Group Report: Analysis of Hobbies - Gardening, Photography, Cycling

This group business report analyzes three popular hobbies: gardening, photography, and cycling. The report begins with an overview of each hobby, discussing their practices, and benefits. It then explores the growth of these hobbies in Australia and worldwide, examining participation trends among different age groups and demographics. The report further delves into the future trends of each hobby, offering recommendations for funding and development, such as the implementation of hydroponics in gardening and the need for affordable photography equipment. Cost and health benefits are also discussed for each hobby, providing a comprehensive overview of their impact and potential. The report provides insights into the business aspects, future trends, and overall significance of each hobby within the Australian context.

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Chosen Hobby Topic 1: Gardening
1.1 Overview of Gardening-
Practice of cultivating and growing of plants is known as gardening which is considered
as horticulture. Many kinds of plants are grown in garden that involves growing of ornamental
plants such as flowers that are grown for their appearance and foliage. Gardening also involves
cultivation of useful plants such as herbs, leafy vegetables, root vegetables, and fruits. These
plants are usually grown for household consumption, for use of dyes, cosmetic use and also can
be used for medicinal purpose. Practicing gardening is considered as the most important activity
of relaxation and keeping the environment fresh. There are different types of gardening.
Common people do residential gardening in their house which is commonly known as gardening.
Modern methods of gardening not only involve gardening on land (Jacobs, 2016). Gardening can
be done on the roof top, on balcony, on vivarium, or on atrium. Hobbies include relaxation of
mind and also relaxation of body. Daily life troubles can be mitigated from the hobbies.
Gardening is considered as a relaxation hobby which can be done by people of any age. Through
gardening, there can be an opportunity to divert one’s mind from the daily problems and tasks
and helps to concentrate on other tasks. Gardening is considered as a replacement therapy.
Gardening helps to relax the mind from the problems and the issues of daily life.
Cost benefit-
For an average family, having a vegetable garden can help to save lot of money. For
middle class people, buying veggies and other food materials from markets is quite an expensive
one. The amount of money spent to buy food and other materials can be very less, but if all the
amount is added, it leads to a large amount of money. So, gardening can help people to lessen

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their expense. All fruits and vegetables can be grown in the backyard which is helps to cut the
cost of living.
Health benefits-
Gardening provides many health benefits to the gardener as well as all the people
surrounding. Gardening provides endurance, strength, and flexibility to the gardener. A person
with a hobby of gardening can help to make the environment fresh and helps the gardener to
burn calories to keep themselves fit. Gardening also provides its surrounding people with good
immune system.
1.2 Growth in Australia or Worldwide
The growth of gardening is increasing tremendously among the Australians in producing
the foods. The food production mainly happens in urban areas of Australia. There has been an
interest among the Australians for making the quality of food better, getting fresh food, and
provenance, and also because of the increasing amount food cost and less quantity of food that
are made locally. The Australians those who live in apartments and housings do not have gardens
for gardening. Even then they are inspired by utilizing their rooftops or balconies for growing
their own food. Australians who do not have gardens also shows interest in community garden or
at schools (Rouillon et al., 2017). Schools of Australia also arrange gardening programs for the
students who are interested in gardening. In Australia almost 4.7 million of households grow
their own food in the backyard garden or on roof tops. South Australians grow about 59 percent
of their food, including herbs, eggs, nuts, and vegetables. The residents of Tasmania and Victoria
grow almost 59 percent and 57 percent of their food by their own.

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1.3 Participation Trends
Mainly growing of own food is considered as pursuit of the retired persons or are
considered as the characteristics of families who have migrated in Australia. But the trend of
participating is changing day by day. To define a particular community or some typical home is
very difficult in Australia. A very large part of Australians take initiative in community
gardening or in home gardening. The participation trends regarding the gardening are not only
the retired person, but all the ages of people from youth to kids. Almost about 61 percent of
gardening is done by 11 years or younger age of children, 49 % of household food gathering are
done by children between 12 years to 17 years, 56 % of the food gathering are done by youths of
above 18 years of age. The households who do not have any children do almost 48 % of the food
gathering. Children who are school aged are mostly like to grow their own food.
1.4 Future trends
The future of gardening can be enhanced by involving the kids to do gardening and have
the practice of gardening for life time. The young gardener can be inspired by showing the bright
colors of the flowers and growing their interest in the area of gardening. The children can also be
made curious by showing their food on the plate and explaining them about how to get them. The
kids and youths should be explained about how to grow fruits and vegetables in their gardens. It
is equally important to involve the older generation in gardening because they have better
experience and can guide the upcoming properly.
1.5 Recommendation for future funding
The concept of hydroponics is the most unique technique that is done by most of the
households in Australia. Hydroponics is the concept of growing soil less pants. Without using the

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traditional soil, healthy plants are grown. This technique is quite costly and needs funding in
future to implement.
Chosen Hobby Topic 2: Photography
2.1 Overview of Photography-
Photography involves to create some images of particular moment, events, and some
favorite places. Photography helps to record the situation, and then allows to share the
photographs with relatives and friends. Photography is considered as an hobby because it can be
started from any level, and anyone at any age can start photography. The hobby of photography
is also considered as a healthy challenge because it always helps to learn something new in one
way or the other. Photography helps in mind creation and enhances imagination. The whole
world can be can be captured in a single frame with photography. The photography hobby
motivates to experience more. People having photography hobby wants to go more frequently for
some outing as they want to experience more (Tapp et al., 2015). There are no such restrictions
in photography. No rules and restrictions are imposed on photography. People can experiment all
types of techniques and learn accordingly by their own time. All the things can be remembered
that are important to keep in mind by capturing them. Photographs helps to connect with more
people and also gives motivation to improve. The hobby of photography gives joy to the user.
Cost benefit-
The cost benefits of having photography as a hobby is that the process of photography is
much cheaper and can handle a very high amount of work. A photographer can look into the
strengths that he has and can improve them accordingly with more practice and studying. No
such experts have to be hired for improving the areas. The hobby of photography also helps to

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save money by shooting their own family occasions and other events. If some professional
photographers are hired to shoot, they take ample amount of money to shoot. So, if they take the
photos of their own, it saves a lot of time.
Health benefits-
Photography helps to improve the mental health of the person. Photography helps to
improve the psychology of the photographer in an unexpected way. Taking photos gives the
photographer joy and fun. The photographers have experience which is more enjoyable while
shooting the photos. Photography helps to struggle with mind emotionally and mentally.
2.2 Growth in Australia or Worldwide
The growth of photography is not only increasing in Australia, but is increasing
worldwide. The best photo of 2016 was a blue- eyed turtle which is a rare flat back turtle was
shoot by scientist of James Cook University. The photographers in the ANZANG region that is
Australia, New Zealand, Antarctica, and New Guinea has also displayed some amazing
photographs from landscapes to wildlife. The photographers who took initiative in the
competition were the photographers of Australian Geographic ANZANG nature which has won a
prize value of $10,000 (Fleming, 2015). The photography sphere is considered as one of the most
artistic medium in Australia. There are multicultural population in Australia which has also
added a development in the photo industry in Australia.
2.3 Participation trends
In the survey that is done by the Australian Council shows that almost 38 percent of the
Australian have actually attended some craft event and some visual art event. The number of
people interested in art, crafts, and photographs are increasing day by day. Almost 50 percent of

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the Australians say that they have an interest in the art and culture and also have interest in
photography.
2.4 Future trends
The future of photography is the quality of photography which can always be enhanced
and appreciated. There can be brand communication in the authenticity. The quality of the videos
can also be enhanced in future. The fine art photography is increasing tremendously.
2.5 Recommendation for future funding
There are much high cost cameras that are not affordable by most of the photographer or
person who has photography as their hobby. The enhance photography, there should be some
funding so that the interested participants can afford those costly cameras and lenses.
Chosen Sport Topic 1: Cycling
1.1 Overview
Cycling is a sport that includes a wide variety of events involving riding the bike or the
cycle. There are different types of cycles like bicycle, tricycle, unicycle, quads and others and
there are various types of cycling sports like bicycle race, bunny hops, track cycling, BMX,
cyclo-cross and others (Wainwright, Immins & Middleton, 2016). Cycling is a very popular sport
in Australia and it also has a national body named Cycling Australia that hosts various national
events as well as manage Australian cyclists that are rising as well as regularly performing in
national and international stages. Australia is also highly competitive in cycling in international
events like Olympics, UCI World Championships and others.

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Cost Benefit
Some basic cost benefits of cycling are explained as follows.
 Cycles cost much lower than oil-driven cars as evident from an estimated data
that annual operational cost of bicycle is only around $300 whereas that of a car is
generally around $8500.
 Amateur bike racing events generally cost around $25000 while the professional
events costs even more. The development of new and advanced models of
bicycles is also increasing the costs for hosting the events, especially in the large
scale popular events like Tour de France.
Health Benefit
Cycling has wide range of health benefits. Regular cycling helps to keep muscles fit and
strong especially in the thigh and cough muscles that are also enhanced with regular cycling.
Long distance cycling on a regular basis also helps to develop and enhance stamina and
endurance of the cyclist. Furthermore, use of cycles reduces the need of oil-driven cars that
create pollution in the environment (Rissel & Watkins, 2014). Hence, cycling helps to reduce
pollution and has positive impact on the public health. Sports cycling have even better health
benefits on the professional cyclists. It helps to enhance cardiovascular fitness, endurance,
bones’ strength, coordination, and control over various landscapes during cycling, stamina, and
others.
1.2 Growth in Australia as well as Worldwide
Cycling as a sport was first considered in the late 19th century and the first bicycle race
was held in the year 1868 on a 1200 m track in Paris. During that time, the cycles were made of

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wooden bodies along with iron tires. With the development of cycles as well as innovation of
new types of events, cycling slowly became popular throughout the world (Fitzpatrick, 2016).
Although the initial event was only a bicycle race, with time, several new events involving
various types of cycles came into existence. There are a number of popular events in cycling that
take place throughout the year at various popular locations including, France, Italy, Australia,
and others.
Cycling has been popular in Australia since the late 19th and early 20th century. Cycling is
also preferred by a large number of Australians due to various health benefits as well as ease of
transport. With gradual growth of cycle all over the world, it also grew significantly in Australia.
Australia hosts Tour Down Under, which is an UCI World Tour Event. Australia is also a
favorite destination of cyclists due to the comfortable weather in winter as well as various types
of landscapes that make Australia an ideal place for practice as well as various cycling events.
1.3 Participation Trends
Cycling has slowly and steadily become one of the most popular recreations among
Australians as evident from the rise of many professional cyclists from Australia as well as the
steady increase in bicycle sales in Australia throughout the two decades of the 21st century.

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Figure 1: Participation of Australian States in Cycling (Values from 2014 Study)
(Source: Heesch, Giles-Corti & Turrell, 2014)
Although most Australians use bicycles for recreation and short distance transport,
professional cycling is also well developed as many professional cyclists have developed and
participated in world championships and international events representing Australia. In all time
Olympics Medal Tally (1896-2016), Australia sits on the 5th place with 10 gold medals and a
total of 37 medals.
1.4 Future Trends
In spite of the increasing popularity of cycling events as well as inclusion of cycling in
the multisport international events, it has been found that the popularity of cycling in Australia is

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slightly on the decline (Giulianotti et al., 2015). However, with more advanced bicycles being
developed with the latest techs, new events are also been invented. It is projected that
professional cycling will become even more competitive in the future with better professional
cyclists from all over the world are expected to participate in the cycling events.
1.5 Recommendation for Future Funding
Fundings have already been made all over the world for development of new and better
models of bicycles that suit the requirements of various landscapes and events. However, in the
near future, it is recommended to generate more funding towards raising awareness of the
benefits of cycling among people all over the world as well as the grassroot development of
professional cycling in many countries where cycling is generally popular.
Chosen Sport Topic 2: Gymnastics
2.1 Overview
Gymnastics is a sport that involves movements of the body in various ways through
muscle flexing as well as jumping and other pattern-wise movements of the entire body.
Gymnastics is practiced by both men and women and it demands high level of flexibility,
endurance, strength, balance, control and agility of the gymnast’s body as well as coordination
among various body parts while performing a particular movement (Kerr & Barker-Ruchti,
2015). Gymnastics was first introduced in Australia by European immigrants during the early
20th century but it became mostly popular after the First World War during the 1930s.
Cost Benefit
The cost benefit analysis of gymnastics is explained below.

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 The costs of gymnastics training vary widely depending on the type and intensity
of the training sessions. Generally, gymnastics trainings must start at a very young
age as the muscles of the body must be tuned according to gymnastic
requirements. A normal gymnastic class in grassroot level costs $15-$20 in each
session.
 Professional and competitive gymnastics training sessions cost about $200-$400
per month.
 Gymnastics summer camps can cost up to $200 depending on the types of training
sessions conducted.
Health Benefit
Gymnastics is one of the sports that help to keep the body of an individual extremely fit
and resistant to various diseases and conditions like obesity, diabetes, heart diseases, and others
(Rudd et al., 2017). Professional gymnasts are physically highly active with strong bones and
muscles that resist any type of health issues easily. Gymnastics also help individuals to maintain
a healthy and independent lifestyle.
2.2 Growth in Australia as well as Worldwide
The first evidences of gymnastics events date back to the early Greek civilization where
the gymnastics were performed for physical fitness and preparation of body for long term
strength and endurance. Modern day gymnastics was developed in the 19th century and it has
been in the Olympic Games since 1924 (Altmann et al., 2017). With time, gymnastics have
become extremely popular all over the world due to the wide range of benefits as well as
introduction of new professional and competitive international gymnastic events.