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Leisure Activities
A popular leisure activity in Scotland is doing sport or physical recreation. 63 per cent of the population participated in sports during 1997-99. Men take part in a much wider range of sports, with 12 sports having male participation rates of over 5 per cent, compared to 6 sports for women (Chart 10.20).
Charts 10.20: 12 most popular sports(1), Scotland, 1997-99
a) Men
b) Women
Source: Sportscotland
Note: 1. Figures based on the 2 months in which the survey participation
rates are highest between 1997 and 1999.
Scottish Household Survey 1999 results indicated that 34 per cent of adults had used their local park in the past week, 10 per cent had used a swimming pool, and 14 per cent had used a sports centre.
Watching sport is another popular activity. The highest attendance at a Rugby match in Scotland in 1999/00 was at Murrayfield when over 67 thousand people attended the England versus Scotland match. The highest attendance at a Scottish Premiership football match in the 1999/00 season was over 60 thousand at Celtic, when they played St Johnstone. This may have been because it was the first game of the season. Scottish Premier League analyses show that the average total attendance for professional league football matches in Scotland for the 1999/00 season, was over 18 thousand people per match, but Rangers and Celtic attract by far the largest audiences in Scotland of around 50 thousand per match.
Another way people spend their time is by participating in, and attending the arts. The Scottish Household Survey 1999 found that 16 per cent of adults said that they had used a public library and 4 per cent said that they had visited a museum, in the week prior to interview. The Scottish Arts Council found that the three most popular arts activities participated in at least twice in 1998 were, reading books (73 per cent), attending the cinema (57 per cent) and buying a work of fiction or poetry (41 per cent), (Chart 10.21).
Chart 10.21: Participation(1) in the 12 most popular arts activities in Scotland, 1998
Source: The Scottish Arts Council
Note: 1. Frequency of participation of at least 2 times in 1998.
10
Participation in the National Lottery is high in Scotland, and has been since its launch in 1994. In 1996-99, results from the Family Expenditure Survey showed that 62 per cent of people living in Scotland participated in the lottery (in the 2 week diary keeping period following the interview), and they spent on average £3.70 per week. This compared to a UK average of 60 per cent participation in the lottery with an average of £3.80 spent per week. Since the lottery started in 1994 until the end of November 2000, nearly £757 million from the lottery has been distributed to charities, arts, heritage, sports and millennium projects in Scotland.
Many people living in Scotland take trips abroad. The International Passenger Survey estimated that in 1998, Scottish residents made 2.7 million visits abroad of which more than two-thirds were for holiday purposes. 63 per cent of all holidays taken abroad by Scottish residents, were package holidays. Almost half of all trips abroad were from Glasgow airport followed by London Heathrow (15 per cent), and Edinburgh airport (8 per cent).
The most popular holiday destination in 1999, for people living in Scotland, was the Balearic Islands, Spain, (Ibiza, Mallorca, Menorca, or Formentera), where 324 thousand visits were made (Chart 10.22).
Chart 10.22: Holiday destinations abroad for Scottish residents, 1999
Source: United Kingdom Tourism Survey
Note: 1. The survey counts multiple destinations. For example if someone
mentioned that they would be visiting both Austria and Italy in the same trip,
then each country would be counted.
The most popular visitor attraction with free admission in Scotland in 1998, was the Kelvingrove Art Gallery & Museum, Glasgow which attracted 1.13 million visitors, and the most popular attraction with paid admission was Edinburgh Castle, Edinburgh which attracted 1.22 million visitors.
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