Patong election puts brakes on festival

PATONG: The annual festival to mark the first day of the high season has been postponed indefinitely, Pattanapong Aikwanich, President of Phuket Tourist Association (PTA), said on Tuesday. Speaking at the Le Meridien Phuket Beach Resort, K. Pattanapong said, “The Patong Municipal Council has disbanded so there are no councilors to help organize the event. This has forced us to postpone the event indefinitely.” The new council will not be elected until November 16 and 17. The festival, now in its 10th year, is normally held each November 1. As usual, the Municipality was to organize this year’s fair and had already nominated a PR company to organize and promote the event, he explained. But that was before the council was dissolved. K. Pattanapong added that the PTA executive committee had met with officers from the local branch of the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) to try to stage the event as close to November 1 as possible. At the meeting it was agreed that it was possible to launch the carnival on November 1, but that the PTA and the TAT would have to put up a total of about 500,000 baht. “It would be great if we could do it on time, but I’m worried that it won’t be as good as in previous years,” he said.