Luxury shopping centre Gaysorn, locat¬ed in central Bangkok, has increased this year's marketing budget 8 per cent, as it expects customer traffic to increase 810 per cent.
The expectation is based on Bank of Thailand estimates that the economy will grow 3.33.5 per cent.
The International Monetary Fund has also said the global economy should show 4percent growth this year, which should help Thailand's international tourist arrivals hit doubledigit numbers, Gaysorn Land Asset Management deputy general manager Satima Tanabe said yesterday.
She said shoppers stopped spending on luxury goods last year, because they were worried about the country's economic and political problems.
However, people have more ready cash now that the economy is showing signs of recovery and the political situ¬ation looks stable, which should boost the luxury market.
The company is also revising its mar¬ket segment by focusing on the younger generation, with shops like iStudio in place of On Pedder, which closed its out¬let last year. The iStudio outlet will be used to launch exclusive products, thus differentiating it from Gaysorn's other outlets.
"We believe the younger generation has purchasing power, so we've revised the focus for our shopping centre accordingly," Satima said.
Gaysorn records an average of 10,000 shoppers daily, with spending at Bt15,000 per head.
