Jingle bells, vacation sells

Singapore - The dire economic situation has not stopped Singaporeans from wishing for a generous Christmas gift, according to a survey by LG Electronics, with nearly half of its respondents here saying the holiday gift they would most like to receive was a vacation.

The holiday survey  was conducted online over a two-week period and across six markets which include Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Australia, United Kingdom, and Brazil. Singapore made up 650 out of the 12,431 respondents in the survey, which noted limited spending money as the top response across all markets on what is the most stressful thing about this holiday season.

Hong Kong and Australia respondents indicated they had budgeted more than US$500 for their holiday shopping spree, whereas people in Singapore said they would spend between US$100 to US$300, as did those in the United Kingdom and Brazil.

Singaporean respondents (38.2%) also ranked the latest electronic gadget as the second most wanted item on their Christmas wish list.