Veggie festival is more popular

BANGKOK Kasikorn Research Centre estimates Bangkok residents will spend THB4,500 million during the Vegetarian Festival that started Saturday 1 October and ends 9 October.

The bank’s think-tank unit said more Bangkok residents will celebrate “Kin Jae” (The Festival for Eating Vegetables) festival when compared with last year.

It forecast younger residents were now taking an interest in the festival.

The centre estimates that city dwellers will spend over THB4,500 million on “Jae” food and beverages this year, up 7.2% year-on-year, averaging THB300/person/day, compared to the THB700/person/days last year.

Yaowarat Road, in the heart of Bangkok’s Chinatown district is famous its “Jae” festival stalls. However, restaurants and street stalls across the city put up yellow flags to announce their participation in the festival. Some still serve non-vegetarian dishes, but the trend is to go pure vegetarian for the entire duration of the festival.

Kasikorn Research Centre is a subsidiary company of Kasikorn Bank, which conducts tourism and business research mainly on Thailand’s economy including tourism with reliable recommendations and indicators on business prospects.