Leisure spending bucks the recession

A study by credit card provider Visa shows that customers are still enjoying luxuries such as meals out and theatre trips, although overseas trips have been omitted by many.

Restaurant spending is up three per cent compared to the first quarter of 2008, while bars, nightclubs and discos enjoyed an eight per cent rise in spending over the same period. The amount spent in supermarket also increased, up five per cent compared to the previous year.

The travel industry which is traditionally buoyed by new year holiday bookings suffered a spending fall of two per cent in January and February this year. Dr Steve Perry, commercial director of Visa Europe explains why buying habits have changed. "If consumers are cutting back anywhere, it seems to be on foreign holidays, where worries over a weak pound may be discouraging many. The lack of a rise in spending since Christmas suggests that holidaymakers are either waiting until the last minute and hoping to find cheap deals, or are taking a ‘staycation’ by holidaying in the UK this year instead."

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