In the first week of December this year, the amount spent on food and beverage services (dining out) with credit cards fell from the same period last year. Dining-out expenditure was even more subdued than during the period when year-end plans were reduced in the wake of the Dec. 3 martial law last year. The government provided "livelihood recovery consumption coupons" to boost domestic demand, but the effect did not last long.
According to the credit card spending growth rate from the National Data Office on the 22nd, nationwide dining-related credit card spending in the first week of December this year (Nov. 29–Dec. 5) rose 4.8% from the base point of January 2020.
However, it did not reach the 7.3% growth rate in the first week of December last year (Nov. 30–Dec. 6) under the same criterion. After martial law on Dec. 3 last year, there was a growing trend of canceling year-end gatherings, and this means dining-out expenditure fell even more this year than it did then.
In the first week of December 2022 (2–8) and the first week of December 2023 (1–7), during the COVID-19 endemic phase, dining-related credit card spending rose 6% and 8%, respectively, compared with January 2020, higher than this year. This suggests dining-out consumption in the first week of December this year was the lowest since the COVID-19 crisis.
Looking only at this year, dining-related credit card spending declined year over year through July, then rebounded slightly from August to October. However, as the effect of the consumption coupons ended, it turned downward again in November.
By region, only Sejong (1.9%) and Gwangju Metropolitan City (0.5%) saw dining-related credit card spending in the first week of December this year increase from a year earlier.
During the same period, all metropolitan areas saw dining expenditure decline: ▲ Seoul -1.2% ▲ Gyeonggi -2.7% ▲ Incheon -1.1%. The following regions contracted as well: ▲ Gangwon and Ulsan -1.1% ▲ Busan -1.6% ▲ North Jeolla -2.1% ▲ South Gyeongsang -2.5% ▲ North Gyeongsang -3% ▲ South Jeolla -3.4% ▲ North Chungcheong -3.5% ▲ Daegu -3.9% ▲ South Chungcheong -4.3%. In particular, Jeju and Daejeon posted large declines of -8.4% and -9.2%, respectively.
This statistic was compiled by the National Data Office based on credit card usage data from Shinhan Card. It has the limitation of being an "experimental statistic," not a government-approved statistic.
Small business owners we met in person also said the sentiment on the ground is poor. A person running a jokbal restaurant in Gongdeok-dong, Mapo-gu, Seoul, said, "On weekday evenings at the end of the year, we used to be fully booked with reservations, but this year it's slower than usual." A person running a sashimi restaurant in Mugyo-dong, Jung-gu, also said, "Once we serve one round of customers in the evening, that's it."
Closures are also rising. Through November this year, 67,184 general restaurants nationwide have closed. This already exceeds the annual number of closures from 2020 to 2022. Given the remaining period, it is likely to surpass the annual number of closures in 2023 (67,847) and approach last year's record high (74,064).