An analysis of children’s play in resort mini-clubs: potential strategic implications for the hospitality and tourism industry

Children are important stakeholders of the tourism and leisure industry because, similarly to their parents, they are consumers and active decision-makers. As children are important for the tourism and leisure industry, the way their needs of having fun are met, through play and children activities, becomes paramount. Using a multi-case and content analysis research approach, this paper examines the current practices used by resort mini clubs in terms of products and services offered to children and analyses the dimensions of fun used in creating a competitive advantage for mini-clubs and resorts. Drawing on ambidextrous approaches to management, this paper proposes a new dimension of fun, that of "advertainment fun play", which builds on the dimension widely used in the examined resort mini-clubs, namely "edutainment fun play". The study suggests that when managed in an ambidextrous way, the dimensions of play have the potential to create competitive advantage and can have impacts at both macro and micro levels.