and services for families.     

Travel and Leisure Services Preferences and Patronage Motives of Older Consumers

The population is aging and the number of people over 55 (older consumers) is increasing. Firms which recognize the importance of the older consumer segment can use this demographic change to their advantage. However, the older consumer market is more heterogeneous than the younger consumer market when it comes to preferences, motives, and spending patterns. Travel and leisure services are no exception. This study reports the result of a large‐scale study that examined the responses to travel and leisure services and patronage motives of different age and lifestyle groups. The results suggest several marketing strategies that would be most appropriate for reaching older consumers of travel and leisure services.     

中国休闲渔业研究进展回顾与启示——基于Citespace知识图谱分析

休闲渔业是传统渔业和旅游休闲产业结合的产物,是旅游研究的分支,其在创新旅游发展方式、促进美丽乡村建设等方面发挥着重要作用。本研究以知网数据库核心期刊、CSSCI和CSCD中休闲渔业研究的文献为数据来源,利用Citespace计量并绘制相关知识图谱。分析发现,中国休闲渔业研究发展经历了起步探索和上升发展2个阶段,现已形成多学科共同参与的局面,研究架构基本建立。发展路径研究在休闲渔业研究内容体系中占较大比重,而休闲渔业概念内涵、资源分类及评价、产品形式、发展效益、营销管理也是学者们涉猎的领域。最后,结合实际背景为中国休闲渔业研究提出5点启示：持续建构理论体系、结合国家战略政策、聚焦“人-渔”关系、关注休闲渔业绿色低碳视角、将发展性议题研究作为主线,以期推动休闲渔业理论体系更新,从而为休闲渔业政策制定和产业现代化提供更好的经验支持。     

Implications of Prospect Theory for the Pricing of Leisure Services

Prospect theory evolved in psychology 35 years ago. It transitioned into economics, where it became one of the founding pillars of behavioral economics. This article uses prospect theory to inform explanations of the workings of eight heuristics used in pricing decisions: enterprise fund effect, semantic framing of discounts and premiums, promotional price, bundling and unbundling of services, hyperbolic discounting, endowment effect, sunk cost effect, and odd number pricing. Research is reviewed from the marketing, psychology, economics, and leisure literatures; examples are provided across a wide spectrum of leisure settings; and implications for leisure managers are suggested.     

Sex and the (seventeenth‐century) city: a research note towards a long history of leisure

Sociability and sexuality have long been acknowledged by scholars as core aspects of leisure, but historical quotidian practices such as heterosociability among young people have remained elusive. Sociologists as well as historians have elevated the interrogation of leisure to a rich area of specialisation, but one with limited historical depth since their attention has primarily focused on the last 200 years, and especially – by historians’ standards – the very recent past. This research note explores the centrality of heterosexuality as a key to youth leisure culture in seventeenth‐century French cities to argue that the pre‐modern history of leisure needs to be complicated not only by questions about class and about clearer categories of labour and leisure, but by the topics of gender and sexuality that are strikingly absent from current literature.     

SOS to my followers! The role of marketing communications in reinforcing online travel community value during times of crisis

The context faced by online travel agencies (OTAs) during the pandemic is nothing short of dramatic. During the state of emergency, marketing communications have proven essential to maintain emotional ties with online communities even though sales have plummeted to zero. This study analyses the social network communication strategy during the worst days of the crisis of two OTAs specialized in selling flights and in distributing activities, excursions, and guided tours at the world's top tourist destinations. This qualitative study, based on the observation of online activity and personal interviews with marketing managers, shows how to respond to a crisis, maintain brand identity and strengthen the support of the online community. With the help of the community and co-creation processes, the sector has been able to reinvent itself and new services have emerged. From selling flights, one of the studied OTAs has now changed to planning trips around the regions.     

Market Segmentation of Golf Event Spectators Using Leisure Benefits

The proliferation of golf events has provided increased opportunities to watch professional golf tournaments. The purpose of this study is to examine a variety of leisure benefits sought by Korean golf event spectators and provide useful marketing strategies to fulfill their needs. Within the contexts of leisure benefits, different individuals tend to assign different meanings to the same leisure experience. In this sense, golf event spectators are likely to pursue heterogeneous leisure benefits from their engagement. This study identified four distinct spectator groups (i.e., escape seekers, exercise seekers, interest seekers, and excitement seekers) and uncovered significant differences among these segments. Results provided empirical support that event-based sport tourism marketers need to implement diverse strategies to increase and reinforce their customer base.     

Women,shopping and leisure

This paper examines the social antecedents, occupational experiences and problems currently challenging executive managers within the public leisure services in Britain. It describes those processes involved in an historic development which has seen leisure managers moving from the margin to occupy a more central role in local government, and explores the major dificulties currently challenging senior managers who have experienced this process of status transition, including: power conflicts with established professional groups, difficulties associated with one's role, mission, occupational identity and philosophy. All of these problems are addressed by different types of managers in different ways. The paper identifies four characteristic types of managerial executive in leisure: ‘The Traditionalist’, ‘The Sports Centred’. ‘The Generalist Graduate’ and ‘The Second Chance Careerist’, and relates each of these to different class, cultural, gender and occupational experiences. It suggests that, whereas in the past, work in leisure management was conventionally perceived to be a low status and marginal occupational largely colonized by the aspirant working class, this pattern is now rapidly changing. A new type of confident middle class generalist graduate who extols the virtues of ‘the amateur’ and ‘the good all-rounder’ is rapidly colonizing elite roles in leisure management. These people provide a new cohort of leadership which will face both the professional and social problems challenging the public leisure services in the 1990s.     

In the quest for their trust: the perceptions of families on accessing leisure services for disabled children

This paper is based on the findings of a research project commissioned by a public body in the English Midlands, UK. Telephone surveys, focus groups and individual interviews were the data collection methods. It focuses on the perceptions of 44 families on the barriers to accessing leisure services for disabled children. Although there are numerous advantages for accessing such services, the findings showed that the families had very few successful experiences with the current provision due to a number of structural barriers. Trust was perceived as crucial to access these services.     

Shaping leisure/tourism places - the role of holiday home owners: a case study of Courtown,Co. Wexford,Ireland

The formation of partnerships with the public, non‐profit and commercial sectors is becoming an increasingly common way for leisure service departments in local government to fulfil their mandate under conditions of economic restraint, political pressures and increased demand for services. However, these departments often lack the capacity to successfully manage the number and complexity of partnerships initiated. While under‐managed partnerships have been identified as a significant problem in the literature, little attention has been devoted to understanding the organizational dynamics that underpin them. Interviews with leisure service managers and staff in ten Canadian cities were conducted, revealing a lack of guidelines, insufficient training, poor coordination and a number of other problems contributing to under‐managed partnerships. This warrants further research and attention because it can lead to unsuccessful partnerships and negative consequences for all partners involved.     

A content analysis of travel agency web‐sites in Korea

The Internet has become a dominant issue in today's tourism environment. This paper is to provide large travel agencies in Korea with a better understanding of their Web‐based competitive environment. A content analysis of the top 60 travel agencies Web‐sites in Korea suggests that many travel agencies do not develop their own Web‐sites and although travel agencies are using the Web, they have not, as yet, fully utilized capabilities of Web‐sites. This study also suggests some implications for successful cyber tourism marketing, including the establishment of a Web‐site, on‐line selling, customer supports, and cyber marketing mix strategy on the Web. Limitations and further research issues are also suggested.     

Information search behavior of Hong Kong's inbound travelers‐a comparison of business and leisure travelers

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine the information search behavior of Hong Kong's inbound tourists, in particular business and leisure travelers. The study clearly shows that business and leisure travelers demonstrate different information search behavior. ‘Personal experience,’ ‘Travel agency/tour company,’ ‘Airlines’ and the ‘Internet’ are most frequently relied upon by business travelers in searching for travel information, while leisure travelers prefer ‘Travel agency/tour company,’ ‘Friends or relatives,’ ‘Travel guide books,’ and ‘Personal experience.’ The study also reveals that the total number of information sources used and the length of pre‐trip planning lead‐time are significantly different between these two groups of travelers. First time travelers also have a longer pre‐trip planning lead‐time than repeat travelers. Furthermore, business and leisure travelers perceive the levels of influence of several information sources, including ‘Corporate travel departments,’ ‘Friends or relatives,’ ‘Travel guide books,’ and the ‘Internet,’ differently. These information sources were classified into five different dimensions, including ‘Media,’ ‘Neutral,’ ‘Retail,’ ‘Interpersonal,’ and ‘Personal experience.’ Analysis based on travelers' purpose for traveling and demographic information was performed. Leisure travelers perceive the level of influence of ‘Neutral’ sources as significantly higher, and those with lower household incomes perceived the level of influence of ‘Personal experience’ as lower. The results of this study will allow marketers in Hong Kong to better understand travelers’ information search behavior so that they can more effectively tailor their marketing strategies to these two major markets.     

Five issues in tourism marketing in the 1990s

This article outlines five major issues facing tourism marketing in the 1990s. (1) Advertising must become more creative and channelled through specifically targeted media vehicles. (2) Customer expectations and service provision must be carefully matched. (3) Tourism promotion must present travel as the superior leisure time activity to ward off competition from local community leisure products and consumer durables. (4) The industry must be able to make a rapid and appropriate response to catastrophies. (5) More accurate measures of the effectiveness of marketing campaigns must be developed. Resolution of these issues will assure the industry's continued success.