Spending during the annual water-fight extravaganza is expected to jump 12 per cent to Bt90 billion from last year, mainly due to hikes in product and fuel prices, according to a business poll by the University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce released yesterday.

Meanwhile the poll found that domestic tourism during the festival was unlikely to grow because many Thai travellers planned to take jaunts to foreign lands. Travellers plan to spend Bt13 billion on overseas travel, compared with Bt3 billion in last year's survey.

A poll conducted from March 31 to April 5 found that most consumers would be spending their money on the same sort of things as they did during last year's Songkran.

About 44.5 per cent of respondents expected to spend more money than last year as a result of the inflation that has hit product and fuel prices, said Thanawat Phonwichai, director of the Economic and Business Forecasting Centre.

He added that another 44.9 per cent said that they would keep their spending unchanged this year, while the remaining 10.6 per cent said they planned to spend less than last year.

Some 1,200 people from each region of the country were surveyed.

The survey found that on a per-capita basis Thais would spend an average of Bt3,700 during Sonkran, 23 per cent more than the Bt3,000 they planned to spend last year.

The poll also found that relief at easing political tensions after the snap election had spurred demand for travel. Before the election, only 27.8 per cent of respondents said they planned to travel during the festival. After the election, 37.7 per cent said they would hit the road.

About 26.7 per cent of respondents said they planned to travel abroad compared with only 1.5 per cent last year.

Saowanee Thairungrote, dean of the economics faculty at the university, said the appreciation of the baht had increased interest in travelling overseas and that some people might have been looking to escape political tensions.

"The major destination for Thai travellers is the new Disneyland launched in Hong Kong last December," she said, adding that other big destinations included China, South Korea and Singapore.

"The average spending overseas per person is expected to be Bt58,555," said Saowanee.

South Korea has avidly promoted its tourism business in a variety of media, she said.

Thanawat said this was the first year that respondents had planned to spend more than Bt10 billion abroad.

He suggested that the Tourism Authority of Thailand urgently and strongly promote domestic tourism and help travel companies create inexpensive packages to keep Thais at home.

Those respondents who favoured domestic travel planned to spend their time engaging in eco-tourism (32 per cent), wellness programmes (20.8 per cent) and beach time (19.8 per cent).

Of those who preferred to stay put during the Songkran festival, 32.9 per cent said they would go on merit-making missions at an average cost of Bt1,019 per person, followed by 32.6 per cent who said they would spend time shopping and spending Bt2,409 per person. About 23.9 per cent of the respondents said they planned to throw parties or hold ceremonies, which would cost an average of Bt2,505 each.

The TAT's northern office also estimated that tourists would spend Bt200 million during the holidays in four northern provinces, Phayao, Phrae, Nan and Chiang Rai. Thanya Nikrothanont, director of the office, said these provinces would see more than 200,000 travellers.

Petchanet Pratruangkrai

The Nation