Liaoning-A New Center for Leisure

3 min read

As Liaoning has begun the advanced promotion of the hot springs industry, the concept of leisure has become integral to the success of the industry. Leisure is hard to define, it is not quantifiable nor is it strictly passive or active. Leisure requires free time, time away from work or responsibilities. In the West, leisure time is highly sought after and in China it is becoming more available as income levels increase.

Leisure is intangible and is made from many experiences. When you go on vacation you will always spend time and of course money looking for something to remember the trip by, some sort of souvenir or bric-a-brac to set up on your desk or shelf in your house for all to see, proof that you actually went somewhere. But what can you take away from a hot spring or a spa?

You do not get a certificate of authenticity proving you were at the famous waters of Anshan nor can you bring back a hermetically sealed bottle of spring water from the base of a mountain. People who ski joke with friends or colleagues that they will bring back a bag of snow as a gift for whoever wants one. If you plan to spend time in the countryside picking wild strawberries at an eco-farm and eating rural homemade meals the only thing you can return with，besides a few extra pounds，is an afternoon worth of snacks.Those who golfcome back with one thing，bragging rights about their game，or how they could have done better if the greens weren’t so fast.These are not something you can purchase right before you get on the plane，these are an experience that live in our memories.

Leisure is strange in that it requires us to actively seek out a point to become passive.As tourists we spend hours upon hours looking for the best reviewed place to spend out time and our money.What resort has the best service，the most activities，views of a stunning sunset or mountainside are what we actively are looking for.But at the same time we are always telling ourselves that all we really want to do is get away from our lives and relax.Ofcourse for others，another intangible gift to a vacation is the envy our friends and colleagues have for us when we tell them about our trip complete with hundreds of photos and video clips.But all in all we just want to be able to passively sit there in a beach chair or spa pool and do one thing，absolutely nothing.

Seeking out a place for leisure is not new as tourism has been around as long as someone had the idea to tell someone else how good the food was at a restaurant，or how beautiful the beaches are over there or how much better they felt after taking a bath in the springs hidden away in some mountain somewhere.Greek，Roman and Chinese literature has been filled with poetry and prose extolling the virtues of some far away place，the far better beginnings of what eventually becomes dense and dry guide books.Leisure tourism，one of the more official sounding terms of the industry requires no proof of participation.Perhaps that is why it is so popular.

From the business side of this idea of leisure tourism，Liaoning Province has taken steps to capitalize on what is readily available.The natural hot springs are now an official undertaking with government support.Being in the northeast of China，winter sports and activities like snow festivals and skiing are gaining ground as，after all，it is a major resource that just falls from the sky.As an agricultural center，rural and food tourism are being promoted and becoming popular here as well as all over China.Golf，which requires both land and a more affluent visitor is quickly going to seed all over the province.Beginning with hot springs，leisure has become the impetus for a large scale tourism industry in Liaoning.