“Leisure for a Better Society” - The 18th World Leisure Congress (WLC)

(Text: Muhammad Khogali | Photos: Muhammad Khogali/WLO)

The 18th World Leisure Congress (WLC) was organized in Breda, the Netherlands by Breda University of Applied Sciences (BUAS) from 25 to 28 August 2025.   

The Congress theme this year was “Leisure for a Better Society” which addresses leisure that shapes the lives of people worldwide and acts as determinant of both individual and collective well-being. WLC2025 aimed to strategically brainstorm leisure as a catalyst for promoting well-being and inducing increased social and ecological sustainability by gathering academics, governments, and industry to collectively brainstorm and build a better society.

The congress program included a groundbreaking Industry Day on Wednesday 27 August with the theme of “From Knowledge to Experience: Building Bridges between Science and Industry” organized by the Dutch Centre of Expertise Leisure, Tourism and Hospitality (CELTH). 

 

The congress also encompassed a poster session on Thursday 28 August that included six streams. I presented a poster under the Virtual Leisure stream about “Transformative Virtual Tourism Experiences to Promote Destinations: Case of Antwerp, Belgium”. My poster entailed a unique pre-visit virtual experience (The FlemishTerp) that attracts tourists (and specifically international students) to Antwerp, Belgium. During the experience, the user is prompted to complete tasks and games shaped around Antwerp local language (Flemish), food, and tourist attractions which enables collecting virtual discount tokens (redeemable when they visit Antwerp in person). 

 

In addition, the congress offered various fruitful sessions such as a PhD workshop about academic publications and external study visits including a visit to Breda Robotic Company and a transformative experience at Another Human which involved customized and personalized scents making based on AI algorithms. More information about WLC2025 full program at glance can be found here: https://booklet.kenes.com/export/wlc25  while a detailed program is found here: https://cslide.ctimeetingtech.com/wlc25/attendee/confcal

A key unique feature of this congress was the global attendees’ representation, especially from countries outside Europe such as North America. It was a great opportunity to connect with PhD researchers and scholars and re-meet local organizers at BUAS which is scheduled to organize the next ENTER e-Tourism conference 27-30 January 2026: https://ifitt.net/enter-conference/enter26/ 

In summary, attending the 18th World Leisure Congress (WLC) was a highly productive experience that connected leisure and tourism across academia, industry, and global destinations to build better societies through education, innovation, and transformative experiences design.