The List: Top Activities Consumers Plan to Decrease

According to figures from the Food Marketing Institute, about 71 percent of consumers are cooking at home more often. The Institute also found that 67 percent of consumers were buying fewer luxury foods and 58 percent were eating more leftovers. “All restaurants across the board are being affected by the economy, even the high-end ones,” Philpott said. “Bars may be the exception.” He pointed out that, in addition to families and couples who are staying in more, company expense accounts have been chopped for many.

“The Grinch Comes Back: Shoppers Pack Stores, But Very Few Are Buying,” a page one WWD headline read on Tuesday. There was a “strong consensus that, while shoppers were visible in stores, they remained hesitant to select gifts and more apt to buy for themselves,” WWD reported. Most retailers — even high-end luxury names such as Neiman Marcus and Saks Fifth Avenue — are trying to entice holiday shoppers with deep discounts, but consumers have been reluctant to shell out the dough. “The consumer is not buying anything that’s not on sale, or without a coupon,” said Cynthia Cohen, president of Strategic Mindshare, a Miami-based consulting firm. “Some retailers tried Black Friday-type promos last Saturday, such as percentage-off sales before noon, but the consumer only has a fixed amount of money. She may need to spend it on lunch.”

The backyard is looking like a vacation destination for next year. The term “staycation,” whose origin is often attributed to a popular Canadian television series, is defined as a type of vacation in which an individual or family stays home. In year-over-year measurements, the U.S. hotel occupancy fell 22.6 percent to 41.5 percent for the week ended Nov. 29, versus 53.6 percent in 2007, according to Smith Travel Research. Average daily rates dropped 12.2 percent to $90.84, compared with $103.51 the previous year, while revenue per available room for the week decreased 32 percent to end the week at $37.70, against $55.48. “Hotel and airline analysts have downgraded their already grim forecasts for 2009 and many consumers are scaling back their upcoming vacation plans,” said Focus on Travel News, an online travel industry news service.

One of the best ways to save some cash might be to suspend those short weekend getaways. Even Disney is not exempt from tough economic times. In fact, company executives said last month in a conference call to analysts that attendance at its U.S. theme parks is down 1 percent in the current quarter and that bookings for the first two quarters of fiscal 2009 are down about 10 percent from last year. E-Poll cited other weekend outings, such as fairs or amusement parks. In Albuquerque, New Mexico State Fair officials announced a decline in this year’s fair attendance in September to 602,504, a 17.5 percent decrease from 2007. And Kansas State Fair officials said in October that attendance this year fell almost 5 percent from last year, making it the least attended fair since the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Brandon Gray, president of Box Office Mojo, said Monday that overall business has been “particularly soft following the Thanksgiving session, hitting a 10-year low in terms of attendance.” Year-to-date attendance is down 3.6 percent, according to Media by Numbers. This year’s box office revenues is $8.15 billion, compared with $8.07 billion last year. Two hits currently at the box office include “Twilight” and “Four Christmases.” And the season has more potential Oscar contenders yet to be released, such as “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” starring Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett; Tom Cruise’s “Valkyrie,” and “Revolutionary Road,” which reunites “Titanic” stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet.