TAT Phuket branch marketing manager Montri Manathong told The Phuket News that Vegetarian Festival visitors spent B600 million, including money spent on flights, hotel stays, transportation, food, sightseeing tours and souvenirs.
Mr Montri said around 78 per cent of tourists visiting for the festival were from Malaysia, Singapore and China, and most were of Hokkien descent.
When asked if the number of tourists visiting the festival this year had dropped due to the global economic crisis, Mr Montri stated that TAT statistics show over the past five years that the Vegetarian Festival remained largely unaffected and were relatively similar each year, with an average 100,000 people attending each year.
Hotels in the heart of Phuket’s Old Town had 85 to 90 per cent occupancy rates, apart from the last three days of the festival which saw hotels overflowing with tourists.
Many tourists were unable to find accommodation in the Old Town area and instead went to stay in Patong or Karon, he said.
The increase in tourists was also good for the temples – Vice President of the Jui Tui Shrine, Hocxsiew Sanjan, told The Phuket News the shrine received B5.5 million in donations, the most it had received in the last four years.