City residents in Thailand are expected to spend about one billion baht (27.8 million U.S. dollars) during the Valentine's Day festival this year, according to a recent survey by a Thai leading economic think tank.

The Kasikorn Research Center (KRC), after surveying anticipated spending behavior for this year's Valentine's Day, among young people from age 13 to 25 years between February 1-5, projected that the amount of money spent in the festival would reach around one billion baht, up 4.2 percent from last year's 960 million baht (26.7 million dollars), Thai News Agency reported Friday.

However, spending is seen as growing at a slower pace than last year, which saw a healthy growth of 20 percent.

The KRC said Valentine's Day is another red-letter day many business owners in Thailand are eagerly anticipating as they hope the sales during the festival for lovers would make up losses for the unsatisfying performance during the Christmas and New Year season due to the New Year's Eve series bombings in the capital Bangkok and its suburban, which led to the canceling of many festivities.

According to KRC, good sales is expected during February 11-14 as many people would go shopping in advance.

Roses, especially red and white ones, will remain a popular gift. The prices this year are expected to be close to that of last year, which were not high because there was sufficient supply to meet the demand.

Nonetheless, flower shops, growers and vendors would still benefit from moderately extravagant spending for the occasion, KRC said.

The top five activities Thai people prefer to do in the festival include talking on the phone for the special occasion, seeing movies, sending messages and photos on mobile phones, having meals outside, and shopping.

Source: Xinhua