LEISURE AND TOURISM INTERFACE: THE POINT OF VIEW OF SPANISH LECTURERS

Abstract

The varied understandings regarding the leisure and tourism interface are due to the scarcity of scientific investigations that deepen the relations between both. This situation instigated the interest in investigating how this issue is treated in Spain. Thus, the present article sought to understand the meanings and the relations between tourism and leisure according to the point of view of Spanish researchers. The methodology involved a bibliographic study and questionnaire application with 32 researchers inserted in leisure and / or tourism as fields of study, linked to different Spanish universities. Considering the interface between leisure and tourism, no researcher understands that they are distinct and independent, or that tourism is broader and includes leisure. Half of the researchers say that leisure is broader and includes tourism, and 15 people consider that the two phenomena are articulated and have points of intersection. The Spanish researchers who participated in the research, as well as the bibliographical research, tend to consider leisure as a more comprehensive field, and tourism as one of the modalities of experiencing it.