Mensen in een achtbaan. Een attractiepark is typisch waar je ervaring opdet tijdens de hbo-opleiding Leisure & Events Management.

Leisure & Events Research

Leisure plays a key role in our society, economically but also socially, by promoting community building and social inclusion, among other things. Leisure is important in shaping who we are. The way we spend our leisure time has become increasingly important for our well-being and quality of life.

Our students, lecturers and researchers develop academic knowledge, and devise new concepts for this relatively young business sector, focusing on two main themes: leisure experiences, and events & placemaking.

In the first theme, we help our leisure industry partners to design experiences that enrich people’s lives, using innovative tools such as storytelling and imagineering. Our Experience Lab boasts innovative (behavioural and neuroscientific) tools to measure experiences as well as to enable the evaluation and optimisation of experiences. We also study how leisure experiences can be managed and marketed. We actively develop academic knowledge and provide our industry with tools to improve their experience offerings.

The second theme is all about analysing the use of leisure to create physical locations and events, and the role of leisure attractions and events in the development of leisure practices and experiences. There is a specific focus on the role of leisure in processes of regional and urban development and the formation and maintenance of communities. We combine insights from academic research and professional practice to provide tools for cities, regions, attractions and events to develop engaging experiences and to improve the quality of life.

Featured projects

JOIN

Identifying how different groups of young people experience a wide variety of cultural activities.

Van Gogh Storysperience

This project investigates how the use of storytelling techniques in videos about Vincent van Gogh’s life leads to emotions and memories.

Markiezenhof

Bringing a secret story to life in period rooms at the Markiezenhof.

The optimal level of tourism crowding

What is the optimal level of tourism crowding for experience quality and destination income?

Crossroads

In view of the 75th commemoration of the liberation of World War II, Visit Brabant wanted to connect the main heritage locations in the province through storytelling in order to attract more visitors.

Measuring emotions & experiences

As a leisure or tourism organisation you want the experience you are offering to be remembered, so visitors share the experience with friends or want to relive it once again.