Sport and Luxury Leisure Services

Consumption requirement of contemporary sports are finely tuned to the expressive needs and hedonistic desires of the individual. Sport is one of the most representative containers of socio-cultural changes to have occurred in recent years. Fitness enviroments are the new catalystic centers for many trends affecting the services dedicated to caring for the body. The metamorphosis in the pattern of sports consumptions sketches an unprecedented profile of consumers looking for momentary evasion which takes place in fitness areas of increasingly sophisticated in terms of sports technology. Within these new dimensions lies the success of sport which is driven by glamour, spurred by a demand for something which is high profile, pretentious and niche. Traditional pattern of the consumptions of sports (fitness, wellness and health care) metabolizes the new values and therefore has begun to stimulate the growth of a strong network of services around the body in the now ritualized luxurious temple of the body. This research aims to examine the relationship which is consolidating between the consumption of sports and the use of free-time in fitness environments (gyms, sports clubs and wellness centers) through the ethnographic observation of a sport that is enjoying a huge success both in England and in Italy: pilates. It has been used as the discriminatory to understand the consumption of sports. The analysis of the literature and the experiences considered outline the evolution of a kind of society where the consumption of free time in a new luxury enviroment is given priority. Questions on knowledge are used to explore new consumption trends through contemporary sports. The aim is to stimulate new reflections on the evolution of any differences between the consumer models and emerging forms of consumer culture in sports enviroment.