ASIA-PACIFIC – SINGAPORE, NOVEMBER 2011: Consumers across Asia Pacific continue to plan to eat out and have a good time despite the global economic uncertainty. According to the results of the latest MasterCard Survey on Consumer Purchasing Priorities – Dining and Entertainment, nearly 80% of respondents among the Asia Pacific markets surveyed want to spend more than or the same amount of time on dining out and leisure activities in the six months ahead as they are currently doing.
The latest survey was conducted from March 15 to April 27, 2011 and involved 10,374 consumers from 14 markets. Data was collected via internet surveys, personal, telephone and Computer Aided Telephone interviews, with the questionnaire translated to the local language wherever appropriate and necessary. The Index and its accompanying reports do not represent MasterCard financial performance.
Quick serve/fast-food restaurants (71%), mid-range family restaurants and cafés (68%), and food courts (66%) came up as the most popular dining outlets visited by respondents across Asia Pacific in the past six months. In terms of the frequency of visit, though, the most favored were food courts, seeing an average of six visits a month by those respondents across Asia Pacific who had visited a food court in the last six months. Topping the list were the Singaporean (16 times a month), Malaysian and Hong Kong (9 times each) and China (8 times) respondents. Next on the list was the quick-serve/fast-food restaurants category, led by Hong Kong (10 times a month) and China (9 times).
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In terms of the amount spent on eating out each month, the most lavish spenders in Asia Pacific would be the Japanese (USD213 a month), Singaporeans (USD212) and Hong Kong consumers (USD195). On the other hand of the spectrum were the respondents from India and Indonesia – less than USD40 a month – a reflection of their relatively low average monthly income compared to the other markets surveyed.
It appears that catching a movie is the most preferred activity for most respondents after a good meal: cinemas were the top entertainment outlet visited in the last six months for 12 of the 14 markets surveyed, led by Australia and Singapore (75%) and South Korea (74%).
Amusement and theme parks came in second, especially preferred by the Indonesia (65%) and Hong Kong (59%) respondents. Karaoke lounges and KTV seem to be popular with the China (50%), Hong Kong (43%) and Taiwan (44%) respondents.
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Chart 2: Intention to step up visits to the gym in the six months ahead (as percentage of respondents)
The pattern remains more or less unchanged when respondents were asked about their intention to visit these entertainment outlets in the six months ahead, with cinemas and Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam amusements parks taking the lead as popular venues. Interestingly, however, more respondents across all markets surveyed intend to visit gyms and health clubs in the next six months, led by Thailand, where 44% intend to visit in the six months ahead compared to 26% who went in the last six months, and the Philippines (from 20% to 32%). Also, in 9 of the 14 markets surveyed, consumers want to cut down on their visits to pubs and nightclubs, especially in South Korea (from 46% to 32%) and Japan (from 46% to 40%).
In comparison to dining and entertainment activities, what people spend their leisure time on is more varied across the region. Food (cooking or wine) ranks number one for respondents from Australia (61%), Japan (67%), New Zealand (69%), Singapore (68%), South Korea (52%), Taiwan (64%) and Vietnam (50%). Browsing the Internet is preferred by respondents from China (43%), Hong Kong (70%), the Philippines (73%) and Thailand (72%). Indians (68%) love to shop and Indonesians prefer to sweat it out with a sport (35%), while Malaysians (47%) like to curl up with a book and read.
Most markets have nearly 50% of respondents claiming to set aside less than 10% of their personal monthly income for leisure activities. Respondents from Vietnam (51%), Hong Kong (48%) and China (43%) however set aside 11-30% of their monthly income for leisure activities.
Nagesh Devata, vice president, Market Development, Asia/Pacific, Middle East & Africa, MasterCard Worldwide said, “It is interesting to see the resilience of dining out across all the markets surveyed; cooking, and wining and dining even come up as a top-ranked leisure activity for most consumers. What the latest MasterCard survey shows is that despite the current unsettled economic climate, people continue to set aside valuable time and money for their favorite activities, be it dining out, going to the gym or watching a movie.”
For the full report, please visit www.masterintelligence.com.
