A woman applies makeup next to a magazine promoting Valentine's Day
© AFP/File Mark Ralston HONG KONG (AFP) - Small businesses would normally be preparing for a mid-February boom in a region increasingly embracing imported Western holidays such as Halloween and Valentine's Day on top of traditional Asian celebrations.
But this year, the proximity of Valentine's Day Wednesday to the Chinese calendar's Lunar New Year on February 18 means people are saving their cash to bring in the year of the pig with their families.
"We expected higher orders than 2006, but so far sales were disappointing," said a representative for Thailand's largest flower-delivery company Miss Lily, which is offering a 500,000 baht (14,000 dollar) arrangement of roses.
Chinese vendor sells items for the Lunar New Year
© AFP "One of the reasons for the sluggish sales is that people have already left Bangkok for their hometowns for the Chinese New Year celebration," she said.
In communist Vietnam, where the romantic import has become more popular in recent years, the proximity of Saturday's Tet Lunar New Year has taken some of the wind out of the celebrations.
"I don't think we will sell much this year compared to last year's Valentine's Day," said 28-year-old Nguyen Thi Lan, selling cards, plastic flowers, fluffy toys and other gifts in a downtown Hanoi shop.
Last year, when there was a two-week gap between the two festivals, "even the shop owner was here to help serve the customers," she said.
One customer, 26-year-old Tran Hung Cuong, said that with Tet, Vietnam's most important family event, coming up, he could not take his girlfriend on a countryside trip like last year.
A young man buys roses on Valentine's Day in Beijing
© AFP/File Peter Parks But he said he would not shirk his responsibilities, eyeing a tall teddy bear on the shelves.
"It's one third of my income, but I'm sure she'll like it," the love-struck state employee said. "And I'm sure she'll love me more if I buy it for her."
China's Xinhua state news agency quoted flower seller Wang Zhigang, whose small outlet in Beijing was suffering from a New Year's exodus.
"Usually Valentine's Day is the busiest time of the year, but this year Spring Festival is ruining it," Wang complained.
Xinhua said restaurants were snubbing romantic candlelight meals in favour of New Year's dinners.
Nevertheless, elsewhere in Asia, people cashed in on the designated day of love with the usual fervour.
The upmarket Tokyo Prince Hotel is offering women a 75-minute chocolate massage, which it claims will make ladies smell sweet for their husbands or boyfriends.
A Filipino elected representative(R) hands out Valentine's Day paper flowers
© AFP Rico Gonzales In the Philippines, 6,124 people joined in a mass kissing ceremony Saturday in an attempt to reclaim the Guinness World Record for most people kissing at the same time.
But Valentine's Day has also provoked controversy. In Indian-administered Kashmir, Muslim activists warned traders to ignore the "moral degradation and immorality" of the occasion.
Greetings cards disappeared from shops in the centre of Srinagar -- where Islamic separatists have been battling New Delhi's rule since 1989 -- with one trader explaining that it was not worth the hassle.
"We have not brought Valentine cards for the past couple of years after a separatist women's organisation raided the shops, seized the cards and set them on fire," said Khursheed Ahmad, who runs a shop in the city centre.
In Thailand, police are to deploy special teams to Bangkok's nightspots to prevent teenagers having casual sex, part of a drive to curb infection rates and the spread of AIDS.
Vendors deliver kumquat trees for the Lunar New Year in Vietnam
© AFP Hoang Dinh Nam Some 70 police officers will patrol Internet cafes, shopping malls, night clubs and discos to detain teens aged under 18 after 10:00 pm, Bangkok deputy police chief Major Kamol Kaewsuwan said.
Meanwhile in Australia, a global health charity urged men to go under the knife for their loved ones by having a vasectomy.
"A vasectomy is perhaps not as romantic as chocolate and roses, but not having to worry about contraception is a present many women would appreciate," said Suzanne Dvorak, who heads Marie Stopes International in Australia.
©AFP