Over Bt10b expected to be changed hands during Thailand's Loy Krathong festival

BANGKOK, November 22 (TNA) - Bangkok-based University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce has foreseen the country's livelier Loy Krathong festival this year than last year, with over 10 billion baht expected to be changed hands during the full-moon festivity nationwide. Thanawat Polvichai, Director of the university’s Center for Economic and Business Forecasting, said on Thursday a latest survey found that most respondents, or 62.3 per cent of them, would join the upcoming Loy Krathong festival. According to the survey, Thanawat acknowledged, people would spend more in the upcoming Loy Krathong festival than they did last year when Thailand was hit by a flooding crisis. The center projected that some 10.3 billion baht should be changed hands during the Loy Krathong festival 2012, or 1,460 baht per head, a 20 per cent year-on-year increase. The center's survey also found if an anti-government rally, set on November 24, ended within this weekend, it would have no impact on the upcoming Loy Krathong festival, which falls on November 28, and even up to 10.7 billion baht could be changed hands, but if the protest was prolonged, public spending during this year's full-moon festival could be lower than 10 billion baht. Juree Jantarasap, Director of the Public Parks Office under the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration or BMA, told reporters, meanwhile, that 28 public parks in the capital will be opened for the public on the Loy Krathong day. The BMA is also preparing security measures for locals and international tourists joining in the upcoming Loy Kratong festival, including tests of strength of piers and strict control of fireworks during this year's full-moon festivity in the city. (TNA)