Executive Summary

DEFINING THE MARKET

There is no universally recognised definition of leisure and recreation. This Review uses a broad definition to cover the following activities and markets:

• media consumption and reading; listening to music at home
• gardening and do-it-yourself (DIY)
• sports and keeping fit
• catering (eating and drinking outside the home) and gambling
• cinema, theatre, museums and `the arts'
• tourist attractions and short breaks (although long holidays or any trips abroad have been excluded).

LEISURE SPENDING

According to government statistics, consumer spending on these leisure activities and products rose by 30.5% between 1995 and 1999, reaching a total of £154.23bn. The leisure share of consumer spending rose from 27% to 27.5% in this period. Key Note forecasts that the share will continue to rise, but not as dramatically as some commentators have suggested.

THE TIME FACTOR

Working, commuting and duties such as childcare put a premium on time for leisure for the modern consumer, but many people have adopted a `having-it-all' approach to their lifestyles. This means they take part in more activities than ever before, even if it is only for a few minutes a day (leisure at home) or on an occasional basis (going out to eat, to the cinema or to sports events and concerts).

Overall, watching television (TV) is the most time-consuming leisure activity, but time-use surveys show that more people than ever before manage to fit in reading (books, newspapers and magazines are all important markets) and listening to music or to the radio.

Other calls on leisure time are made by friends and relatives, with entertaining at home particularly popular for families; gardening and DIY, where the investment is partly related to providing a pleasant home for entertaining; and keeping fit, either by exercising at home or in a health club, or just taking long, regular walks.

CATERING AS LEISURE

Eating out is more popular than ever, although take-home drink has grown faster than drinking in public houses (pubs) or clubs. The major pub-landlords are innovating much more in order to attract customers back to pubs in the era of drink-driving restrictions, home viewing and take-home drinks. The concepts being used include family pubs, large `superpubs' in city centres, traditional real ale pubs and sports bars.

The variety of restaurants available in the UK helps to maintain the growth of eating out. Favourites for many consumers are Asian restaurants, European bistros or pub-restaurants. Fast food is increasingly popular, and more burger and pizza outlets open each year.

ENTERTAINMENT VENUES

With more and more consumers content to have a meal out as their main leisure experience outside the home, efforts have to be made to attract them to venues such as cinemas and theatres.

There was a revival in cinema-going during the late 1980s and early 1990s, but the market has flattened off recently and audiences are still youth-dominated. New multiplex cinemas are being built, but often within, or adjacent to, property complexes, which house other leisure or retailing attractions. Theatres have suffered a loss of popularity outside the West End, where big-budget productions continue to attract large audiences, both domestic and foreign.

SPORT AND FITNESS

For many younger people, sport is the focus of leisure, whether it be taking part, watching on TV or at live events, or a combination of all three. Leisure time for physical activity is increasingly spent on keeping fit for fitness sake rather than playing a competitive sport. For the typical older consumer, swimming and long walks are the main forms of exercise.

Publicly-owned leisure centres are the main venues for participation, but private health clubs are taking over as the preferred leisure destinations for many people. The boom in building health clubs has been a central feature of the leisure market recently. Several former brewers, hoteliers or attractions operators now concentrate exclusively on building health clubs.

In professional sport, football is more dominant than ever in terms of live spectating and TV.

GAMBLING AND THE NATIONAL LOTTERY

Some sports are closely linked to gambling, but the creation of a National Lottery in 1994 transformed the typical consumer's approach to gambling. Total spending on gambling increased by over 50% in the Lottery's first year, although it has levelled off since.

While the Lottery had a negative impact on other forms of gambling, some deregulation measures have helped them to compete. The bookmaking business is being transformed by the growth of online betting and offshore sites, which avoid gambling taxes.

NEW TECHNOLOGY IMPACTS

Although technology has had some impact on entertainment outside the home (e.g. displays in museums and large-screen TVs in pubs), the main effect has been felt in leisure at home. Multichannel TV is available to more homes, although interactive services could produce a more major change in home entertainment.

The use of the Internet is still settling down as a type of leisure, and it may eventually have more impact indirectly, rather than directly, on leisure pursuits, by saving time spent commuting or shopping.

WORK AND LEISURE RELATIONSHIPS

One of the ironies of the leisure market is the long hours that consumers have to work in order to afford a leisurely break. This is typified by the growth of hotel weekends or day-trips to attractions such as theme parks. These relatively expensive breaks are seen as a reward for intense periods of working and investing in the home.

Hotel groups have encouraged the domestic short breaks, which are favoured by affluent consumers whose main holidays are now taken abroad. Companies such as Bass PLC, Whitbread PLC and Hilton Group PLC have invested heavily in hotels recently (both in the UK and abroad), sometimes disposing of other leisure businesses to do so.

LEISURE SUPPLIERS

Recent years have seen the break-up of several large `leisure conglomerates' which developed during the 1980s and 1990s. Most suppliers are now specifically devoted to their market niches, examples being the bookmaker William Hill (once part of Brent Walker); Gala bingo clubs, formerly owned by Bass; and Odeon Cinemas, bought out from the Rank Group in 2000.

Large groups like Bass and Rank are still influential in leisure trends, however, along with Granada Group PLC (hotels, catering and broadcasting), Whitbread (pubs, restaurants and hotels) and Hilton Group (hotels, Ladbroke bookmakers and casinos).

In media and home entertainment, the opposite trend has occurred — towards broader groups, operating on a global scale, not a national level. Examples of these with a strong influence in the UK are News Corporation, based in Australia, the owner of Sky TV, several national newspapers, and a major book publisher; America On-Line (AOL)/Time Warner, which plans to merge its music division with the UK's EMI Group; and Bertelsmann of Germany, a force in books, magazines and music.

FORECASTS

In the early years of the 21st century, expenditure on leisure activities will not necessarily increase at a much faster rate than the economy as a whole. Much of this is due to work pressures — an increasing number of women now work full time, and many people are working longer hours. Leisure expenditure is also likely to be spread over a widening range of activities, with some consumers willing to invest heavily in particular hobbies, rather than spreading their spending over a number of activities.

Key Note forecasts that the sectors covered in this Review will see market growth between 2000 and 2004, albeit at varying rates.

Tenth Edition 2000
Edited by Simon Howitt
ISBN 1-85765-988-0

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