Roberto San Salvador del Valle

Leisure, making innovation a tradition - the role of leisure in a city's transformation: the case of Bilbao.

The transformation of Bilbao is the result of 700 years of history (medieval patrimony, trade with other nations through the estuary and port, economic power, etc.) which has been recovered and brought to the forefront over the last 30 years. During this time, the leading players have acted in a framework of democracy and self-government which has not been free of threats and setbacks. The relational governance model has gradually empowered each ones creative innovation capacity to move towards greater social cohesion while a comprehensive urban transformation project has fostered progress in the economic, social, environmental and leisure spheres. The economic crisis beginning in 2009 has gradually undermined the foundations of democracy and the welfare society. The achievements of previous decades are now seriously at risk. We need a new transformation which includes leisure as a one of the factors for change in a new setting and environment.

GLOBS. Global Leisure Policies and Governance Observatory: a collaborative e-project from World Leisure Law and Policy Commission

We have to readjust leisure policies towards new challenges and new needs, and towards people. Leisure policies are no longer activities, programmes, events or facilities. Leisure policies are the capacity to understand how people feel, and policy-makers have to find out emotions, motivations, values, needs and benefits. Leisure policies have to become leisure governance. The best project, the most expensive programme, the biggest museum do not guarantee successful policies. The policy objective elements provide an opportunity of obtaining the quantity and quality (calidad) products, goods and services, but they do not secure the quality experience (cualidad). In the new emerging social scenario, leisure experience policies (leisure governance) have to focus on feeling or sensing people’s ways of feeling, studying citizens’ thoughts and values, thus promoting the person’s learning processes and ways of doing. The recent social movements in the world have shown how people feel, think, learn and do. In this sense, people feel that institutions and political parties do not listen to their problems and needs. They feel that the market is governing their lives, in the present and the future, that politicians are in fact subordinated to the market and multinational company leaders. People think that the political, economic and social system calls for renovation. Although they express a lot of different and contradictory ideas about it, the main stream is focused on the need for a change. They want the world system to be completely renewed. People learn. Year by year, the evolution of personal stories have completed life histories starring unemployment, trash salaries and thousandrist contracts. They have opened new information and educational spaces and the possibilities to learn have been amplified, the Internet thus becoming the virtual main street of the world cosmopolis. This way, people have reached conclusions, one of which is that they do not want the same personal story to go on. People act and do. They have joined together. They are taking part in social movements and expressions. While some of these are bound to disappear, others will become fruitful alternative proposals to our known society.

Tourism Policy Makers and Managers as Generators of Meaningful Leisure Experiences Knowledge, Skills and Values Needed by the New Professionals

Tourism Policy Makers and Managers as Generators of Meaningful Leisure Experiences Knowledge, Skills and Values Needed by the New Professionals; The main purpose of this article is to understand the knowledge,skills and values tourism policy makers and managers need nowadays as generators of meaningful leisure experiences. The tourism sector is changing along with the changes in demand. People have greater interest in experiences and creativity and therefore, the product that the tourism industry is offering is developing from mere services to experiences. This means that there is a need for a new professional profile in the sector that is able to face the new situation and add end-user value. However, on this new scenario it is key to understand that the new professional profile must include not only a body of knowledge, but also skills and values in order to have the capacity to create and manage worlds of meaningful experiences and emotions.