Investigating residents’ leisure needs in Japan: A joint analysis of realized and unrealized leisure trips

• A joint analysis of realized and unrealized leisure trips was conducted. • The copula-based model was adopted to capture the trip correlation. • Individuals living near bus stations tend to have fewer unrealized leisure trips. • The share of people always or never fulfilling their leisure needs was calculated. • The study provided the policy implications to support residents’ daily leisure. Leisure activities are closely associated with individuals’ quality of life. In this paper, we are interested in how many leisure trips the individuals have realized and how many trips they schedule but fail to realize due to the inability to accomplish the activity. The realized and unrealized leisure trips are correlated and together constitute leisure needs. To investigate it, a survey was conducted in seven prefectures in Japan. Then, the copula-based bivariate zero-inflated negative binomial model was adopted to explore the influential factors on realized and unrealized leisure trips as well as their potential correlation. The results indicated that individuals living near bus stations tend to have fewer unrealized leisure trips, and people with driving licenses tend always to satisfy their needs and report no unrealized leisure trips. Further, the result confirmed the potential correlation between realized and unrealized leisure trips, but such correlation decreases for seniors. The population share of individuals whose leisure needs are always completely satisfied or never satisfied was also calculated. The study findings provide the policy implications and are conducive to improving the quality of life.