Also to be discussed will be ways to improve the entertainment stage areas to allow more performers to take part as interest in the festival grows.
The annual festival was one of the best yet in terms of attendance, with around 300,000 people coming to the old town over the three days of the event, according to Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) figures.
The TAT said that the festival injected around B2 billion into the local economy.
Chanchai Duangjit, director of the Phuket branch of the TAT, said that traffic this year was a problem because the five streets in the Old Town were closed to vehicles. He said he would discuss the issue with organisers before next year’s festival to try to find solutions.
Other negative factors which may have prevented visitors getting to the festival easily included traffic constriction around the Central Festival intersection due to construction of the new underpass, Mr Chanchai said.
He noted that in February there were a lot of events on the island, including Chinese New Year and Valentine’s Day, which encouraged many tourists to visit Phuket.
He also said that – traffic apart – the Old Town event was well organised and that Phuket was in an area of political stability, which encouraged tourists to visit.
Chinese – including visitors from mainland China, Hong Kong and Singapore – were the largest group of tourists to attend the festival.
The second largest group were Australians, followed by Germans, British and Russians.
TAT figures, he said, showed around 250,000 people attended the festival last year, but this year the number was up, to 300,000 – and increase of around 50,000 or 20 per cent. The increase was mostly due to more tourists attending the event, he said.
The Vice-President of the Thai Peranakan Association of Phuket, Assoc Prof Pranee Sakulpipatana, said she was delighted with the festival.
However, she asked for local people to get more involved than ever before in next year’s event; the festival’s success depended on them and their willingness to showcase the “diamond” in their hands – their heritage, she said.
“We have a priceless treasure on our hands. It’s preservation doesn’t depend only on the old generations, but also the young generations who will determine the future of our culture that has existed for centuries.”