Thais invest 200 million Baht in heartfelt roses for Valentine Day

Heartfelt greetings, in traditional floral-style and also hi-tech caring at a distance - expressed with red roses and cellular SMS messages - will characterize Valentine's Day in Thailand next week.

The Kasikorn Research Center expects Thais to spend about 200 million Baht (US$5 million) to buy roses for their loved ones, and send lots of love via SMS cell phone messages. The researchers say that SMS use is expected to rise by 60 per cent this Valentine's Day.

The leading think-tank said that red roses and Valentine cards rank at the top as Valentine gifts each year, especially red roses, followed by chocolates, knick-knacks, and gift items.
According to a poll conducted in Bangkok from Feb 1-7, 2006 among 731 young people, Kasikorn Research Center forecasts that the Bt200 million spent on roses alone accounts for 20 percent of all spending during the 'festival of love'.

The demand for roses on Valentine's Day is ten times over the normal rate, according to the polltakers. There are about 7,000 rais (2,800 acres) of rose plantations across the country.

Areas where roses are grown in the kingdom include the provinces of Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Tak, Nakhon Pathom, Samut Sakhon, Ratchaburi, and Kanchanaburi.

Having suitable weather, Tak's Pobpra district has become a leading rose-growing area, with more than 4,000 rai of land used for planting the sweet-smelling roses. Valentine's Day is a big income-earner for florist shops, flower growers, and motorcycle taxi riders who make many 'special' deliveries.

Moreover, communication by phones, mobile phone and the Internet has become a cheaper and easier option to express affection. Kasikorn Research Center expects that about 35 to 40 million short messages (SMS), an increase of 60 per cent compared to the same period last year will be sent via mobile phones during the Valentine season.

The number of the Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) sent by mobile phone users will be doubled to one to two million messages. But still it is not possible to send a MMS from an AIS or DTac telephone number to a Orange/True Move or visa versa.

As the number of Internet users in Thailand has increased to 7.4 million people, the Internet will also play an important role during the Valentine's period