Surge seen in SMS, emails
New Year's day will be celebrated not just with song but the sound of millions of mobiles beeping, according to Kasikorn Research Centre.
It said yesterday the number of SMS messages being sent today should in-crease to 70 million, while e-cards were expected to rise by 30-40 per cent during the New Year 2007 holiday period.Thailand has 8 million Internet users and 37.8 million mobile-phone numbers. Both services have become extremely popular for sending New Year greetings as they are quick, convenient, cheap and had many pictures and messages to choose from, the research centre said. However, traditional New Year cards remained popular among the general public and corporations. A survey conducted between December 1 and 12 on 777 Bangkok residents aged 15 up indicated Bangkokians would spend about Bt390 million on New Year's cards, an 11.4 per cent increase from last year. It also estimated Bangkokians would spend Bt4.8 billion to buy gifts and that they would give importance to family members and those close to them. The most important activities for New Year were parties followed by merit-making and giving gifts to respected seniors. Those partaking of these activities, the research centre said, would spend about Bt9.5 billion.
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