What can Germans only dream about in their leisure time? Horse riding, sailing and motor boating are at the top of the wish list. This is the result of the new representative survey „Freizeitträume “87„ (Leisure Dreams “87) conducted by the BAT Leisure Research Institute. In the survey, 2000 German citizens aged 14 and over were asked which leisure activities they already do „very often“ and what they would "like to do" in their leisure time in the future. The comparison of wishes and reality shows where the development of Germans' leisure behaviour may be heading.

There is a great deal of pent-up demand for exclusive leisure sports. There is still a lot to be desired in motor boating (+13 percentage points), horse riding (+11), sailing (+10), waterskiing (+8), surfing (+7), diving (+6), go-cycling (+6) and winter sports (+5).

The boom in new leisure activities can be a boomerang for old leisure habits: Just watching others do sport is being replaced by the desire to be active oneself. Today's recreational sportsmen and women have higher expectations: activity is being joined by exclusivity.

On the other hand, exclusivity is fast-moving. What used to be interesting, such as aerobics or jogging, loses its appeal when many people do it. And what today is only enjoyed by a few, such as golf, is becoming attractive to many. More and more people will want to afford what used to be exclusive leisure activities.

But: „Expressing wishes without limits is one thing. Having unlimited time and being able to spend money is another,“ says Prof Dr Horst W. Opaschowski, Scientific Director of the BAT Institute. „In the future, too, there will be no correspondence between desire and reality, but the gap between the two will narrow“.