Impact of Sociology and Psychology Factors on Leisure/Tourism Activity

As you are no doubt well aware, this entire project has been a labor of love for Matt and I. As a group we ran into one road block after another. If nothing else, this project has taught me that everything will not go smoothly, no matter how good the intensions and how to persevere in the face of adversity.

Tourism is a dynamic and competitive industry that requires the ability to adapt constantly to customers' changing needs and desires, as the customer’s satisfaction, safety and enjoyment are particularly the focus of tourism businesses. In her book Rosalie Schwartz defines tourists as “sedentary people who leave home for pleasure and intend to return.” But “leisure creates work, it requires the work from others to ensure tourists find the pleasure they’re looking for.” Schwartz thesis in the book is that tourism in Cuba completely changed the social and economic aspect of the island; the author focuses in three tourist peaks in Cuba starting in 1920s, 1950s, and finally the 1980s.

Almost everyone has some kind of leisure time whether it is a couple hours or a couple days. What varies is the type of recreational activities people choose to do during that time. Although leisure and recreation is chosen based on ones unique individual interests, there are many sociocultural factors that influence the type of recreational activities we do, when we do it and how often we do it. These factors include political,

Research on leisure constraints have shown that recent immigrants and refugees experience a bigger change in leisure patterns compared to their long-standing counterparts (Juniu 2000, Stodolska, 2000). As time in the US increases leisure participation will gradually increase as well, which could be due to improved language skills and cultural knowledge.

Culture, ethnicity and race affects people's leisure choices in a variety of ways. First of all, culture affects people's leisure choices such as people in the India or Afghanistan are famous for playing cricket. Race and ethnicity also affects my personal leisure choices based on my cultural and religious views. Living in a diverse society, with racists and different ethnic backgrounds we have different views of leisure. Education, income, employment, race and beliefs affect everyone’s leisure choices. For example, more wealthier individuals like to play golf. Golf is considered to a sport for rich people and

Veal, A. J., 2006. Research Methods for Leisure and Tourism. 3rd ed. Beijing: China Renmin University Press.

communities (2015), Monika Stodolska evaluates the multiple roles leisure and recreation play in the lives of ethnic and racial minorities. Stodolska (2015) examines the possible constraints that affect minorities’ participation in leisure and their use of recreation resources to provide methods for recreation providers working in multi-ethnic communities. Leisure and recreation play vital roles in the lives of ethnic and racial minorities. This article shows that leisure and recreation provide a number of advantages to minorities, this including facilitating interracial/intergroup contacts, creating opportunities for learning and cultural exchange,

As the population of Canada ages different demands are put on the recreation and leisure service industry. The 'baby boomer' generation (born 1946 - 1964) have a different set of ideals and values compared to modern generations. This can often make it difficult to meet and plan around their needs. It is important to find out what type of leisure this group enjoys, what is beneficial to them, possible methods of education and their own individual expectations of leisure. The following articles will outline an in-depth understanding of these topics, and how they all work together to form a better future for this demographic.

Douglas, N., Douglas, N., & Derrett, R. (Eds.). (2001), Special interest tourism: context and cases. Australia: John Wiley and Sons

As I was contemplating a topic for this paper on, I happened to be reading the chapter in Pastimes, our textbook, which talks about ecotourism and sustainable tourism. I frankly had never really considered the impact millions of visitors had on a state Park or national monument, and the idea of sustainable tourism as defined by Russell, “controlling visitation to tourist sites so that impacts are neither permanent or irreversible.” I found myself thinking more and more about leisure pursuits and how they do impact society as a whole. For example if I am a kayaker, what were the impacts of producing my kayak on the environment? What is the impact of me kayaking on fish and other wildlife in the river or lake ? Being a student, I don’t travel much and I am not a kayaker, but what about my own leisure activities? How does my primary hobby, gardening, either positively or negatively impact the environment and/or society as a

The diagram above shows recreation, leisure, sports, tourism, and parks as being interconnected, with each possibly depending on each other for success. Recreation refers to an activity that in individual participates in with a structured timeframe (Introduction, 2013, p. 4). Leisure has multiple meanings, one being “Unobligated time, state of being, and consumption patterns,” in addition to occurring outside of working life (Introduction, 2013, p. 4). Sport occurs during leisure time, either as an active participant or as a spectator. Tourism refers to travel, particularly away from home for a specific period of time. Parks are protected lands that are available for the utilization of the public. Again, the diagram shows how each of these concepts may overlap. Yet, even though these concepts can connect and overlap they can also exist individually.

These social impacts affect on the local people of host communities of their direct and indirect association with tourists. Tourists come face to face with the object of exchanging information and ideas. This situation is more important for international understandings. The tourist is mobile, relaxed, free spending; enjoying the leisure and absorbing the experience of being in a different places whereas the local people are stationary and employed in the tourist industry, spend a large portion of the time for needs and desire of visitors. The demonstration effect is also an aspect of the direct social impact of tourism. Tourist influences the behavior of the host population. The local people tend to observe and learn the life style of the richer visitors from affluent societies and try to emulate their way of life. However expansion of tourism, cause cultural commercialization, increase in crime rate, gambling, drug abuse, prostitution is common. Thus impacts of tourism on traditional life styles are important, where these traditions are considered from the basis of the tourism

Thank you for your time and consideration regarding this proposal for a sporting event, surfing, for the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games. In the report that follows, there will be several elements. There will be an introduction to the report, an explanation of the event, justification of the event with respect to the perspective of stakeholders, and a recommendation or conclusion at the end of the report. Other elements include identification of stakeholders and consumers, ample research of surfing culture, surfing tourism, surfing as it relates to sports science & engineering, and the history of surfing as tourism in Australia, with specific attention to the Gold Coast. The proposal serves to answer questions, address concerns, and define the event as a way to positively promote tourism, sustainable living, entertainment, and economic activity.

Numerous attempts to understand the complex inner works of human behaviour and motivation have been sought amongst researchers in the tourism field for many years. After all, motivation is ‘the trigger that sets off all events in travel’ (Parrinello, 1993 cited in Sharpley, 1994), thus making it the most indispensable subject in tourism studies. Hence, it is the aim of this paper to critically examine the different theories on travel motivations and tourism behaviour typologies and discuss their usefulness for practitioners involved in marketing and planning tourism. The first part of the discussion will be focused on the existing theories on ‘push factors’ that drive upon individuals the desire to travel, and the latter part, will look at

Concerning tourism development, the socio-cultural changes which occur in the community are more often than not seen as negative, with the positive contributions been underplayed or totally ignored. Though it is difficult to measure the influence of tourism on socio-cultural changes, the extent of the impact can be determined by the change in value and logic system, religious beliefs, tradition, lifestyle, behavioural patterns, etc (Inskeep, 1991). The relationship between tourism development and social and cultural characteristics of a society is non-linear; as well as negative effects, tourism development can also have