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Staporn Sirisinha, senior executive vice president for KTC's Leisure Marketing Department, said higher oil prices had driven up the cost of travel-related services and products, particularly airline tickets and petrol.

While airlines may be forced to cut fares to lure more travellers, they are expected to come up with marketing campaigns to boost spending. This would consequently boost spending through credit cards.

"Earlier, the annual growth rate of spending in tourism was 20 per cent. But the rate will soar this year. At 50 per cent, it will be the highest since the company was established 11 years ago," Staporn said.

The value of transactions is expected to rise sharply, though KTC expects that the number of its cards will increase by only 10 per cent - as in previous years. At present, KTC has 1.5 million cardholders.

KTC expects spending witnessed by its leisure division to reach Bt7 billion this year, up from Bt5.4 billion in 2007. The company's overall revenue is projected at Bt50 billion.

Average spending per head per transaction for tourism-related cards is Bt6,000, up from Bt5,200 last year and Bt4,300 in 2006.

"KTC has been tapping the tourism sector for years by adding more marketing activities and promotions along with the introduction of a wider variety of cards to the market. And we expect to have a total of 1.6 million cards this year," said Staporn.

The latest product is the KTC - Royal Orchid Plus Card, in cooperation with national carrier Thai Airways International. The card will be the flagship product throughout the year. The company has more than 300 types of credit cards. It is negotiating with new partners, including a major corporate group, to issue another affiliate card.

KTC claims to be the biggest player in the local market in terms of the number of cardholders.