Location,location, location: women’s leisure in rural Australia

For many women living in rural Australia the location of both leisure and work is the family farm, a location that defines their identity as a ‘women of the land’. This paper investigates the impact of geographical location in shaping the leisure activities of rural women living in the Yass Valley Region of Australia. Using an interpretive research perspective and a process of narrative inquiry, data for the study were obtained from women born between 1946 and 1964 through open-ended, in-depth interviews. A thematic analysis of the data revealed that for these women the specific geographical location had a strong impact on the types of leisure activities available in which they were able to participate. The findings from this study suggest that for older women in rural Australia, the specific geographical location can facilitate or inhibit the degree of involvement in community leisure activities that engender social capital among older women living in these locations.     

Little leisure in the Big Society

The Big Society is a government and governance project that brings into question the existing relationship between the state and the citizen in the UK. One aspect of that changing relationship is the way in which government is willing and able to govern the population’s discretionary or leisure time. The success of the Big Society is dependent on a reorientation of leisure time use towards civic or voluntary action. In this policy analysis, the Big Society concept is deconstructed to examine the importance of leisure as a key determinant in meeting policy objectives. Time-use evidence is reviewed to explore the difficult question of how much scope there is for a reorientation of time-use that will go some way to realising the ambitions of the Big Society. The invisibility of leisure as an operationalised policy concept is revealed as a factor that ultimately limits the success of the project. An argument for including leisure in the Big Society policy discourse and decision-making is presented.     

Understanding the Motivation and Travel Behavior of Cycle Tourists Using Involvement Profiles

Bicycle tourism is a growing niche tourism market which has potential economic, social, and environmental outcomes for individual participants and host communities. However, there has been a lack of research into heterogeneity of this market and their respective motivations and behavior. This article applies the concept of enduring involvement, in conjunction with tourist motivational theory, to segment and better understand cycle tourist behavior and intentions. A total of 564 completed questionnaires was collected from an online survey of bicycle club members in Australia. Respondents were segmented into five initial clusters by their level of enduring involvement. A number of significant differences were found on their travel motivations, travel behavior, and behavioral intentions, as well as their sociodemographics and cycling behavior. The results lend support to the application of enduring involvement in a tourism context to better understand the behavior of niche markets which include popular leisure pursuits. Recommendations as a result of the findings are made for product development and marketing communication, while future research opportunities are also outlined.     

Behavioral Adaptation of Alpine Skiers to Climate Change: Examining Activity Involvement and Place Loyalty

This study employed a visitor survey to analyze the influence that changing climatic conditions have on the substitution behaviors of alpine skiers (activity, spatial, temporal). It further focuses on the role that activity involvement plays in influencing behavioral adaptations (i.e., substitution) and also the extent to which place loyalty is affected. The Modified Involvement Scale (MIS) was used to segment respondents based on high, medium, and low levels of leisure involvement with activity. Highly involved skiers were more likely to change their skiing behavior as a result of poor snow conditions than were less involved individuals. Pritchard's Psychological Commitment Index (PCI) provided evidence that less involved skiers exhibit lower levels of commitment to particular service providers than do highly involved individuals.     

Sex: The Power of the Powerless? The Use of Sex as a Spousal Influence Strategy in Vacation Purchase Decisions

This study is the first to test empirically the common notion regarding sexual manipulation as a spousal influence strategy during couples' vacation purchasing decisions. The study examined whether the use of sex as a spousal influence strategy is more prevalent among individuals who have less marital power than their spouses. Marital power is treated as two-dimensional: the first dimension is objective and composed of actual economic resources; the second is subjective and composed of feelings. A sample of 192 married or cohabiting men evaluated their own and their partner's use of sex as a means of exerting influence during a vacation decision process. Female subjects with low levels of subjective marital power and male subjects with low levels of objective marital power used sex as a spousal influence strategy at a higher frequency. The study found that during a vacation decision process, the use of sex as a spousal influence strategy is impacted by the marital power balance between the spouses. Second, economic power is not the dominant factor that affects the use of this influence strategy; rather, it is interpersonal power that is influential. The findings imply that sex may be used as a power strategy by the powerless.     

Prioritization of Facilitation Strategies of Park and Recreation Agencies Through DEMATEL Analysis

Rural park and recreation agencies introduce facilitation strategies to mitigate rural park visitation leisure constraints. Using Taiwanese population as sample, this article used leisure constraints concept and Decision Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) method to help agencies to prioritize facilitation strategies. DEMATEL analysis showed that constraints overlap in the consumer's mind. Impact of constraints vs sum of rows r map informs agencies which constraints should be given the priority to mitigate. DEMATEL influence map shows how facilitation strategies that allay priority constraints impact other constraints. Although this method is applied for rural park visitation, it is context neutral and can be applied to other leisure activities.     

借鉴台湾经验发展海南休闲农业的探讨

琼台两地同属岛屿型经济,在地理气候、土地面积、农业资源和人文习俗等诸多方面都有相似之处。目前,海南省休闲农业发展还处在起步阶段,而台湾省的休闲农业起步较早,已经步入比较成熟的发展阶段。海南省应借鉴台湾省休闲农业在发展方向与目标、政策与措施、经营与管理等方面的成功经验,通过加强组织领导,切实搞好规划;创新发展机制,规范行业管理;优化发展环境,强化政策扶持;实施人才战略,促进相互合作等一系列措施,大力推进休闲农业快速发展。     

基于环境偏好的旅游者山地度假环境期望分异——以湖南武陵源为例

山地度假环境问题是山地度假旅游开发的重要方面,研究意义重大。基于度假环境的偏好划分湖南武陵源旅游者的类型,探索其山地度假环境期望的差异,寻求度假环境偏好对期望的影响。利用聚类分析方法将旅游者分为高度假环境偏好型、低度假环境偏好型两类。结合独立样本T检验,揭示其对度假环境期望的差异,最后据此提出了张家界武陵源发展山地度假旅游的建议．     

休闲旅游视角下的森林公园研究综述

在影响森林公园发展的各种因素中,休闲旅游是一个重要的因素,休闲时代的来临使得其与森林公园的关系研究成为部分学者研究的重点。回顾和总结森林公园发展与休闲旅游关系的相关研究成果,系统梳理森林公园与休闲旅游的内在逻辑,以森林公园转型为主题,找出理论和实证研究的主要视角,并探讨下一步需要继续深入研究的问题。理论研究上,人们的休闲偏好、心理需求、消费特征以及其他因素都会影响森林公园的规划、形象定位、项目设计、休闲旅游产品与发展模式;通过实证分析对上述理论研究进行印证。     

Adventures,auctions and aspirations: Illuminating shifts,tensions and contradictions in consumers' leisure shopping experiences

Drawing upon the work of Simmel ([1907–1911] 1971) and other socioculturally oriented theoreticians (e.g. Campbell 1987; Thompson et al. 1994), this paper illuminates the composite and dynamic character of leisure shopping. Using three overarching themes – the adventure, the auction and the aspiration – the paper illustrates that leisure shopping experiences comprise a synthesis of opposites, involving dynamic shifts between for example spontaneity and control, delight and disappointment, dreams and fantasies as well as rational calculations and purposive planning. Leisure shopping is thus described as a form of rational recreation (Lash and Urry 2002), where consumers seek pleasure in highly rationalized ways.