The Economics of Leisure and Recreation

The Economics of Leisure and Recreation

STUDIES IN PLANNING AND CONTROL General Editors B. T. Bayliss, B.Sc.(Econ.), Ph.D. Director, Centre for European Industrial Studies University of Bath and G. M. Heal, M.A., Ph.D. Professor of Economics University of Sussex Further titles in preparation

THE ECONOMICS OF LEISURE AND RECREATION R. W. Vickerman Lecturer in Economics The University of Hull

ISBN 978-1-349-02608-1 ISBN 978-1-349-02606-7 (ebook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-02606-7 R. W. Vickerman 1975 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1975 978-0-333-18300-7 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without permission First published 1975 by THE MACMILLAN PRESS LTD London and Basingstoke Associated companies in New York Dublin Melbourne Johannesburg and Madras SBN 333 18300 2 This book is sold subject to the standard conditions of the Net Book Agreement.

To My Mother and the Memory of My Father

Contents List of Tables ix Preface xi 1 INTRODUCTION 1 2 CoNCEPTS AND TRENDS IN LEISURE 5 Leisure-An Introduction and some Definitions 5 Leisure and Leisure Travel 8 Trends in Leisure and Leisure Travel 12 Conclusions 28 3 THE ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF LEISURE PROJECTS 31 Objectives 31 The Cost-Benefit Analysis Framework 32 The Application of Cost-Benefit in Leisure Projects 39 An Evaluation Procedure 50 4 CONSUMER DEMAND FOR LEISURE AND RECREATION 52 Goods, Activities and Movement 52 The Value of Time 59 The Demand for Travel-An Economic Model 66 Approaches to the Demand Model 68 Conclusion 72 5 THE DETERMINANTS OF RECREATIONAL ACTIVITY PATTERNS 73 A Model of Recreation Activity 73 Domestic and External Activities 89 Committed Activities and Short-run Flexibility 91 Complementarity and Substitutability 92 Conclusions 94 6 THE DEMAND FOR LEISURE TRAVEL-CONSTRUCTING AN OPERATIONAL MODEL 96 A Basic Travel Demand Model 96 Attraction and Accessibility 106 Car-ownership 111 Prospect of Model Evaluation 113 vii

7 THE DEMAND FOR LEISURE TRAVEL-EMPIRICAL RESULTS 115 The Data 115 The Regression Model 122 Analysis of the Determinants 127 Economic Factors 132 Social Factors 132 Locational Factors 135 Some Conclusions 142 8 THE LEISURE SECTOR IN AN URBAN AREA 144 The Economics of Location of Leisure Facilities 144 The Spatial Supply of Leisure Facilities 155 Spatial Supply and Mobility 162 9 ECONOMIC PLANNING OF RECREATION FACILITIES 165 Considerations in Recreation Planning 166 Pricing and Investment Policy for Recreation 174 Conclusions-Recreation and Urban Planning 186 10 CONCLUSIONS AND PROGNOSIS 188 A Case Study 188 Planning Implications 194 Modelling Implications 195 Research Priorities 196 Concluding Remarks 196 Appendix A LEISURE ACTIVITIES SuRVEY 198 Appendix B NOTES REFERENCES INDEX THE NATIONAL TRAVEL SURVEY-SOURCES AND DEFINITIONS 200 203 215 225 viii

List of Tables 2.1 Expenditure on Leisure-related items, 1957-72 13 2.2 Average Weekly Hours Worked, 1947-73 14 2.3 Holidays with Pay, 1951-70 16 2.4 Trends in Cinema, 1950-72 17 2.5 Trends in Organised Recreation, 1950-68 18 2.6 Participation and Desires in Organised Recreation 18 2.7 Distances to Public Recreation Facilities 20 2.8 Participation in Public Recreation Facilities 21 2.9 Development of National Parks, 1950-55 21 2.10 Development of Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, 1956-73 21 2.11 Development of Country Parks, 1969-73 21 2.12 Development of Long-distance Footpaths, 1965-73 21 2.13 Trends in Aggregate Consumption of Transport, 1952-72 24 2.14 Average Weekly Travel by Car for Main Journey Purposes, 1961 and 1965 25 2.15 Average Stage Lengths for Car Journeys, 1961 and 1965 25 2.16 Trends in Journey-purpose Usage of London Transport, 1954-65 26 2.17 Visits to Public Open Spaces, Country or Seaside, 1965-6 27 2.18 Trip Generation Patterns in Different Types of Area, 1965 28 5.1 Levels of Participation in Selected Activities 77 5.2 Explanatory Variables of Activity Patterns 78 5.3 Basic Regression Results-Activity Model 80 5.4 Income and Recreational Participation 81 5.5 Daily Hours Worked and Recreational Participation 81 5.6 Travel Time from Work and Recreational Participation 82 5.7 Distribution of Sample with respect to Access to and from 5.8 Place of Work Socio-economic Group and Recreational Participation 82 83 5.9 Industry of Employment and Recreational Participation 83 5.10 Age and Recreational Participation 84 5.11 Size of Household and Recreational Participation 87 5.12 Relations in Area and Recreational Participation 88 ix

5.13 Length of Residence and Recreational Participation 88 5.14 Variations in Time Availability 90 5.15 Correlation Matrix of Activity Participation 93 7.1 Recreational and Leisure Travel Patterns in Great Britain, 1965 118 7.2 Recreational and Leisure Mileage in Great Britain, 1965 118 7.3 Comparison of Modal Split on Recreation and Leisure Trips-Selected Regions, 1965 120 7.4 Comparison of Trip Generation and Modal Split for Carowning and Non-car-owning Households, 1965 121 7.5 Summary of Independent Variables 123 7.6 Equation Structure for the Non-car-owners-Selected Regions 125 7.7 Equation Structures for Car-owners-Selected Regions 126 7.8 Recreation Travel in the North-west-Non-car-owners 128 7.9 Recreation Travel in the North-west-Car-owners 129 7.10 Personal Income and Leisure Mobility, Great Britain, 1965 133 7.11 Household Income and Non-work Mobility, Great Britain, 1965 133 7.12 Household Income and Modal Choice for Non-work Travel, Great Britain, 1965 134 7.13 Occupational Status and Non-work Mobility, Great Britain, 1965 134 7.14 Age and Sex Leisure Mobility, Great Britain, 1965 135 7.15 General Type of Area and Leisure Mobility, Great Britain, 1965 136 7.16 Detailed Type of Area and Non-work Mobility, Great Britain, 1965 137 7.17 Detailed Type of Area and Mode Usage, Great Britain, 1965 138 7.18 Population Density and Mode Usage, Great Britain, 1965 138 7.19 Accessibility of Rail Transport 139 7.20 Accessibility of Bus Transport 140 7.21 Accessibility of Rail and Rail Trip Generation 140 7.22 Accessibility of Bus and Bus Trip Generation 141 7.23 Stage-length Distributions for Journey Purposes 141 7.24 Leisure Mobility by Day of Week 142 8.1 Distribution of Recreation Facilities, Oxford 157 8.2 Standardised Distribution of Recreation Facilities, Oxford 157 8.3 Clustering Indices-Retail and Recreational Establishments 160 8.4 Zero-order Correlation Matrix for Zonal Location of Establishments 161 X

Preface Leisure and recreation are important subjects of study for all social scientists. For the economist they raise a large number of interesting questions of both a theoretical and practical, policy-oriented, nature. This book is an attempt to draw together the relevant economic considerations in a comprehensive study of all aspects of leisure and recreation viewed as a sector of the economy. It is both theoretical and empirical. The empirical evidence has been drawn from a variety of sources, including some specifically collected from a survey for this study, to test the various hypothesis posed; it is in no sense a specific case study, however, the aim has been towards generality of application. As well as being a study of the application of economics to an area which is being increasingly investigated by economists, I hope the book will be intelligible to planners and those of other social science disciplines interested in the problems posed by leisure and recreation. I have particularly tried to draw out the implications of the study for planning decisions and to identify the main interferences with the other disciplines. The mathematical and statistical content has been kept to a minimum except where it eases the presentation of ideas; I hope that these parts will not prove too naive for the specialist nor too complex for the general reader. Since this is a relatively new area of study, I have detailed a large number of other sources throughout the text which are collected together for easy reference at the end of the book. These should help both the non-economist who wishes to trace the economic concepts used further and the economist who wishes to seek a spectrum of the work done so far on leisure and recreation as well as the reader new to both subjects. This book has its origins in some research into the demand for passenger transport which I started whilst a research student at the University of Sussex in 1969. I became increasingly dissatisfied with the treatment of the growing sector of leisure travel, particularly in the development of modelling and forecasting techniques. Understanding movement implies understanding of the factors which make people want to move and my interest naturally spread backwards to consider the whole nature of the demand for recreational activities. xi

In research which has extended over the best part of six years one is bound to incur a large number of debts. I have indicated in the text specific acknowledgements for data and assistance but it is appropriate to mention some general debts of gratitude here. The Department of the Environment (then the Ministry of Transport) took an interest in this work from the start, in providing access to data, some funds for data collection and fruitful discussions with many individual officers. I would particularly like to acknowledge the great help I had in the early stages from the late Neil Mansfield of the Department; it was through his good offices that much of the work became possible and he was a persistent but friendly critic of my ideas. I am also grateful for the assistance given by the City Engineer and Surveyor of the City of Oxford following the selection of that city for closer study. Needless to say neither of these organisations is in any way implicated by the use made of material provided by them or the views expressed but I am deeply grateful for their interest in the research and their valuable assistance and comments. Numerous individuals have discussed various parts of the work with me. I would particularly like to mention Ray Robinson and Julia Hebden ofthe University of Sussex, John Collings, now of the Department of the Environment, David Hitchin of the Centre for Social Research at the University of Sussex for his help with computing and above all Brian Bayliss who served as supervisor for the original research and suggested that this book might be a logical extension of my doctoral thesis presented to the University of Sussex in 1972. My colleagues at Hull have also patiently listened to and commented upon various ill-formed ideas over the last few years. For their comments on earlier drafts of various sections of the present study I am grateful to Professors Ken Gwilliam and Alan Wilson of the University of Leeds and Michael Beesley of the London Graduate School of Business Studies, all of whom have helped me improve my ideas. I can only apologise to all these people for my stubborn refusal to accept many of their suggestions. My greatest debt is to my wife, Chris, who has not only sustained and encouraged my interest in the work but also typed the entire manuscript under a tight timetable from a very motley collection of drafts I placed before her. She has had to sacrifice a great deal of leisure in the interests of a husband for whom leisure has meant work. University of Hull ROGER VICKERMAN xii