The most searched words in Thailand last year was the phrase "Chim, Shop, Chai", according to Google's Year in Search 2019.
The term in English means "taste, shop, spend", but as a proper name it refers to the government's economic stimulus scheme launched in September. Under the campaign, the project gave away 1,000 baht cash and also up to 20% cash rebates for spending up to 50,000 baht through its G-Wallet, developed by Krung Thai Bank.
More than 11.7 million people joined the project. About 25 billion baht has been spent through the app, of which 11 billion was the total spending of the cash giveaways and 14 billion was the spending through the top-up campaign, as reported last week. The scheme will end on Jan 31.
Listed as the second-most-searched word was "Krong Kam", a TV drama airing on Channel 3, followed by three other melodramas: Mia Noi on GMM25, Baimai Thi Plid Plio on Channel One31, and Hua Jai Sila on Channel One31.
According to Google, the Year in Search 2019 lists are based on the search terms that had the highest spike when compared to the year before.
The top search in local news is "Lunlabelle", which was the nickname of Thitima Noraphanpiphat, the model whose death was controversial until it was confirmed that she died as a result of alcohol poisoning.
For the top-searched shop, Nong Rim Khlong came in at No.1. It is a street-food restaurant on Ekamai 21 known for the quality of its cook-to-order seafood dishes.
The top search for the local destination was Kanchanaburi, while Georgia was the most searched international place to visit by people living in Thailand.
For the global top keyword searches, "India vs South Africa" (referring to a cricket series) was the top-searched term in 2019. The top five searched-for movies were Avengers: Endgame, Joker, Captain Marvel, Toy Story 4 and Aquaman.
The top five searched-for TV shows were Game Of Thrones, Stranger Things, Chernobyl, When They See Us and The Umbrella Academy. The most searched-for song was Old Town Road by Lil Nas X, followed by 7 Rings by Ariana Grande, Shallow by Lady Gaga, Senorita by Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello, and Memories by Maroon 5.
Visit trends.google.com/trends/yis/2019/GLOBAL for more information.
