Singapore once again ranked first as the top spenders on dining out in South East Asia and dropped to second place for Asia. Based on a MasterCard survey conducted between October and November 2013 with 7,932 respondents aged 18 – 64 in 16 Asia Pacific countries, Singapore consumers spent an average of US$198 a month on dining out in 2013. Declining from the average spent of US$262 in 2012.
With an average monthly dining out spend of US$218, Hong Kong diners spent 10% more than their Singapore counterparts, while Singapore consumers spent 8.8% more than the average person in Thailand (US$182).
98% of Singaporean have dined at restaurants, food courts/hawker centres and pubs/bars in the last six months. With 12% plan to dine out at more expensive venues.
When it comes to exploring new dining options, Singapore consumers tend to firstly depend on word-of-mouth recommendations (49%) from their peers and relatives, followed by online reviews (46%). Locals love their dining deals – over two-thirds revealed that they enquire if any card promotions are available at bill payment, while over a third said that before heading out, they check online for any card promotions (38%) and purchase dining discounts on coupon sites and apps (31%).
| Rank | Asia PacificMarket | Spend (US$) |
| 1 | Hong Kong | 218 |
| 2 | Singapore | 198 |
| 3 | Thailand | 182 |
| 4 | Taiwan | 166 |
| 5 | Japan | 165 |
| 6 | China | 163 |
| 7 | Australia | 162 |
| 8 | South Korea | 161 |
| 9 | Malaysia | 151 |
| 10 | New Zealand | 103 |
| 11 | Vietnam | 92 |
| 12 | Philippines | 58 |
| 13 | India | 48 |
| 14 | Myanmar | 46 |
| 15 | Bangladesh | 36 |
| 16 | Indonesia | 20 |
| Average spend | $140 | |
