Summary of Research Findings

The research was carried out on extensive 85 domestic leisure-related markets, including the markets of travel and food services. Because the leisure industry is formed by a broad range of related markets, it is no exaggeration to say that everything in the world can be related to leisure, depending on how people look at it. The report for this year, too, covered the trends of various categories within the leisure industry.

Although the leisure-related industries have severely affected by the restrictions on people’s behaviors and traveling through repeated declarations of state or semi-state of emergencies according to fluctuated coronavirus infection statuses, outdoor leisure activities such as camping, golfing and fishing remained strong, as they prevent people from being close to one another. These leisure activities have challenges of whether they can keep new customers as they are, in the situation where traveling restrictions being alleviated or eliminated and where conditions of various leisure activities back to how they were before COVID.

Noteworthy Topics

Online Participation in Various Leisure Activities Expanding, but Offering New Values is Key for Keeping Their Popularity

Those leisure activities that gather people at one place, such as watching sporting events and games, music lives, and theatre going, were restricted to be held or to use facilities amid the coronavirus crisis and had a heavy blow, but rapid increase of online watching of games and in using online has spread the new styles for event participation.

The Tokyo Olympic & Paralympic Games, carried out without letting any audience, encouraged different ways to watch sporting games and competitions, together with new methods for communications. First, the main player for this was SNS (social networking systems). Many short movies were streamed by the athlete themselves on how they were just before and after the competition, or during their time off at the Olympic village through TikTok or Instagram. Then, expansion observed in live streaming, which can be said as new style for watching the events. For people living in Japan, attractive games and competitions in the Tokyo Olympic & Paralympic Games were performed during normal working hours. In short, how to enjoy watching the games and competitions during the commuting, traveling, and working time was the challenge. Each competition and game was webcasted real time and also as a catch-up on NHK Plus by NHK, and on “gorin.jp” and “TVer” by commercial TV stations.

Online has spread also in the market of music lives. Advantages for music livestream organizers may be significant reduction in risks for infections, customer attraction from all over the world, and potential increase in profits via tipping by users, etc. Benefits for the viewers may be lower risks of being infected, relatively low participation fees, and no need to get to the venue. Therefore, music livestreaming is feasible to develop furthermore. In addition, livestreaming is enjoyable not only during the music live. There have been some efforts to gain new profits by focusing on the communications after the live streamed. New services for paid members have emerged, such as the service to enable a fan to chat with the artists before and/or after the live, and to view talk sessions streamed after the live. By showing how they are off-stage, artists are able to create a connection with their core fan base.

Disadvantages for music livestream organizers can be lower unit price than real lives. Still, additional services for core fans, by using the very aspect of online, can be one of new profit sources. In addition, hybrid lives that combine real and online features have been expanding as restrictions on holding events or using facilities have been alleviated, diversification in profits may be expected.

Thus, online participation of visitor-attracting leisure events that expanded in response to restrictions on event holding and facility uses amid the coronavirus crisis needs to have new value offers unique to online in addition to mere streaming, in order for it to establish as a market rather than being a substitution of real event participation.

Research Outline