Legacy Phuket Gazette
- Phuket News
Air Asia aids Phuket
Phuket NEWS Hound – A daily digest of news from around the world compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community PHUKET: AirAsia Group is today kicking off a promotional campaign called “It’s OK, Thailand”. The campaign aggressively markets Bangkok as well as other Thai destinations, most notably Phuket, with low fares to revive Thailand’s travel and tourism industry. The…
- Phuket News
Phuket: Big success in bad times
PHUKET: Phuket’s relative prosperity “shows how shifts that transform the global economy can also supply visitors to an attractive destination so steadily that it becomes relatively immune to temporary disturbances,” such as the recent violent demonstrations in Bangkok. That is the theme of Wayne Arnold in a story about Phuket in yesterday’s New York Times. Noting that the truly significant…
- Phuket News
Paul Poole workshops to resume
PHUKET: Despite political uncertainty in many parts of the country, sponsorship specialists Paul Poole (South East Asia) Co Ltd have decided to resume their popular training workshops following a two-year hiatus. Paul Poole explained that resuming the workshops, to be held at The Metropolitan Hotel in Bangkok, is the result of what he termed “surprising popular demand”. “We plan on…
- Phuket News
Phuket pawnshops busy in April
PHUKET: Government-run pawnshops on the island did a roaring trade last month in the run-up to the new school term that began in mid-May. More than 10,000 people pawned goods valued at over 200 million baht at the island’s three government-licensed pawnshops in April. The Phuket City Municipality Pawnshop currently has 247 million baht out on loan, while the Patong…
- Phuket News
Patong to get ‘drunk center’
PHUKET: Foreign tourists who over-indulge and get into trouble in Patong may soon be left overnight to sober up in a ‘drunk center’, according to plans revealed at the second meeting between Honorary Consuls and Phuket authorities on May 24. Another major proposal mooted at the meeting was setting up a call center to coordinate taxi services in Patong. Phuket…
- Phuket News
Phuket airport arrivals up 41%
PHUKET: While the ‘red shirt’ protests and ensuing government crackdown in the Thai capital saw international passenger arrivals to Bangkok airports fall by 0.6% last month, the number of international arrivals to Phuket in April increased by 41.4%, according to Airports of Thailand (AoT) statistics reported by real estate firm CB Richard Ellis today. International arrivals to Suvarnabhumi Airport last…
- Phuket News
Travel warning revision to benefit Phuket
Phuket NEWS Hound – A daily digest of news from around the world compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community PHUKET: Britain’s Foreign Office eased its advice against travel to the Thai capital yesterday as Bangkok slowly returned to normal after protests and riots. Britain had advised against all travel to Bangkok, including Phuket and Thailand in general, earlier…
- Phuket News
Murder trio nabbed in Phuket
PHUKET: Phuket City Police this afternoon held a press conference announcing the capture of three young men wanted in connection with the stabbing murder of Sathit Chuenchuan in Rassada Sunday night. Led by Phuket Provincial Police Deputy Commander Komol Wattrakorn, police identified the stabber as 22-year-old Kanokchart ‘San’ Deethong-on from Nakhon Sri Thammarat. Also presented were his alleged accomplices, 23-year-old…
- Opinion
PHUKET OPINION: Let’s move up from ‘social engineering’
PHUKET: A few years ago, the back of a best-selling T-shirt on sale in Patong listed events that had hurt Phuket’s tourism industry: ‘Phuket tourism: 2001 Bomb Alert, 2002 SARS, 2003 Bird Flu, 2004 Tsunami. What’s Next?‘ The front simply read: ‘Still alive and kicking,’ a nod to the industry’s resilience. Given the drop-off in sales of the older shirt,…
- Phuket News
Phuket medicine goes to the Gold Coast
Phuket NEWS Hound – A daily digest of news from around the world compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community PHUKET: More than 150 people are expected to be on hand tomorrow at a Phuket medical tourism initiative on Australia’s Gold Coast. Among them will be Phuket’s internationally recognized cosmetic surgeon Dr Sanguan Kunaporn and director Peter Davidson of…
- Phuket News
Security boost at Central Festival Phuket shopping mall
PHUKET: Security has been stepped up at Central Festival Phuket following the destruction of Central World Plaza in Bangkok last week. General manager of Central Festival, Wilaiporn Pitimana-aree, said that although there were no signs of political violence on the island, it was company policy to increase security at all the chain’s branches. The company had no evidence of a…
- Phuket News
Hearing on bypass road ‘flyover’ in Phuket tomorrow
PHUKET: A planned flyover at the Darasamuth Intersection near Central Festival Phuket will become a ‘flyunder’, if the project consultants get their way.At a public hearing scheduled for tomorrow at The Metropole hotel, Thai Engineering Consultants (TEC) will recommend a tunnel to take bypass road traffic under the intersection and onto Chao Fa West Road. Another tunnel would also take…
- Phuket News
Revved motorbike leads to Phuket stabbing murder
RASSADA, PHUKET: A man was stabbed to death in Phuket last night after complaining about his neighbors’ noisy motorbike. The 24-year-old victim, Sathit ‘Geng’ Chuanchuen from Suphanburi province, died on the way to Vachira Phuket Hospital of a stab wound to the heart. Hospital workers alerted police to Mr Sathit’s death at around 12:20am today. Police examined his body in…
- Phuket News
AirAsia suspends Phuket – Ho Chi Minh, Phuket – Medan routes
PHUKET: Thai AirAsia’s direct flights from Phuket to Ho Chi Minh City and Medan have been canceled temporarily due to low demand, but the carrier remains committed to growing Phuket as its second air hub in the Kingdom. The two services began at the end of last year with daily flights to Ho Chi Minh City and three flights weekly…
- Phuket News
Phuket tourists divert to Bali
Phuket NEWS Hound – A daily digest of news from around the world compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community PHUKET: The long-running political crisis in Thailand appears to have had a positive spin-off for Bali’s tourism industry, with more foreign tourists than usual visiting the Indonesian island instead of Thai destinations such as Phuket. The Jakarta Globe reports…
- Phuket News
Mumbo jumbo in Phuket hotel bookings
Phuket NEWS Hound – A daily digest of news from around the world compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community PHUKET: Phuket readers of stories from a wide array of ‘media outlets’ are by now well accustomed to conflicts, mumbo jumbo and gobbledygook when it comes to hotel occupancy, forward bookings and other tourism statistics. There are times when…
- Phuket News
Phuket Airport dismisses “chemtrail’ video
PHUKET: Air traffic control officials have dismissed as “crazy” a video circulating on the Internet purporting to show a mysterious unmarked airplane leaving “chemtrails” in the sky over Phuket. The video was posted on YouTube on May 19 by a user calling himself “robinhoodlum”. “Chemtrails in Phuket. Caught on tape at last,” says the narrator in a British accent, as…
- Phuket News
Phuket Gazette Readers’ Poll: How has the crisis hit Phuket?
PHUKET: It’s clear that tourist numbers are way down in Phuket right now, but what’s causing the situation? It is, after all, the start of low season and economies around the globe have yet to fully recover from the 2008 financial crisis. How much effect has the current political crisis in Thailand had on Phuket tourism? Have your say in…
- Phuket News
Phuket Gazette Readers’ Poll: Patong reversal is a step backwards
PHUKET: Only around one-third of Phuket Gazette readers believe reversing the direction of one way traffic will make travel in Patong more convenient, according to the results of our latest poll. A total of 645 readers voted in the poll, which asked respondents what effect the plans would have on travel in the resort town. The most popular response, offered…
- Phuket News
Phuket prisoners taste freedom
PHUKET: As part of a Royal Pardon, 148 convicts were released into civil society from Phuket Provincial Prison yesterday. Phuket’s newest batch of ex-convicts, 138 men and 10 women, were among 490 Phuket prisoners who were either released or had sentences reduced to to mark May 5 Coronation Day in Thailand. Vice Governor Smith Palawatvichai told the ex-cons at the…
- Phuket News
Drunk driver in Phuket pile-up
PHUKET CITY: A 30-year-old man tested five times over the legal alcohol limit after smashing his truck into an oncoming pickup, scattering seven motorbikes and their passengers across the road. Nakhon Sri Thammarat native Wirot Songpan was driving his black pickup truck home at rush hour on the morning of May 19 after a night of drinking in Saphan Hin…
- Phuket News
Phuket bars to open late for soccer World Cup
PHUKET: Soccer fans will be pleased to hear that bars in Phuket will be allowed to stay open late to show South Africa 2010 World Cup matches, although alcohol sales regulations will still apply. “Bars can show the soccer matches late, but they still have to follow the law limiting the hours when alcohol can be sold,” said Phuket Provincial…
- Phuket News
Bird seller slain in Phuket
KATA, PHUKET: Chalong Police are hunting for a man who stabbed and bludgeoned a man to death in front of a crowd of horrified witnesses in Phuket on Wednesday night. Nakhon Sri Thammarat native Teerasak Sukkasem, the 40-year-old owner of a store selling caged birds, died at the scene. Inspector Anukul Nookate of Phuket City Police was alerted to the…
- Phuket News
British ironman to climb Mont Blanc for Phuket charity
PHUKET: Phuket resident Les Bird is a man who takes pleasure in pain, and a man who has been praying for rain so he can test out his new Size 14 waterproof hiking boots. The 59-year-old plans to climb Mont Blanc – Europe’s highest and most deadly mountain – in July, and hopes to raise one million baht for needy…
- Phuket News
Phuket mall banks open Saturday
PHUKET: Prasarn Trairatworakul, chairman of the Thai Bankers Association, said today that banks in shopping malls can reopen on Saturday and Sunday. The move followed a Bank of Thailand (BoT) announcement that all banks in Thailand would be closed today and tomorrow, opening again for business on Monday. The move will protect bank staff and the public, according to the…
- Phuket News
Phuket wants peace: Dr Sriyada
PHUKET: Former Thai Rak Thai Party leader for Phuket Dr Sriyada Shinawatra doesn’t think the riots and arson attacks in the country yesterday will have a negative impact on Phuket, but insists that fresh elections and a respect for democratic principles are the only solution to Thailand’s current political conflict. Dr Sriyada, who runs a dental clinic in Phuket Town,…
- Phuket News
Phuket calm after Bangkok riots
PHUKET: Despite the recent mayhem in Bangkok, life has largely gone on as normal in Phuket – but local authorities remain on high alert to ensure continued security. Days of rioting in the capital culminated in the planned surrender yesterday of several ‘red shirt’ United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship (UDD) leaders. But rather than spelling the endgame to the…
- Phuket News
Sea rescue course in Phuket
PHUKET: A sea rescue course for 40 volunteers and government officers is underway at the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation (DDPM) training center in Phuket. The 45-day Andaman Sea Rescue Course, funded by DDPM region 18, began on April 19 and is scheduled to end June 2. The course includes sessions on radio communication and maritime law by instructors…
- Phuket News
Phuket Airport safe, security stepped up
PHUKET: Security at Phuket International Airport has been beefed up following outbreaks of violence across Bangkok and other parts of the country today. Airport Director Pratueng Sornkham said more police officers were called in to guard the facility from 11am this morning. Stricter security procedures are now in operation and will remain so until the situation changes, he said. He…
- Phuket News
Turmoil in more cities, but top cop says Phuket safe
PHUKET: Despite the turmoil engulfing parts of Bangkok and some other Thai cities, Phuket’s top cop insists Phuket remains safe. Commenting on reports that two provincial halls in Northeast Thailand have been set on fire by rampaging red shirts, Phuket Provincial Police Commander Pekad Tantipong said the same could not happen here. Tha Chat Chai checkpoint, where police inspect vehicles…
