The coming long holiday over the weekend will see Thai people spending more than five billion baht in religious activities, travels and shopping, according to the Center for Economic and Business Forecasting at the University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce.
Centre director Thanawat Polwichai said as Thai people will be enjoying a long holiday in the coming weekend with the arrival of the Buddhist Lent and Buddhist Lent Eve, he predicted that the holidays will generate the highest cash flows in the country for a period of 5 years.
The prediction was based on a recent survey made to gauge consumer spending behavior during the 5 day Buddhist Lent holiday.
Mr Thanawat said that the survey strongly suggested that there will be a dramatic increase in cash flows during the period of almost 5.78 billion baht.
This will represent a 7.6% increase and is the highest it has ever seen in the country in a 5 year period, he said.
Such a high spending will come from domestic tourism which expected to generate on average 4,156 baht per person, or a 62% increase from previous survey.
For religious purposes, consumers’ spending will increase by a dramatic 59% or an average of 4,571 baht per person.
Mr Thanawat said further that the high spending is entirely due to growing confidence in the economic recovery.
