Patong Festival planning finalized

PHUKET TOWN: A last-minute conference yesterday finalized planning for Patong’s one-day carnival on November 1 to mark the opening of the tourism high season. “We have the cooperation of police to handle security and to ensure the convenience of people who join our carnival, all day and all evening,” said spokewoman Wallee Pachantabutr, General Manager of the Impiana Phuket Cabana. Representatives from Phuket FantaSea and the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), joined carnival organizers at the meeting at the Royal Phuket City Hotel in Phuket Town. K. Wallee said that green buses had been organized to shuttle people to Soi Bangla from the field to the south of the Club Andaman Beach Resort on Haad Patong Rd. The grand parade, including floats from Phuket community interests, will have the theme, “Phuket – the Paradise Island.” It will begin around 7 pm. November 1 also marks the start of the island-wide seafood festival, which will climax in December with another carnival in Patong.