At that time, it was just normal - "China Leisure Development Annual Report (2024)" was released in Beijing

On March 26, our institute hosted the "Annual Landmark Achievements Release Conference of China Tourism Research Institute", and released a total of 8 landmark research results. Dr. Li Xue from the Institute of Planning and Leisure of our institute released the "Annual Report on China's Leisure Development (2024)" (hereinafter referred to as the "Report") on behalf of the research team.

Relying on the independent network platform of the China Tourism Academy, the Report conducted a questionnaire survey in 10 sample cities including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Chengdu, Xi'an, Changsha, Shenyang, Wuhan, Nanjing and Hangzhou. The leisure behaviors of urban and rural residents were analyzed and comprehensively studied from different dimensions such as time, space and activity selection, exploring the characteristics and evolution trends of national leisure. 1. Macro trend characteristics: National leisure with deep currents The impact of the epidemic, the awakening of leisure rights and interests, and the continuous blessing of science and technology culture have enabled national leisure to go through the "grand" sense of form and truly achieve the "long-term" commonness. Looking at the overall characteristics of national leisure in 2024, "it was just ordinary at the time" may have become the basic impression of national leisure entering the new normal, and will lead the development direction for some time in the future. 1. National leisure is turning from the "fireworks" blooming on holidays to the "prosperity" of deep currents. With the rapid development of social economy and the continuous improvement of people's living standards, leisure activities covering multiple fields such as culture, sports, and entertainment are becoming an indispensable and important part of the good life of the people. According to the 2024 National Leisure Special Survey conducted by the China Tourism Academy, the current demand for health and psychological healing among the people has increased significantly. More and more people agree with and practice the new concept of "leisure is life", and begin to pay more attention to using their leisure time for self-adjustment and relaxation, and pursue a healthier, more positive and meaningful lifestyle. The data shows that more than 76% of the respondents believe that leisure is important or very important, while only 3.25% of the respondents believe that leisure is not important. The respondents generally believe that leisure activities play a multi-dimensional and all-round important role in promoting the physical and mental health of the people, balancing work and life, emotional management, cultivating social relationships and personal growth and development.

Figure 1 2024 National Leisure Cognition Survey of Urban and Rural Residents

The continuous enhancement of leisure awareness, the accelerated pace of society and the diversification of lifestyles have continuously promoted the in-depth use of fragmented daily time for leisure. Whether watching short videos and listening to music on mobile phones on the way to work, or taking a short walk or reading between work, this flexible way of leisure has become an inertial choice for many people in their daily lives. The development of technology and the update of work modes have also facilitated this trend, allowing people to relax their bodies and minds more effectively and improve their quality of life in a limited time. According to the survey, since 2019, the length of national leisure time has continued to increase, especially in 2023 after the epidemic, with a large increase, but in 2024, as national life returned to normal, the length of leisure time for urban residents fell compared with 2023, and leisure has increasingly returned to rationality and normality. From the grandpas and aunts singing and dancing in Zizhuyuan Park, the citizens experiencing the "slow life" on the international style waterfront of Liangma River in Beijing and Suzhou River in Shanghai, to the community residents who exercise at the "Smart Health Station" near the Olympic Forest Park, and the young people who release the pressure of life in Nanchang's "Aixi Hip Street", they are all integrating leisure into daily life in a quiet and deep way.

2. Citizens are more enthusiastic about cultural participation

With more leisure time, cultural leisure has steadily increased in multiple consumption scenarios such as watching movies, watching performances, listening to concerts, visiting bookstores and museums. Whether it is Daolang's "Where Mountain Songs Are Played", Hua Chenyu's sunrise concert is hard to get a ticket, or the number of participants in music festivals in various places exceeds 10,000 per day, it shows that young people are integrating cultural consumption into their lifestyle; and brands such as Xixifu Bookstore and Zhongshuge use the "book + coffee + cultural and creative" model to attract more than 200 million people to check in each year, and continue to become new landmarks of urban culture. The reservations for the night tour of the Forbidden City are "sold out in seconds" and the queues for the Sanxingdui special exhibition are as long as a kilometer, which further demonstrates that digital exhibitions and cultural and creative products make cultural relics "alive" and drive the upsurge of museum visits.

3. Light sports for all people are becoming a new trend

With the in-depth implementation of the Healthy China strategy, the public's attention to sports fitness and comprehensive health has reached an unprecedented level. From cities to villages, from professional athletes to ordinary citizens, sports fitness has become an important way for people to pursue a healthy life. Events represented by marathons and orienteering have stimulated the enthusiasm of the public to participate in sports. In 2024, the Beijing Marathon attracted tens of thousands of running enthusiasts to participate and enjoy the joy brought by sports; the Shanghai City Orienteering attracted a large number of young people to participate with its novel event format, allowing sports to perfectly integrate with social and cultural aspects and become a new lifestyle.

Under the guidance of the event, the awareness of national fitness is increasing, and the sports and leisure market is showing vigorous vitality. The "15-minute community sports life circle", "smart health stations", pocket parks at the doorstep, and suburban parks and leisure greenways "strung together" around the city have all become good places for national fitness and leisure. According to statistics from the State General Administration of Sports, the proportion of the population in my country who regularly participate in physical exercise has reached 37.2%, and the per capita sports field area has increased to 2.89 square meters, exceeding the per capita standard of 2.6 square meters in the "14th Five-Year Plan".

4. New demands with a modern and fashionable feel are emerging

While modern technology is changing the way people spend their leisure time, it has also given rise to new demands for leisure experiences that combine technology, interactivity, personalization, and social sharing. Whether it is the immersive experience of virtual reality or the smart services of artificial intelligence, they have brought unprecedented convenience and comfort to leisure life, greatly improving the quality of life and happiness. From immersive performances such as "Only Green", immersive exhibitions such as the China Grand Canal Museum and the Changbai Mountain Legendary Flight Experience Hall, to naked-eye 3D screens on city streets that turn high-rise buildings into dynamic canvases of "deep-sea giant whales" and "cute giant pandas", immersive blocks/themed entertainment parks such as The Longest Day in Chang'an and Kaifeng 960 Cultural and Creative Park have attracted the public's yearning with their colorful and immersive experiences.

Technology has deeply integrated leisure into the daily life of the people. In the restaurant, robots carry plates and evade them flexibly, and deliver food interactively through voice, making dining an interesting technological experience. Unmanned vehicles such as "Carrot Run" travel through the streets, and passengers can summon vehicles by tapping the screen. Travel itself also constitutes a leisure project to experience future transportation. Behind these scenes are people's new expectations for leisure activities: they must be convenient and efficient, full of visual impact and interactive fun, and even able to show off their "daily sense of technology" in social circles, making every leisure a fashionable label that highlights personality. In the future, technological innovation will promote the personalization and diversification of national leisure needs, and bring more convenient, modern and fashionable leisure experiences.

2. Characteristics of National Leisure Behavior: Time, Space and Leisure Activities

1. Where does the time go? — Leisure time

Leisure has become an indispensable and important part of the people's good life. In 2024, the average daily leisure time of urban and rural residents is 5.71-6.80 hours. The leisure time of urban residents is closely related to disposable time. The leisure time on weekends and holidays is 6.80 hours and 6.77 hours respectively, accounting for 28.33% and 28.20% of the day, and 5.91 hours on weekdays, accounting for 24.63% of the day; the leisure time of rural residents is higher than that of urban residents on weekdays, but lower than weekends and holidays, at 6.27 hours. With the continuous improvement of the quality of life of the people, leisure has become the first choice for urban residents on weekdays after work (paid labor or study) and for retired residents after physiological activity time; and the proportion of leisure time in a day for urban residents during weekends and holidays, as well as rural residents, ranks first.

Figure 2 Time allocation of urban and rural residents in 2024

There are obvious differences in the distribution structure of leisure time among different groups. About 30% of urban and rural residents have 6 hours or more of leisure time per day. The distribution structure of leisure time for urban residents on weekends and holidays is generally the same: the proportion of respondents with a daily leisure time of less than 2 hours, 2-4 hours, 4-6 hours, and more than 6 hours increases in turn. Retired residents have the highest proportion of respondents with 4-6 hours of leisure time per day, accounting for 41.80%.

Figure 3 Leisure time structure of urban and rural residents in 2024 2. How close is poetry, how far is the distance? —— Short-distance travel and high-frequency leisure in leisure space have become the prominent characteristics of national leisure at this stage. In 2024, 84.72% of urban residents, 88.75% of rural residents, and 81.97% of retired residents choose to carry out leisure activities within 3 kilometers of their homes. Compared with urban residents and retired residents, rural residents have more obvious characteristics of localized leisure, and the proportion of respondents who choose to be within 1 kilometer of their homes is the highest. The area within 1-3 kilometers constitutes the main spatial scope of national leisure activities. The proportion of urban residents, rural residents, and retired residents who choose to be within 1-3 kilometers for leisure is 58.73%, 49.49%, and 43.93%, respectively. In addition, the proportion of urban and rural residents who relax within a space of more than 3 kilometers from their homes decreases with the increase of distance. Leisure time has a significant impact on the choice of leisure space range of urban residents: the proportion of urban residents who choose medium and long-distance leisure on weekdays, weekends, and holidays increases in turn.

Figure 4 Proportion of different leisure radii for urban and rural residents in 2024 Compared with 2019, there is a clear trend of short-distance leisure activities for urban and rural residents. The proportion of respondents who choose to relax within 3 kilometers of their home has increased significantly, and the proportion of respondents who choose medium- and long-distance leisure has decreased significantly. However, compared with 2022, the leisure radius of urban and rural residents has expanded, and the proportion of medium- and long-distance respondents has increased significantly.

Figure 5 Trends in the proportion of short-distance leisure activities among urban and rural residents (2019-2024)

Figure 6 Trends in the proportion of long-distance leisure among urban and rural residents (2022-2024)

3. What are you doing? ——Leisure activities and shopping remain the basic leisure option for the people with an absolute advantage. In 2024, the proportion of urban and rural residents who choose leisure activities such as gatherings with friends and relatives, beauty salons, relaxation and healing, and amusement and entertainment will have an absolute advantage, about 60%-70%; followed by cultural and leisure activities such as watching exhibitions, watching performances, participating in festivals, calligraphy and painting, accounting for about 14-20%; followed by sports and fitness and home leisure. The survey results show that with the increase in leisure time, the proportion of urban residents' consumption and shopping continues to decline, while the proportion of cultural leisure continues to rise. The proportion of urban residents who choose consumption and shopping on holidays is 63.03%, which is 3.09 percentage points and 0.75 percentage points lower than weekdays and weekends, respectively. The proportion of residents who choose cultural leisure is 20.06%, which is 2.80 percentage points and 1.06 percentage points higher than weekdays and weekends, respectively. For rural residents, the basic role of consumption and shopping in their daily lives is more obvious, accounting for as high as 70.30%. Compared with urban and rural residents, the proportion of retired residents who choose home leisure and sports and fitness leisure activities is relatively high.

Figure 7 Choice of leisure activities for urban and rural residents in 2024 Urban residents are increasingly willing to go out for leisure, and the proportion of cultural leisure is increasing. In 2024, the proportion of urban residents' leisure at home will drop significantly, with weekdays, weekends and holidays falling by 7.95 percentage points, 7.27 percentage points and 7.28 percentage points respectively compared with 2019. The willingness to use leisure time to go out for leisure is stronger. In addition, the proportion of cultural leisure in the daily life of urban residents is increasing. On weekdays, the proportion of cultural leisure for urban residents increased from 15.11% in 2019 to 17.26% in 2024, and on holidays, this proportion increased from 16.92% to 20.06%, an increase of 3.14 percentage points. National fitness awareness continues to increase. On weekends and holidays, the proportion of urban residents doing sports and fitness has increased.

Figure 8 Annual comparison of urban residents’ leisure activities

III. Countermeasures and suggestions for promoting the development of national leisure 1. National leisure in the new era should make people happier and make ordinary people happier The essence of national leisure in the new era is to upgrade happiness and joy from the material level of "sense of possession" to the "sense of gain" of spiritual life. First, we must break the misunderstanding that "leisure equals consumption" and return leisure to its essence with "relaxation". We must go beyond simple entertainment consumption and build leisure scenes that can stimulate creativity and enhance a sense of belonging, so that cultural experience, artistic aesthetics, and closeness to nature become the norm of life; secondly, we must move from "local confidence" to "multi-coexistence", dig deep into the wisdom of "harmony between man and nature" and "neighborhood happiness" in traditional culture, and absorb the world's excellent leisure culture with an open attitude, so as to form a leisure value system with Chinese characteristics and the ability to dialogue with the world in the integration; in addition, we must achieve both "group universal benefit" and "individual care", and pay attention to the differentiated spiritual needs of different age, occupation, and regional groups. Only by returning leisure to "universality" and "healing power" can we truly realize "happiness has a place to go and happiness is visible". 2. Promote high-quality tourism with high-quality urban leisure If local residents do not have a strong leisure foundation, foreign tourists will not be able to participate in the good life of the local people. We should attach importance to the construction of high-level natural and cultural scenic spots, high-star hotels and resorts, tourism festivals and cultural projects, as well as the improvement of tourism infrastructure and the convenience of public services, and pay more attention to the growing and changing public cultural needs of the general public. We should break through the traditional thinking of "tourists first" and "separation of hosts and guests", incorporate "balance between citizens and tourists' needs" into the underlying logic of urban planning, and realize the reconstruction of urban functions shared by hosts and guests in terms of transportation layout, commercial system, and public service support. We should create a superior business environment, a high-quality living environment and a modern governance ecology, improve service quality, and form a sense of safety, order and quality in the overall tourism and leisure atmosphere. We should improve public cultural spaces such as libraries, museums, cultural centers, theaters, cinemas, bookstores, commercial spaces such as restaurants, cafes, beauty shops, shopping stores, and recreational spaces such as urban waterfront spaces, park squares, public green spaces, suburban parks, pocket parks, and sports parks, and establish a more sustainable emotional connection between the daily lives of citizens and the experiences of tourists. Only when tourists feel that this city "wants to come again", when residents feel that "living here is happiness", and when old buildings and old crafts can be rejuvenated in daily life, such a city can truly have long-term vitality. 3. While paying attention to urban leisure, we should pay more attention to rural leisure. To solve the problem of lack of effective entertainment facilities in rural areas and the single leisure mode of residents, we need to be based on reality and multi-party linkage. First, through visits and surveys, we can find out the real needs of villagers, avoid "one size fits all" construction of low-utilization facilities such as book houses, and instead combine local characteristics and the interests of the masses to renovate or build multi-functional places in the village that integrate cultural and sports activities, skills training, and social leisure, such as equipped with sports equipment, open-air stages, handicraft workshops, etc., to meet the leisure needs of different age groups. Secondly, activate the vitality of facilities with activities, combine resources such as township cultural stations, schools, volunteers, etc., regularly organize down-to-earth activities such as film screenings, square dance competitions, and intangible cultural heritage skills experience, and tap and cultivate local literary and artistic backbones to drive villagers from "onlookers" to "participants". At the same time, social forces are introduced to supplement shortcomings, enterprises are encouraged to sponsor cultural and sports equipment, public welfare organizations to open interest courses, and short video platforms are used to promote rural culture and expand the social and entertainment boundaries of villagers. In addition, policy guarantees are strengthened, the operation of cultural facilities is included in the village-level financial support, and a feedback mechanism for villagers is established to dynamically optimize services, gradually guide healthy leisure habits, and realize the transformation from "sunbathing and playing cards" to "enjoying life at home". 4. Pay attention to "the old and the young" and make leisure a warmth within the reach of more people. Improving the safety and accessibility of leisure services is an important task to protect the tourism and leisure rights of vulnerable groups such as "the old and the young". On the one hand, with the community as the center, improve leisure services. For example, the community can set up a special activity room for the elderly, equipped with simple fitness equipment and chess and card tables. It can also regularly organize cultural lectures for the elderly, calligraphy and painting classes, movie watching and other activities, so that the elderly can spend their leisure time in a familiar neighborhood atmosphere. Create a "15-minute leisure circle" around the community, add barrier-free ramps, non-slip floor tiles, rest chairs with armrests and other facilities suitable for the elderly, and simultaneously build a children's exclusive activity area, lay cushioning mats, and set up low-rise amusement equipment to reduce safety hazards. On the other hand, schools and communities work together to create child-friendly leisure spaces, equipped with safe and interesting amusement facilities, and carry out various interest groups, such as handicrafts and nature exploration, to stimulate children's creativity and curiosity about the world. In addition, attention should be paid to the leisure needs of other vulnerable groups such as people with disabilities. For example, public places should improve the construction standards of barrier-free facilities, and tourist attractions should provide special guided services. Contributor | "China Leisure Development Annual Report (2024)" Research Group Editor | Liu Xin Source | China Tourism Academy (Data Center of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism) Please indicate the source for reprinting