Leisure management is the means by which organisations manipulate their resources to deliver leisure programs, facilities and services to stakeholders and the general community. The programs, facilities and services fall within the range of leisure, recreation, sport, tourism and events industry, within the mixed economy of leisure provided by government, non-profit, commercial organisations and households.
Leisure management has evolved over the decades to steadily increase the range of responsibilities and tasks required to deliver leisure programs, facilities and services. Leisure management books have covered fundamental responsibilities such as planning, delivery, management and control of services. Some recent publications also address quality and performance management, community planning, accountability, partnerships, inclusion of diversity in the community and workplace competency-based management, personnel practices, project management and allocation of resources. Leisure management has been explained as a focus on the ‘what’ and the ‘who’. The ‘what’ relates to the leisure organisation’s understanding of the key leisure concepts, how organisations function and manipulate their resources to deliver programs, facilities and services. The ‘who’ relates to the understanding of leisure service consumers and key stakeholders.
Leisure management is more than working to achieve effective and efficient programs, facilities and services. Often leisure projects are designed to address issues of inequality, access and to help make the world a better place based on leisure’s contribution to a community’s quality of life.
The Leisure Management Special Interest Group (LM SIG) of the World Leisure Organisation (www.worldleisure.org) aims to articulate and document the ‘why’ and ‘how’ of delivering leisure experiences. It is co-led by Dr. John R Tower, Honorary Fellow, Victoria University Melbourne; and Dr Jo An Zimmermann-Somoza, Associate Professor, Texas State University. The LM SIG It aims to encourage contributions to leisure management scholarship and sharing of best practice activities that contribute to excellent leisure experiences.
Recordings of a series of leisure management webinars commencing in 2021 are available online:
Designing Leisure Experiences – December 2021
Serious Leisure in Practice – April 2022
Crisis Preparedness – June 2022
Managing Safe Places – September 2022
Public Leisure Management for Social Transformation – April 2023
Future of Public Sector Leisure – August 2023
Building Community through Leisure Programs and Services for Older Adults – November 2023
Embracing Digital Horizons in Leisure – April 2024.
Links to LM SIG webinars in future may be provided as they become available. Some webinars are available in Spanish and Portuguese. They are used internationally as teaching resources.