LIESURE IN LONDON

Leisure in London

Leisure in London

Introduction

Leisure is defined as travel to a place outside the usual residential environment, involving a stay of at least one night but no more than 1 year, with varying motivations, such as business, pleasure, visits to friends and relatives (VFR), and education. Tourism has long been of interest to geographers, given its spatial, temporal, and activity patterns and given its major economic and environmental impacts, ranging from the local to the global. Leisure in UK comprises a wide range of experiences built around tourist visits under categories of sport tourism, business tourism, event tourism, study tourism, health and wellness tourism, culture tourism, and adventure tourism. Leisure activities are either active or passive in nature, depending upon the involvement of a person in the tourism activities (Coccossis & Parpairis 1995, 107).

Types of Leisure

There are different types of leisure that are available to the consumers in the UK. These types are classified under active tourism, passive tourism, and adventure tourism. In UK, the aim has traditionally been to make the tourist destination appealing to a mass audience. While mass tourism markets remain fundamental to the growth of UK's tourism industry, the diversity of tourist experiences and increasing competition between destinations has fuelled the need to target particular special interest visitors (Coccossis & Parpairis 1995, 107).

Adventure Tourism Holidays

UK cities climate and landscape provides an excellent environment for undertaking adventure tourism. Adventure tourists seek experiences that involve a certain element of risk or danger. Demand for adventure tourism products is high in niches of domestic and international tourist markets (Archer and Owen 1971, 289). Some of Adventure tourism activities include:

Surfing (including wave surfing, windsurfing and kite surfing),

Scuba diving,

Deep-sea fishing,

Rock climbing,

Sky diving,

Horse riding,

Mountain bike riding,

 Tapping into the adventure tourism market offers the opportunity to make the UK region more appealing to visitors who primarily seek adventure tourism experiences. Other destinations in UK have captured niche market through product development linked with strategic marketing campaigns. This elevated destination's association as the ultimate adventure tourist playground. As highlighted by the UK Tourism ministry, such kind of approach towards leisure market has the potential to develop into a mainstream tourism market for UK.

 UK has the distinct advantage in niche market due to its ability to deliver adventure tourism product in a diverse array of landscapes - from ocean adventures to forest adventures to purpose-built adventures (such as high rope courses, bungee jumping, and performance driving centers). Unlike many other adventure tourism destinations, all of these adventure tourism experiences offer proximal to the major accommodation and entertainment hub for nation-wide cities. This combination offers adventure tourists a destination distinct from any other in the world.

London Attractions

National Treasures

Fortunately for travelers, many of London's attractions can be found in groups. Children can learn about various tourist attractions in the section of the city known as Westminster, Trafalgar Square, Buckingham Palace, St. James Park, Westminster Abbey and Parliament. Across the river is the London Eye, which provides an aerial view of the famous attractions of the ...