The Living Industry Visit as a possible occasion for living significant leisure experiences in the Basque Country

(Sustainable development in tourism and education)

The economic crisis since 2007 can be read as an opportunity to develop leisure offers based on the active industry, whose core activity is very probably focused on manufacturing goods or delivering services that have nothing to do with leisure or tourism sectors. Initially there seems to be a deep contradiction when we refer to the labor universe as a source of leisure experiences. Traditionally, in the modern society, work and leisure have belonged to different and many times opposed spheres. However, in the actual postmodern society preferences change and individuals diversify the ways of constructing their personal identities. Leisure arises as one of the main fields for personal growth. The transformation of values manifests as well through the broadening of the culture concept, which gradually includes contemporary forms of expression, disconnected from the aesthetic and historic values inherited from the nineteenth century.

Within this context the presentation analyzes visits to active industry in the Basque Country, which is one of the productive anchor points in Europe. The company visits are considered as an experiential tourist offer, focused on promoting significant leisure experiences amongst visitors. Furthermore, the results of the research reveal that these visits could be decisive for the community development, since they may change the citizenship's attitude towards the actual unfavorable economic scenario.

This paper describes firstly how a sample of 29 Basque significant companies is offering the tours to their facilities. Secondly, it analyzes its capacity to respond to the motivations and expectations that 400 visitors have shown for developing this activity during their stay as tourists in the Basque Country. And finally, it explores the opportunities that arise as a possible field for the experimentation of a substantive leisure.

Approach: On the one hand, this presentation will apply to an emergent reality, with the company tours as the theoretical bases of humanist leisure experience, which have been studied and developed by the research team of the Leisure Studies Institutes for nearly 25 years. And, on the other hand, it will present the field research developed in the Basque Country. Concretely 29 semi structured interviews were conducted with relevant companies from this region to find out how the visit is being offered currently. Questionnaires to 400 tourist visitors in the Basque Country have assessed their interests, motivations and expectations for visiting companies during their vacations in this destination.

Significance: This study can bring new opportunities for leisure. Companies and other actors involved in the supply of the visits can learn about the factors that should take into account when defining and managing this sort of activities. Citizens, companies and public organizations could become aware of the social, cultural and institutional importance of living industry, changing their actual gaze to a more positive and concerned one.

Amaia Makua. Institute of Leisure Studies University of Deusto, Spain

Amaia Makua is a Bachelor in Law and Economics and Master in Leisure Management by the University of Deusto. She also did a Executive MBA in the UPV( Public Basque University). Now she is about to finish (March 2012) her Phd thesis in Leisure and Human Development, about the potential of visits to living industry for promoting significant leisure experiences in the Basque Country. In December 2004 she became a member of the Institute of Leisure Studies. During these years she has taken part in different research projects, specially related to leisure, tourism and culture. Before joining University she worked for several years in the private sector, carrying out different tasks of responsibility, specially in the tourism field. Her areas of interest are: thematic tourism (cultural tourism, industrial tourism, religious tourism, heritage, quality management, sustainability...)