The pursuit of leisure
There is a seismic change coming in the way people will buy leisure time in the future, and how the hospitality industry is going to have to approach marketing. These are just some of the radical findings of a report commissioned from economic researchers at the Henley Centre by the Joint Hospitality Industry Congress (JHIC), due to be announced at a conference in London on 7 July.
JHIC chairman Jeremy Logie says that the research became necessary because of the social and technological revolutions of the past few years. "This has always been a changing market, but it's on a roller-coaster at the moment," he explains. "We've grown concerned at the speed of developments and needed to find out where the focus should be."
The 50-page report, sponsored by Barclays, has been written by Justin Worsley, associate director of the Henley Centre. He says that the three months spent in research involved interviewing 2,500 people across Britain, plus taking input from the Henley Centre's own economic forecasting unit.
Working wonders
One of the key findings of the report, says Worsley, is that leisure activity will increasingly be built around the workplace rather than the home. "Work is becoming the cornerstone for all things," he says. "We were promised that, by the year 2000, we would become a leisure society, with a 25-hour working week. The reverse has happened - people are having to work longer hours. This will impact on leisure spend.
"When people put their lives together, they put work first and are choosing to do social activities immediately after work with work colleagues, rather than go home, eat, change and then go out for leisure.
"That's why there is such growth in city centre wine-bars and theme pubs that target the lunchtime and after-work social drink, and a falling off of business for community pubs. The home is not the centre of the universe anymore, work is - and the hospitality industry must adapt to this."
Another finding of the research is the importance of the energy factor in midweek leisure-time buying. This, says Worsley, is when people are just too tired to make an effort to dress up and go somewhere special. "There is going to be a growth in low-energy dining," he says. "People want to just pull on a pair of jeans and go somewhere simple. This is why restaurants such as Pizza Express are doing so well."
Supermarkets have recognised this trend and are pushing home meal replacement for people too tired to cook, says Worsley.
On the impact of technology on leisure spending, the report says that the next generation of mobile phones will have a huge impact on leisure spend. "Operators will use the phone to send v-mails [video-mails] of offers that are happening," says Worsley, "and customers will use them to search for the best deal happening right now."
He concludes: "Customers are also beginning to realise their value and will demand better deals. Leisure is going to become an even greater customer-driven market."
