Benefits are the individual, social, economic, and environmental outcomes that recreation, parks, sports, fitness, active living, arts and cultural services have the potential to provide for individuals and communities. 

Source: 2.2 Benefits of Recreation and Leisure Programs – Program-Planning in Recreation

In 1990, the first “Benefits Catalogue” was developed to convince political decision makers that recreation, parks and culture services provide significant personal, social, environmental and economic impacts.  

In 1992, Parks and Recreation Ontario, in partnership with Canadian Parks and Recreation Association, produced 8 Benefits of Recreation.

In 1997, the second Benefits Catalogue organized eight key outcome messages, supported by a total of 44 benefit statements, and backed by solid evidence.

The Benefits Catalogue evolved into the National Benefits Hub providing evidence for 50 outcomes statements about the benefits of recreation, the trends impacting benefits, and emerging promising practices.

In 2017, the National Benefits Hub was archived with the closure of the Leisure Information Network.

Today, efforts to quantify the benefits can be found in Measuring the Impact of SPAR, an initiative of the Canadian Fitness and Lifestyle Research Institute (CFLRI) and the Canadian Parks and Recreation Association (CPRA). 

Benefits of Recreation is a term used in our field to recognize that recreation contributes to positive personal, social, environmental and economic outcomes.