E1.4 - Factors affecting personal participation in sports and tourism = including affluence, gender sage in lifestyle, personality, place of residence

Changes in leisure in the USA

Affluence

• Low income families/families with children are often excluded from sports participation as they face a harsher financial burden

Gender

• Physiology - physical strength of women is physically less than men, which can limit women from participating in sport due to their limited physical abilities

• Media: Male sports dominate global commercial revenue, mainstream media coverage, and elite performance records (eg. NBA; 1.6 million vs WNBA; 771,000 per game)

• Patriarchal societies limit women from participating in sports + if family participates, more likely for the child to also do so

• Societal/cultural = women as the domestic housekeepers

Affluence

The state of having a great deal of money, property, or material possessions along with a high standard of living

Reasons for the gender sports gap in the UK

Reasons for participation in sport by women:

• Feeling “in good shape” + health

• Weight control

• Appearance

• Social factors = friends also participating

Barriers:

• Fear of being judged

• Fear of judgement of spending time on themselves rather than on their families

Main reasons reported for not participating in tourism by age group

• All: Financial reasons 52%

• 65 years or over: Health reasons 46%

• 15-24 years: work or study commitments 28%

Personalities

Personality profiles affect:

• Desire to travel

• Frequency of travel

• Type of travel

• Destination choice

• Type of activity

Pyschographic personality types

• Allocentric/Venturer

• Near allocentric/venutrer

• Centric (Centric Venturer/Centric Depenable)

• Near Psychocentric/Near Dependable

• Psychocentric/Dependable

Allocentrics/Venturers

• Tourists who seek new experiences and adventure in a wide range of activities

• Outgoing and self-confident in behavior

• Not prefer modern/chain hotels = have the freedom to experience an area, make their own arrangements and choose a variety of activities/tourist destinations

Psychocentric/dependables

• Non-adventuresome

• Prefers to return to familiar travel destinations where they can relax/know what types of food/activity to expect

• Preferences to drive to destinations, stay in typical accommodations and eat in family style restaurants

Place of residence

• Availability of facilities, eg golf or tennis courses

• Accessibility, eg road links, airports and ports

• Political factors - power of passports, gov policy on sport and leisure

• Environmental factors - weather, relief