South Koreans’ life expectancy has dramatically increased over the last four decades. However, the life satisfaction index of older Korean adults has been in the bottom third globally. The large majority of older Koreans spend most of the day watching television at home. However, concrete evidence regarding the effects of leisure involvement on older adults’ quality of later life is scant. Only a few existing studies have examined the link via cross-sectional survey data. Thus, the purpose of this study was to investigate whether meaningful leisure participation outside the home in older age plays an essential role in improving life satisfaction. To achieve the research aim, nationally representative panel data from the Korea Employment Information Service were used for the data analysis. The results indicated that social and productive leisure participation in religious activity, social gatherings, and volunteering was significantly related to quality of life in older adults. Moreover, frequent participation in travel and cultural activities outside the home were positively related to life satisfaction. These findings suggest that participation in meaningful leisure activities is a critical factor contributing to subjective well-being and good mental health in older Korean adults and should be encouraged.

A substantial portion of the gerontological literature has been directed towards the relationship between leisure and aging, particularly with the healthy life of older adults. The concept of leisure conveys varied meanings to persons, including identifying the leisure itself, the activity’s frequency, and its value to the participant. With increased longevity, the concept of aging well and related terms (e.g., “active aging”, “successful aging”, “productive aging”, “positive aging”, “healthy aging”, and “sustainable aging”) have been emerging themes for academic fields related to gerontology, exercise promotion, health care, and leisure activities. Thus, the aging population and human leisure activities must be considered sustainable as sustainability is primarily human-centered. This study explores older adults’ perceptions of leisure and aging well and their leisure behavior at senior welfare centers using qualitative data collection and methodology. Findings suggest that four main themes emerge: unfamiliarity with the concept of leisure and leisure engagement; evolving perceptions of senior centers and leisure benefits; limited physical functioning as a major leisure constraint; perceptions of major factors for aging well. Implications for researchers and policymakers are discussed.

Given that the use of shared economic resources has increased for leisure, the main goal of the present study is to investigate the influence of the leisure attributes of the sharing economy on leisure benefits and quality of life. For this, the related sub-factors were derived for the verification of the sharing economy’s leisure attributes. Next, the sub-components of the concept were integrated and analyzed using a second confirmatory factor analysis. The results of a study using the structural equation model demonstrated that the sharing economy’s leisure attributes statistically affect the four levels of leisure benefits (i.e., social, physical, personal, and psychological benefits). We also identified two (social and psychological benefits) out of four leisure benefits that ultimately affect quality of life. This study is meaningful in that it elucidates the relationships between the sharing economy’s leisure attributes, leisure benefits, and quality of life.

This study examined the relationship between sociodemographic characteristics and leisure involvement in various meaningful activities under the political economy of aging and life course. The stepwise multiple and ordinal regression model revealed that the individual factors of older adults were significantly associated with leisure involvement: age (younger adults), gender (men), education level (higher education), perceived economic satisfaction (higher satisfaction with their financial condition), and perceived health (higher satisfaction with their health) variables were significantly related to more frequent participation in domestic leisure travel. Additionally, gender and education level were associated with leisure-time exercise; the four variables (gender, education level, economic activity, and perceived financial satisfaction) were related to leisure-time social activities. Contrary to our expectation, older adults who are older and with lower education were more likely to participate in volunteering activities. The results suggested that older adults’ sociodemographic characteristics play an essential role in leisure behavior. The extent to which these characteristics affect leisure participation varies with different types of activities and cultural contexts.

This study examined the effect of four dimensions (i.e., the experience of education, entertainment, aesthetics, and escape) of the experience economy on participants’ attachment values toward tourism places in the context of the virtual Korean Wave experience during the COVID-19 pandemic. It also tested the relationship between attachment values and continuous immersion intention in virtual reality. An online survey was conducted on Asian people who experienced the Korean Wave culture, and 387 questionnaires were completed. Statistical analyses were used to establish the relationship between experiences, satisfaction, and continuous immersion intention comprising descriptive analysis, explanatory factor analyses, and multiple regression analysis. The result showed that the virtual Korean Wave (entertainment, educational, aesthetic, and escapism experience) significantly impacted participants’ attachment values. The meaningful virtual experiences would provide new insights into enhancing participants’ attachment to tourist places. There is little research examining the cultural experience and the attachment values of online users within the experience economy, despite the emergence and continuation of the novel coronavirus, which has led to many challenges in social, economic, technological, and medical systems’ lifestyles

Achieving the three pillars of sustainable tourism development has long been debated in the literature. This study revealed that sustainability and productivity are not mutually exclusive, analyzing Templestay as part of Korea’s 1700-year-old cultural heritage. The study discussed the challenging case of fulfilling triple-bottom-line sustainable social, environmental, and economic requirements in tourism development. Templestay has enormous potential to be one of the competitive tourism products as a cultural resource, attracting visitors to local areas. The prosperity and potentiality of Templestay may offer insightful contexts to bridge the gap between a sustainable philosophy and destination productivity. The study suggests further research to investigate tourism’s ontological and epistemological nature in terms of sustainability and productivity.