ABSTRACT
Exploring the past and predicting the future in terms of leisure provision and participation is itself a major growth area. ‘Trends’ (‘to have a tendency or general direction’), as we have come to know them, have arrived as essential planning and management tools. Leisure commentators, forecasters, social scientists and researchers provide information on trends in areas such as leisure time, leisure participation, consumers’ expenditure on leisure, leisure travel, government, commercial and voluntary sector involvement in leisure and the international aspects of leisure. Other commentators provide detailed economic, social and demographic trends which all impinge on leisure provision.
