This has been a golden year for those who live in Thailand, many of whom have been packing their bags frequently to take advantage of extra-long weekends and special holidays, thanks to a government drive to promote tourism.
But talk to some employers and they will complain about frequent disruptions and lower productivity. Even some tourism businesses will tell you that people only have so much money to spend, so more holidays don't necessarily provide a big economic lift.
Look around your own office, and you may notice that nearly half your colleagues have taken "hump days" off to stretch a three- or four-day break into 10 days away. Some are abroad, others are travelling around Thailand, while some are simply being couch potatoes at home.
If you're a civil servant and reading this story today, you may be relaxing at home as Royal Ploughing Day is a government holiday. That means you are finishing up a five-day weekend -- less than a month after the annual Songkran blowout -- that began with Coronation Day last Thursday and included a "special holiday" on Friday, thanks to your generous government.
If you work in the private sector, you're back at your post today but you had last Monday off to celebrate Labour Day, while your government counterparts had to work, not that there was much to do.
It's all in the name of boosting tourism, even though domestic travel in Thailand accounted for just 790 billion baht, or 35% of the 2.23 trillion baht in revenue generated by tourism last year.
Most tourism operators have been more than happy to see the extra holidays. Hotels have been able to fill their rooms during the current low season while restaurants have more customers than usual on weekdays.
But while the military government of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha continues to offer citizens little doses of "happiness" such as holidays -- and tax breaks for people who spend money on domestic travel -- many small business operators are not smiling. Typically, they suffer disproportionately in terms of the extra cost of doing business, such as overtime paid to employees to keep essential operations running on holidays.
"I see more positives than negatives from the holidays that are being given out," said William Heinecke, the chairman and CEO of Thailand's largest hospitality company, Minor International Plc, which runs the Anantara, Avani and other hotel brands and hundreds of food outlets under brands including The Pizza Company, Swensens and Dairy Queen.
"But yes, if one were a real low-cost producer, they could be feeling the impact," he added when asked if more holidays meant higher costs for manufacturers. However, he noted that Thailand was now becoming more of a value-addition centre than a low-cost producer.
He was not alone in his assessment that holidays can push up some costs. Another executive at a multi-billion-dollar company with operations in Thailand and abroad said the government's generosity could be helping one sector but hurting others in the process.
"Think about it: businesses need funds to keep going and the opening of banks, logistics and other things are important for all businesses, not just smaller ones," the executive said on condition of anonymity.
He said that while it was not necessary for manufacturers to shut down their operations on holidays, the fact remained that many big businesses rely on smaller ones for raw materials, logistics and a host of other goods and services. Not all small businesses can afford to bear the cost of staying open 365 days a year.
This year May has featured even more public holidays than April, typically the least productive month of the year because of the long Songkran break.
Vikas Kawatra, senior executive at SCB Securities, an arm of Siam Commercial Bank, said more holidays did not necessarily mean more spending and the benefits may not offset the drawbacks.
"An extra holiday is never good news," he told Asia Focus. "Whether it's a factory or office, a holiday breaks the momentum of the business and productivity and efficiency levels will be down."
When you come back from a long holiday, it usually takes one or two days to recover and get back into working mode again, he said.
"If you have only two working days in a week, that's not good. Attendance [in those two days] will be very low but businesses still have to keep their offices open," he said. "Businesses are operating equipment at full capacity but they don't have as many customers. This is an inefficient use of resources."
As well, capital markets face disruption and this can be bad for the investment climate. "With more holidays, it also means they can invest less in the stock market," he said.
Mitsuji Konoshita, the chairman and chief executive of the motorcycle leasing firm Group Lease Plc (GL), agreed that extra holidays might deter foreign investors but not for long.
The Stock Exchange of Thailand has been performing reasonably well this year despite the sluggish economy, with market capitalisation up 9% since the start of the year to 13.38 trillion baht. Foreign investors have been net buyers for the year to date of 12.45 billion baht in Thai shares.
PROPER BALANCE
Mr Konoshita said that in his view, holidays are essential for businesses to run smoothly and he encourages his staff to take proper vacations.
"A long holiday is good. Luckily the government gave us more holidays this year because everyone has the right to have time off," he told Asia Focus from Monaco.
Having a proper balance of business and private time is important because it helps improve workers' productivity and efficiency goes up after they have had a proper rest.
"There are even more business opportunities where you can create promotional activities and products to cater to holiday seasons," he added.
Kirida Bhaopichitr, research director of the International Research and Advisory Service with the Thailand Development Research Institute (TDRI), said the correlation between more holidays and worker efficiency was difficult to measure.
"Some people may take longer to switch from their travel mode to working while some may feel fully rested and will become more efficient," she said.
Most developed countries are not so holiday-minded when compared with developing countries (see graphic on page 1). The US, Australia, New Zealand and the Netherlands, for example, have 10 national holidays per year while the UK, Canada and Spain have only eight.
India, on the other hand, tops the table with 21 public holidays -- and even more in certain states. Thailand has 16 official holidays but when public holidays fall on a weekend -- or on a Tuesday or Thursday in recent cases -- more days get tacked on.
It's worth keeping in mind, however, that workers in most developed countries, especially in Europe, get between 20 and 30 paid vacation days per year from their employers, compared with 10 in most Asian countries.
SPENDING VARIES
As for the argument that more holidays will lead to more consumer spending, experts say that's possible but only for those who have sufficient disposable income.
"Thailand needs domestic stimulus given that the economy has been slower over the past years. Longer holidays provide opportunities for people to go out and spend money which can become an economic stimulus to local consumption," said Dr Kirida.
However, she says, for those earning the minimum wage or in the lower-income tier, holidays will not change their spending behaviour and can even negatively affect their ability to earn income.
"These groups usually get paid on a daily basis, meaning that they will earn less and will be able to spend less," she added.
SCB Securities' Mr Kawatra agreed, saying that holidays are only good if one has the ability to spend money and enjoy the time off.
"Spending more money on holidays means giving back to the economy which will create a multiplier effect, but giving out more holidays as such is another story because not everyone has the money to spend," he said.
Their holidays could simply mean more time spent at home watching television or going out to department stores to stay cool but without spending much, he added.
Recent statistics from the University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce (UTCC) show household debt in Thailand at an eight-year high, averaging 119,000 baht per family. Total household debt as of the third quarter last year was 10.8 trillion baht or 81.1% of gross domestic products (GDP), up from 80.6% in the second quarter, according to the Bank of Thailand.
"More holidays could encourage more spending but this will eat into people's savings and they will not feel good about it later on," Mr Kawatra added.
What's more, as many as 60% of the debt of working people is believed to be owed to loan sharks for general payments, as well as cars, houses and other consumption goods.
TOURISM TONIC
However, Apichai Aranyig, director of the Krabi office of the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), still believes that longer holidays always serve as a positive push for the tourism industry.
"We are seeing a growing number of Thai tourists in recent years and longer holidays will boost domestic travel," he said. "A TAT survey suggested that average occupancy rates from May 5-9 in Krabi were 65% and were expected to surpass 70% with additional last-minute bookings."
All this is good news for hoteliers such as Mr Heinecke and Kamonwan Wipulakorn, the chief executive of The Erawan Group Plc, the operator of nearly 40 properties including the Grand Hyatt Erawan, JW Marriott and budget and midmarket hotels in Thailand.
"Generally [the extra holidays have] benefited the tourism sector, be it hotel rooms or family gatherings in restaurants, which again benefits the tourism sector," said Ms Kamonwan.
But the fact remains that the vast majority of the population are in the middle- to lower-income bracket and have limited spending power.
"I agree with the notion that the spending momentum is limited to a small group of people in society and that the real impact of all this would be a small rise in spending because the bulk of tourism revenue is derived from foreign visitors," Vorapak Tanayawong, the president of Krungthai Bank, told Asia Focus.
Dr Kirida added that many higher-income consumers may choose to spend their holidays abroad so the impact on domestic consumption is limited. This was evident from the fact that most of the high-level executives Asia Focus tried to contact for this story were travelling abroad last week.