Wining & dining still popular

Reuters
Posted: Thursday, Jul 02, 2009 at 2336 hrs IST
Updated: Thursday, Jul 02, 2009 at 2336 hrs IST

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Singapore: The economic downturn appears to go down better with a meal and a glass of wine, with a survey showing consumers outside Europe and the United States do not intend to cut back on dining out and having fun.

The poll, conducted by MasterCard and released on Wednesday, said nearly 70 percent of people surveyed in 21 countries in the Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa see dining and entertainment to be their top spending priority in the next six months.

Fashion and accessories, fitness and wellness, children’s extra-curricular education and electronic goods rounded up the top-five non-essential, or discretionary, purchasing priorities for the majority of more than 9,200 people surveyed.

“Socialising is important in Asia, the Middle East and Africa, and it’s a relatively small expenditure that’s affordable in this global recession,” Yuwa Hedrick-Wong, MasterCard’s Asia-Pacific economic adviser, told reporters.

“Having dinner and drinks is not buying a car.”

According to the MasterCard Worldwide Index of Consumer Purchasing Priorities, just over half the consumers said they would continue to spend on non-essential items over the next six months.

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