Residents of Hong Kong are spending more time in the gym and less time exercising their credit cards.
Traumatized by an ailing economy, rising unemployment and plunging property prices, citizens of the wealthy territory are turning to exercise to relieve stress, replacing the traditional spending spree as the preferred method of beating the blues.
"The economy is bad so I've cut down on shopping and other spending, but fitness is a must for me," said Leonic Ma, a slim, petite secretary in her early 40s who spends over HK$3,000 (US$385) a month on membership fees and spa treatments.
Some say gyms are the best places to spend time out of their tiny flats and away from the temptation of the designer shops and expensive restaurants.
"It's the cheapest way for me to kill time. I would rather give up other things," said Ma, who works out at her health club at least four times a week.
Hong Kong has been ravaged by its second economic downturn in four years, forcing people to cut spending to the detriment of retailers.
But clients like Ma mean big business for the dozens of health clubs that have opened or expanded in the past year.
A recent poll of 1,000 women by market research firm AC Nielsen found that Hong Kong women spend on average HK$747 (US$96) a month on slimming products and exercise.
Not a small sum, but still less than a good dinner at one of the city's many glitzy restaurants.
The health-craze has been egged on by slimming advertisements that seem to be everywhere -- newspapers, magazines, billboards, bus stops and train stations.
Advertising spending on diet products surged 111 percent to HK$144.5 million (US$18.52 million) during the first eight months of this year from the same period in 2001, according to AC Nielsen.
Billboards invariably show shapely local entertainers in bikinis.
But only a few people in Hong Kong can afford the weight loss programmes they pitch, with asking prices of HK$20,000 (US$2,564) or more.
AC Nielsen found only 2 percent of those polled chose weight loss programmes, compared to 15 percent of women who joined exercise classes such as aerobics, yoga or tai-chi.
Many upscale and popular restaurants are now half-empty at meal times, in stark contrast to fitness centers close by that are packed with people slogging away on treadmills.
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