Shakira’s temporary cultural town in Madrid, digitally smart theme-park journeys in China, announcement from Global Wellness Summit in Thailand and an update on West Virginia tourism.

These “Leisure Roundup” reports are simply my own research on what is happening around the world at the intersection of leisure, wellness and hospitality. I just choose to share my research with anyone else who wants to geek out on it with me. And thank you for joining me on this journey. The world feels smaller when we connect over shared interests.

But why am I fascinated with leisure? The answer can be gleaned in the curated stories below—because it is a fundamental, universal part of the human condition. As we span the globe across borders, cultures, religions, and economic levels, there are plenty of things to disagree about. But leisure is one thing we can all agree on. Everyone, regardless of where they were brought up in the world, would like to have more control over their time. And everyone would like to use their limited free time in the pursuit of something meaningful.

The Leisure Roundup gives us a small glimpse of the human pursuit of leisure from across cultures and geographies. This week takes us across all the major continents to look at what is shaping the future of leisure experience.

Enjoy the journey!

Jeremy

A Concert Residency Becomes a Temporary Town
For Shakira’s Madrid residency, BIG transformed a 185,000-square-metre music venue into Macondo Park: a 50,000-capacity stadium surrounded by 12 pavilions for food, art, markets, family activity, and fan spaces, with colour-coded routes and shaded gathering points. The design lesson for live-experience operators is to treat the pre-show and in-between moments as a programmable destination, while designing temporary infrastructure for a credible second life. (designboom)

Use the Gallery as a Live Prototype
London’s Natural History Museum has reopened a gallery closed for 80 years as an 18-month, free-to-enter exhibition that asks visitors to share reflections on their relationship with nature before a permanent version opens in 2029. Cultural venues can use time-bound public programmes as a research-and-development phase, collecting visitor response before committing to a long-life interpretive experience. (blooloop)

Design Technology for Flow, Not Friction
A study of 276 Chinese theme-park visitors found that “telepresence,” real-time information, smart queuing, and service convenience each supported flow experiences and increased stated revisit intention; service convenience had the strongest direct relationship with return intent. This paper looks at how attractions can use technology in a way that preserves continuity in the visit and frees guests to stay absorbed in the experience. (Tourism and Hospitality)

Fitness Cartel Scales the Recovery Club
Australia’s Fitness Cartel is targeting 60 clubs by 2030 by moving into large-format retail centres and combining premium gyms with recovery and wellness services, after reporting 45% year-on-year revenue growth in fiscal 2026. The model shows how membership businesses are improving site economics by enhancing recovery and holistic wellness offerings. (Australasian Leisure Management)

Life Longevity on Stage at GWS 2026
Minor Hotels’ new Life Longevity brand has joined the 2026 Global Wellness Summit as a strategic partner, using its Phuket flagship to combine clinical diagnostics, Traditional Thai Medicine, and resort hospitality within a single guest plan. For wellness-resort developers, the more consequential signal is its consent-based continuity-of-care model across resort, urban, and future residential locations—turning a one-off retreat into a long-term relationship and a more scalable wellness business. (Minor Hotels)

Seoul Tests a Robot-Entertainment Platform
Galaxy Robot Park combines K-pop, humanoid performance, and hands-on robot encounters, using daily shows as a live testbed after drawing 20,000 visitors during its soft opening. Expect to see a new category of robot entertainment emerging to include dance, combat, sports, theatre and more. (Attractions Management)

Climate Education Becomes Spatial Experience
Germany’s Climate Experience World Visitor Center turns climate-adaptation education into a visitor journey shaped by architecture, landscape, and material experience. For exhibition and destination designers, it demonstrates how the building and arrival sequence can shape the guest experience. (ArchDaily)

West Virginia Refreshes the Outdoor-Stay Network
West Virginia is pairing a record visitor economy with cabin and lodge upgrades, 32 upscale glamping sites across four state parks, and a 100-site campground at Cass Scenic Railroad State Park. The portfolio approach shows how public-land destinations can refresh core accommodation, add differentiated stay formats, and expand recreation capacity without depending on one flagship attraction. (West Virginia Office of the Governor)

Featuring exciting updates from Leisure Alchemy clients and partners.

Join me on October 27 (TODAY!) for HFTP’s webinar, “From AI Ambition to Operational Reality: Building the Foundation for Intelligent Hospitality.” I’ll moderate a conversation with Agilysys leaders Rohith Kori and Frank Pitsikalis on the data, systems and operational readiness hospitality organizations need to turn AI experimentation into better guest experiences and measurable results.

View the event and register