Effects Of Leisure Lifestyle

2492 Words10 Pages
1. Introduction
Owing to the effects of globalization and an ageing society, an emerging population of elderly who possess higher spending power, abundant discretionary time and willingness to spend on leisure has been on the rise worldwide.
In a study conducted in Japan, “The top two expenditure items, travel and leisure activities, and dining and entertainment, will account for over 76% of total discretionary spending by the elderly of Japan” (Wong, 2007). From the same excerpt, “They are spending on having new experiences, seeing new sights and tasting new flavors; not just acquiring new material things”.
This illustrates the worldwide trend that elderly with the luxury of free time and discretionary income have taken to pursuing an active leisure lifestyle to increase quality of life and promote active ageing. Therefore, this literature review seeks to explore various key factors which affect the leisure lifestyles and choices of elderly worldwide.
In an excerpt from The Park and Recreation Professional’s Handbook (Hurd & Anderson, 2010), leisure can broadly be defined in three concepts, leisure as time, leisure as activity and leisure as state of mind. Leisure as time is defined as “time free from obligations, work, and tasks required for existing”, while leisure as activity refers to activities that people engage in during their free time, excluding time spent on fulfilling survival needs such as sleeping and eating. The concept of leisure as a state of mind on the