The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a sudden shift in the UK leisure sector as consumers and operators have adapted to a new socially distanced environment. Remote working has resulted in working adults having more leisure time, with less time spent commuting.
According to the ONS, 46.6% of people partly worked from home in April 2020, an estimated 86% of which did so as a direct result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Adults spent 66 fewer minutes travelling per day in April 2020, compared with 2015.
Moreover, the government’s Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, also known as the furlough scheme, has expanded the UK population’s leisure time; an estimated 11.5 million jobs were furloughed at some point between the inception of the scheme and March 2021.
However, while demand for leisure activities has grown, the capacity for many leisure companies to provide services has been diminished by social distancing measures. This has resulted in consumers seeking alternative leisure activities to fill the void.
Gaming industry wins
One of the primary benefactors of social distancing restrictions has been the UK gaming industry. Time-rich consumers stuck at home have increasingly turned to gaming as a pastime.
Video game sales in the UK grew by 14.5% in 2020 to reach £4.2 billion, according to the Entertainment Retailers Association.
The effect of the spring lockdown of 2020 on sales is visible in the data. According to the Interactive Software Federation of Europe, 62% of computer games sold in 2019 were sold in the second half of the year, largely due to increased demand around Christmas and annual releases of popular titles like FIFA and Call of Duty. In 2020, 56.5% of games were sold over the second half of the year, despite the release of next-gen consoles including the PS5 and Xbox Series X. This is likely owing to the introduction of the first national lockdown in March 2020, which triggered a surge in demand for computer games earlier in the year.
Surge in online gaming
The pandemic has also increased interest in competitive video gaming, also known as esports. Online livestreaming platform Twitch, which dominates the games streaming market, reported a 56% increase in hours watched during the three months through June 2020, compared with the previous quarter, reaching five billion hours watched globally.
Esports research firm NewZoo states that global esports viewers rose by 10% in 2020 to reach 435.9 million, bringing in revenue of US$947 million (£668.9 million).
While the UK has generally lagged behind other countries in esports interest, UK esports benefited from a number of prominent athletes taking part in tournaments while sporting events where postponed during the first half of 2020. This included F1 drivers Lando Norris and George Russell taking part in virtual Grand Prix and footballers such as Gareth Bale playing in FIFA tournaments. High-profile participants in gaming activities are expected to support the alternative leisure sector’s long-term revenue growth.
Outdoor activities
Despite lockdown restrictions, many people have reported spending more time on outdoor exercise in 2020 compared with previous years, according to the ONS. Paradoxically, the share of people leaving their homes to exercise increased during lockdown periods and fell when restrictions eased. According to ONS data, it peaked during the spring lockdown of 2020, though rose again during the third national lockdown over the three months through March 2021.
Demand for outdoor activities surged as gyms, leisure centres and other indoor exercise centres were closed during lockdown periods. Demand for golf courses rocketed following their reopening in June 2020.
According to research by The British and International Golf Greenkeepers Association, there were an additional 15 million rounds of golf played in the UK in the summer of 2020 compared with the previous summer.
This also resulted in £41 million being spent of golf equipment in July 2021, the highest spending in a single month on record, according to golf research firm Golf Datatech. Likewise, miniature golf has risen in popularity during the pandemic, benefiting from being an accessible outdoor social activity. Demand for bicycles also surged in 2020. The Bicycle Retailing industry’s revenue surged by 39.7% in 2020-21, as cycling became a popular exercise activity and an alternative to public transport during the pandemic.
Online events
The pandemic has also caused companies to scramble for new ways for friends and family to gather in online environments in lieu of in-person events. Principle among these have been escape room operators, which were growing in popularity prior to the pandemic. Online escape room events have allowed operators to maintain incomes while their establishments have been closed and have provided consumers with a way of socialising at home.
Cultural activities have also been moved to the digital world, with theatre production being made available to stream and museums and art galleries creating virtual exhibitions, which often include additional materials such as behind-the-scenes videos and podcasts.
Remote activities are expected to remain popular in a post-pandemic environment. Remote socialising has provided new ways spending time with friends and family across large distances, and virtual shows and exhibitions are able to attract visitors from anywhere in the world, expanding their potential market.
Nonetheless, in-person activities are expected to dominate as social distancing measures come to an end.
Deloitte expects spending on in-home leisure activities to fall by 11% during the three months through June 2021 and spending on cultural and entertainment activities to grow by 19% over the same period.
Conclusion
To what degree people will continue new social habits and hobbies they have picked up during the pandemic is hard to say. However, remote working is here to stay. Analysis by McKinsey & Company estimates that up to 33% of working hours in the UK could be done remotely without productivity being lost.
A survey by VoxEU found that 79% of working adults in the UK want to continue working from home in the future.
As a result, people are expected to continue to have more free time to spend on leisure activities. This means that internal competition in the leisure market is likely to intensify as social distancing measures ease. However, the alternative leisure sector as a whole is anticipated to benefit from the effects of the pandemic into the long term.
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