Health and Human Performance
Heather Gibson Research Group
Led by Heather Gibson · Tourism, Hospitality and Event Management
What we study
The Gibson Lab studies leisure, tourism, and sport behavior in mid and later life, focusing on active sport tourism, gender, and wellbeing. Research includes fieldwork in events like Senior Games and Bike Florida.
What working here is like
- Fieldwork
- Surveys & interviews
- Project
- 1
- Papers
- 5
Current projects
Girlfriend getaways
Research on health and wellbeing effects for women on solo or girlfriend travel.
Summaries are written by AI in plain language from public symposium abstracts and may be imperfect.
Recent papers, explained
- Persuasive Effects of Promotional Narratives and Videos on Destination Image and Risk Perception for Travel to Iran
2026 · International Journal of Tourism Research
Shows how narrative marketing affects travelers' perceptions of Iran, including risk and destination appeal.
- Empirical testing of destination attribute preferences of women snow-sport tourists along a trajectory of participation
2026 · Routledge eBooks
Tests how women snow-sport tourists' preferences change based on their skill and career stage.
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- Classic Ideas About Work and Leisure in the Time of AI: The Dawn of the Society of Leisure?
2026 · Leisure Sciences
Questions whether AI and automation will lead to a society where leisure replaces work.
- Parting Thoughts XXXXVII: What Do we Want to Count for the Field? Creative Outputs in an Interdisciplinary Leisure Studies
2025 · Leisure Sciences
Discusses how creative outputs like documentaries are valued in interdisciplinary leisure studies.
- Leisure cycling and active sport-event tourism in mid and later life: liminoid phases and event travel careers
2025 · Work Aging and Retirement
Explores how mid-and-later-life cycling turns into active sport-event tourism and lifelong commitment.
Plain-language summaries are AI-written and reviewed by us; check the paper for details.
How to reach out
Heather Gibson hasn't set up this page yet. You can also look them up in the UF directory (search “Heather Gibson”).