SLOW DOWN? What slowdown? If the bumper numbers from the Great Singapore Sale (GSS) are any guide, shoppers in Singapore are thinking boom, not bust.

Turnover for the sale's first month was up more than 30 per cent on last year, according to Mastercard, with spending galore going on in the retail's comfort zone of food, relaxing massages or indulgent spas.

Singaporeans spent 37 per cent more on eating, 39 per cent more on massage services and 32 per cent more on health and beauty spas than last year, according to figures from the credit card firm yesterday.

Overall, Singaporean MasterCard cardholders spent $324.6 million across more than 2.2 million transactions - 33 per cent up on the same period last year.

Add in the tourists and the total spend in the May 23 to Jun 21 period was $497.5 million, 27 per cent ahead of 2007, itself a boom year on the retail front.

However, the pace of spending has slowed. Local spend of $244.5 million in the first month of the sales in 2007 was 43 per cent up on the same period in 2006.

And while tourists spent 17 per cent more this year than last, the numbers paled against their effort in 2007 when they outlaid 57 per cent more than in 2006.

It is no wonder that the latest MasterCard Worldwide Index of Consumer Confidence finds that across the Asia Pacific, Singaporeans remain the most optimistic about employment, the economy, their income, the stock market and quality of life.

Mr T.V. Seshadri, vice president and senior country manager of MasterCard Worldwide here, said it was this consumer confidence that drove the 'healthy' sales this year.

As with last year, the top category of overall spend was restaurants, with Singaporeans contributing to 86 per cent of total takings.

Read the full story in Wednesday's edition of The Straits Times.