The gift giving culture among office workers is on the decline, but the practice of having barbecues during the Mid-Autumn Festival holiday is rising unabated, the results of an online survey released yesterday showed.
Although the medical sector has warned that improperly prepared barbecues could be harmful to the health, 88.35 percent of the office workers surveyed said they enjoy barbecues during the Mid-Autumn Festival holiday. Over 50 percent of those polled said they barbecue 1.84 times per year on average.
The survey was conducted by the job bank www.1111.com.tw between Sept. 3 and Sept. 18 with the purpose of finding out more about the gift giving culture and cash bonuses. A total of 1,107 effective samples were collected.
The results show that only 42 percent of respondents sent gifts, giving 5.56 gifts on average, among which, 44.71 percent were given to clients, slightly ahead of 42.35 percent given to relatives.
Mooncakes continued to be the most popular choice of gift, followed by food gift sets and pomelos, accounting for 41.18 percent and 25.88 percent, respectively, with respondents spending NT$5,392.5 on average.
Meanwhile, 68.2 percent said higher prices have affected their willingness to buy gifts, and that they cope by cutting their budget for gift buying, 60.12 percent, sending text messages instead, 63.47 percent, or cutting the number of gifts bought, 25.88 percent, resulting in declining sales of mooncakes this year.
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