Christmas tops holiday spending among Thais in 2019

By The Nation

 

 

A study by Visa, the leader in digital payments, revealed that Thai consumers spent the most during the Christmas holiday period last year, accounting for 30 per cent of total holiday spending in 2019, ahead of King Bhumibol’s Birthday Anniversary, New Year’s Eve, Chulalongkorn Day, Chinese New Year and Songkran.

 

The Visa Holiday Study analysed anonymised data from VisaNet, one of the world’s largest electronic payment networks, to gain a better understanding of Thai consumers’ spending habits during holiday periods. The data will be used to help create and improve payment solutions and offers in collaboration with Visa’s partners.

 

Suripong Tantiyanon, Country Manager for Visa Thailand said: “At Visa, we always look for innovative ways to add value to our partners and consumers. One way is by harnessing the vast amount of data that flows through our global network VisaNet, in the most secure and ethical ways.

 

Visa’s Consulting & Analytics team analysed the data used in the Visa Holiday Study to provide insights that will support our partners and the industry to grow their businesses and further the adoption of digital payments in Thailand”.

 

 

Top 6 holidays ranked in Thailand by overall spending: The most popular holidays as measured by consumer overall spending were Christmas (30 per cent), King Bhumibol’s Birthday Anniversary (16 per cent), New Year’s Eve (15 per cent), Chulalongkorn Day (15 per cent), Chinese New Year (13 per cent) and Songkran (11 per cent).

 

The highest average transaction size was on Christmas day (Bt4,949), followed by Chinese New Year (Bt2,773), Chulalongkorn Day (Bt2,742), King Bhumibol’s Birthday Anniversary (Bt2,517), New Year’s Eve (Bt 2,492) and Songkran (Bt2,137).

 

Where Thai consumers spent their money: Since Thai holidays are social occasions and involve travelling to visit families, it comes as no surprise that the top two spending categories were supermarkets and fuel, contributing 26 per cent each. Other top spending categories included restaurants (15 per cent), department stores (11 per cent), retail goods (10 per cent), telecom and utilities (8 per cent), apparel & accessories (7 per cent), discount Stores (6 per cent), fast food (6 per cent) and professional services (5 per cent).

 

Where Thai consumers went and spent: Many Thai consumers also made the most of their holidays to go abroad. The top ten travel destinations by overall spending during the six holidays were: Japan (25 per cent), United Kingdom (8 per cent), South Korea (7 per cent), United States (6 per cent), France (5 per cent), Singapore, Hong Kong, Switzerland and Italy (4 per cent) and Taiwan (3 per cent).

 

How much Thai consumers spent abroad by average transaction: Top ten countries with the highest average transaction size are Switzerland (Bt14,240) followed by France (Bt13,444), Italy (Bt13,356), Hong Kong (Bt8,393), United Kingdom (Bt8,014), Japan (Bt5,961), Singapore (Bt5,778), Taiwan (Bt5,333), South Korea (Bt4,486) and United States (Bt4,445).

 

“Thai Visa cardholders are enjoying the speed, convenience and security of electronic payments no matter where or how they choose to spend their holidays. We hope these insights in Visa’s Holiday Study will be helpful to everyone in the industry and beyond as we continue to transition towards a cashless future,” concluded Suripong.

 

 

-- © Copyright The Nation Thailand 2020-02-07

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I am surprised by this. I would never have figured a Christian holiday would see higher spending than Songkran or other bigtime Thai holidays.

I remember when Christmas was a non-issue, only visible in beer bar decoration. Better times.

29 minutes ago, Cereal said:

I am surprised by this. I would never have figured a Christian holiday would see higher spending than Songkran or other bigtime Thai holidays.

Commercial brainwashing....