I’VE been intrigued by the so-called leisure industry since I was in school.

The leisure industry seems to be where we should find meaning far removed from our daily grind.

This fascination was probably borne out of my childhood experiences of staying in hotels when I tagged along on my parents’ out-of-town conferences. Even then, I realised I was privileged to enjoy the stays.

They say memories are triggered by smell and the peculiar smell of hotels – the one that greets you upon your entry into the air-conditioned lobby – is hard to pinpoint but I’m sure is something the reader can relate to.

Memories of the concierge’s friendly greeting and the pretty damsels at check-in counter and the canned elevator music stay with me, overshadowing those of the dodgy and rundown hotels I’ve stayed in my adult life.

Very occasionally, I get excited when I am get an paid-for stay at a five-star hotel to participate in a forum, conference or performance. I would breathe in that lobby smell upon arrival and actually enjoy the wait to check in.

Sweet memories aside, the other aspect of the leisure industry I find intriguing is how far removed the facade is from the behind-the-scenes reality.

I had considered signing up for a tourism programme when my school took us on a field trip to a college but luckily, I was later drawn into the creative and media arts.

During that excursion, we visited the kitchens and mock bedrooms where students learnt and the hospitality trade.

As I grew older, I met people who worked in the industry and the picture they painted was indeed different from the one on the other side of the wall.

It’s hard work keeping people happy and it’s paramount that this hard work is kept out of the view of the customer. 

While this makes sense, it does reek of our colonial and classicist past.

Workers in the leisure industry tend to be required to bend over backwards to fulfil the needs of the customer, which is a form of servitude.

Walk into any five-star hotel with a tropical theme and you will find colonial Britain in the decor and architecture, complimentary drinks and polite greetings. Of course, the experience is different in business hotels but you get my drift.

This experience hinges on the simplistic binary of work v leisure that we all seemingly accept without questioning.

The concept of leisure is clearly an outcome of the industrial revolution when how we spend our days and nights began to be dictated by the hours we put into labour.

This binary is further exaggerated by the advent of technology, especially social media, on which we find many pictures of people on holiday or “just chilling”.

As a society, we have reached a point where it is imperative that we show off how relaxed we are whether people care about it or not.

We have truly embodied what cultural theorist and philosopher Jean Baudrillard called the simulacra and simulation: we consume and repeat what is already reproduced in popular culture to the point that we actually will never get to experience – the beach, for example – for what it truly is aside from a prop for tourism ads.   

I say this with love, not cynicism, because like it or not, leisure time is a right that every worker deserves.

However, I firmly believe that we can still conquer the common stereotypical idea of “leisure” and enjoy it in small pockets in our daily lives and it doesn’t have to be luxurious, expensive, time consuming or requires you to travel somewhere.

As the holiday season is upon us, here’s a tip: leisure is what you make of it – don’t buy into the hype. – December 15, 2022.

* Azmyl Yunor is a touring underground recording artiste, and an academic in media and cultural studies. He has published articles on pop culture, subcultures and Malaysian cultural politics. He adheres to the three-chords-and-the-truth school of songwriting, and Woody Guthrie’s maxim “All you can write is what you see”. He is @azmyl on Twitter.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.