News
Thailand news, politics, business, crime, lifestyle, and tourism—stay updated with breaking news and in-depth analysis from Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Pattaya, and beyond. The Thaiger delivers the latest national news that matters.
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Phuket high season down 25% year-on-year: analyst
PHUKET: The start of this year’s high season for tourism in Phuket is down about 25% overall compared with last year, one industry analyst has said. Bhuritt Maswongsa, vice-president for marketing at the Phuket Tourist Association, said occupancy rates at Phuket hotels in November were only about 60%, on average. “We used to get occupancy rates in the 70% to…
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New Phuket traffic flow given green light
PHUKET: Changes to the Patong traffic flow, on Phuket’s west coast, moved a step closer this week when officials confirmed the new one-way system will take effect on January 15. Adding to the changes will be new parking zones and regulations coming into effect on December 30, with new road markings and signs being put in place to assist motorists.…
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Skype back on in Phuket in time for Christmas
PHUKET: Skype internet telephone service has “stabilized” with core services returning to Phuket just in time for Christmas. “We’ve been able to successfully stabilize Skype due to the dedicated supernodes deployed by Skype’s engineering team,” Skype CEO Tony Bates wrote on the company’s website earlier today. “We’re at roughly 90 per cent of normal user volumes,” he said. “Audio, video…
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Phuket Poll: Is our tap water safe to drink?
PHUKET: The current issue of the Phuket Gazette out today carries a feature on whether Phuket tap water is safe to drink. The authorities say it is at the point it leaves the water treatment plants, but resident water-quality expert Brad Kenny of Environmental Solutions says there are many factors that affect water quality between where the water is treated…
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Local tour operators furious at Russian counterparts
PHUKET: Russians allegedly running illegal tourism businesses in Phuket have sparked outrage among local tourism operators.Sukadach Ratanaburi filed a group complaint at the Governor’s Office on Monday, together with about 100 local tourism business operators with him for support. “These Russians are stealing our jobs,” Mr Sukadach said. “They set up tour information counters by the roadside, sit there and…
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Site chosen for new Phuket Provincial Hall
PHUKET: The new provincial hall under planning will be built on a 15-rai vacant plot of government land in Phuket Town. The site chosen is next to the Regional Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Center on Damrong Road.The announcement was made on Wednesday at a meeting convened especially to discuss the project. “There are many government offices here at the current…
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Details of Phuket tsunami memorial services announced
PHUKET: Details of Sunday’s remembrance services for those who lost their lives in the 2004 tsunami disaster have been announced. The first service will take place at 8:30am at the Tsunami Wall of Remembrance in Mai Khao. Later in the morning, at the Tsunami Monument in Kamala, memorial speeches will be given by various dignitaries, including Governor Tri Augaradacha and…
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Foreign pirate duo nabbed in Phuket raid
PHUKET: Two alleged foreign copyright pirates were arrested in a raid by Phuket police yesterday. High-ranking provincial officers along with Patong Police Superintendent Arayapan Pukbuakhao led the search on a warehouse off Nanai Road in Patong. The warehouse tenants named as Truong Van Doan, 33, and Tong Vankorn of Vietnam, were arrested at the scene, police said. Police seized about…
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Phuket Skype users still “offline”
PHUKET: Skype users around the world, including Phuket, are still reporting outages of the popular Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP). The Luxembourg-based Skype announced yesterday on its website that it noticed a falling number of people logged on to the system “which wasn’t usual or expected” and decided to investigate. The company has apologized to users and said the problem…
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Phuket to remember tsunami victims
PHUKET: Services to remember those in Phuket lost to the 2004 tsunami disaster will be held at Patong, Kamala and Mai Khao this Sunday. Governor Tri Augaradacha announced today that the annual Light Up Phuket event will be held at Loma Park in Patong. In Mai Khao, a remembrance service will be held at the Wall of Remembrance. He added…
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Euro snow will not stall Phuket tourism
PHUKET: The heavy snowfalls that forced airports across Europe to close this week are only a short-term problem and will not dramatically affect Phuket tourism, say key local industry figures. Suchart Hirankanokkul, president of the Thai Hotels Association (Southern Chapter), told the Gazette he didn’t think the airport closures would result in mass booking cancellations. “The heavy snow in Europe…
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Scores turn out for PAD meeting in Phuket
PHUKET: More than 1,000 people from throughout the South gathered in Phuket for the yellow-shirt People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) conference last night. PAD Phuket coordinator Aparat Chartchutikumjorn confirmed that people had come from Krabi, Surat Thani, Phang Nga, Nakhon Sri Thammarat and as far as Bangkok and Phetchaboon to attend the conference. Security for the gathering at the Royal…
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Greater Phuket Chapter for American Chamber of Commerce
PHUKET: The American Chamber of Commerce in Thailand (AMCHAM Thailand) has announced the formation of a Greater Phuket Chapter. AMCHAM Thailand is the leading foreign business organization in Thailand and has recognized the surging economic importance and prominence of Phuket as Asia’s leading resort destination. Established in 1956, AMCHAM Thailand now has over 660 member companies and almost 2,000 professionals…
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Phuket Red Cross to raffle Bt2.5mn house
PHUKET: The Phuket Red Cross has revealed the 2.5-million-baht home that will be raffled off as top prize at its annual fund-raising fair next month. The two-storey townhouse in Phanason Villa housing estate at Bor Rae in Wichit covers 21 square wah. The three-bedroom home was donated by Bangkok-based real estate developer Phanason, which has built many residential projects in…
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An early Christmas gift for one of Phuket’s poorest
PHUKET: As Christmas fast approaches, one of the poorest elderly residents of Rassada, near Phuket Town, received a special gift this year: a complete renovation for his dilapidated, old house. Put “Uncle Put” Nuengraksa, 73, was identified by Rassada Municipality as the most needy among five candidates living in the sub-district. His ramshackle abode in Soi Ta Tan, near the…
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Airport boss moved to Chiangmai
PHUKET: Suthara Huangsuwan, the boss of the Phuket International Airport, was abruptly moved to a new post in Chiang Mai yesterday. An airport official denied that his transfer was the result of his inability to solve the problem of “black” taxis at the Phuket airport, which came to a head on December 16 when a licensed taxi driver was beaten…
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Two dead, four injured in drunken Phuket grenade blast
PHUKET: Police suspect an explosion that killed two and injured four people in Rassada, near Phuket Town, early this afternoon was caused by an M67 grenade. Police arrived at the scene near Rassada Pier and found one man dead on a bench in front of a house on Soi Wanich 1. The man, identified as Sutthi Saeung, 25, of Nakhon…
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Phuket’s cold, wet snap to continue
PHUKET: An active low pressure cell over Thailand’s South, coupled with strong high pressure over China, is to blame for Phuket’s current spate of unseasonable weather. Cloudy skies and heavy rain have dominated Phuket’s weather so far this month, which traditionally marks the start of the tourism high season. Phuket has been colder and wetter than normal for December, with…
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Phuket, South to be ‘medical tourism hub’
PHUKET: Development and promotion of southern Thailand as a medical tourism hub was the topic of an international conference last week at the Royal Phuket City Hotel. IMT-GT (Indonesia-Malaysia-Thailand Growth Triangle) cooperative initiative officials participated in the “IMT-GT Medical Tourism” meeting chaired by Thailand’s Ministry of Tourism and Sports Permanent Secretary Sombat Kurupan on December 15. Among the 350 people…
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Phuket tsunami warning buoys deployed
PHUKET: The operation to install tsunami direct-detection buoys in the Andaman Sea has concluded and been hailed a success. The Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center (Seafdec) ship used to deploy the buoys returned to port in Phuket on Thursday. “The operation went smoothly. The first buoy was installed 250 kilometers west of Phuket, while the second was installed 150km from…
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Woman bites off husband’s penis, then stabs him to death
PATTAYA (Pattaya Daily News): A woman who was forced to have oral sex by her estranged husband bit off his penis. The act annoyed the victim and sparked a fight, during which the man, reportedly a senior official at the Ministry of Defence, was stabbed to death. Pattaya police were notified of the fight by a neighbor, Viroj Siritham, 70,…
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PHUKET OPINION: Economics leads the challenge to Thai Tourism
PHUKET: A survey by a popular UK-based website recently ranked Bangkok as 31st among 32 major cities around the world in terms of cost of living. (See Phuket Gazette report here.) The survey, and our report of it, set off a great deal of lively, if not always learned, debate among armchair economists in the Gazette readers’ forum. A common…
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FC Phuket face ‘make or break’ Sunday
HUKET: Sunday is judgment day for FC Phuket as they face a make-or-break promotion clash with Rayong FC at Surakul Stadium. Kick-off is at 4pm. Victory for Phuket will put them in a great position for promotion to Division 1, while defeat will likely spell the end of their promotion dream. With only two games remaining, the Southern Sean Kirin…
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Crowds flock to Phuket Street Festival
PHUKET: The 2010 Phuket Street Show Festival kicked off yesterday evening on a packed Thalang Road with energetic performances by aerial acrobats from Bencha Theater Group. Some of the world’s best street performers have descended on Phuket Town this weekend for the event, which is sponsored by the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT). The festivities, taking place in the old…
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Phuket call to save ‘Tuptim’
PHUKET: “Tuptim” is only seven months old, but has a condition that requires an urgent liver transplant or she will die within weeks. She is the daughter of Rattanachai “Kru Nai” Jadngooluem, a well known trainer at Tiger Muay Thai (TMT) in Chalong and a former World Muay Thai world champion. Mr Rattanachai, “Nit”, the child’s mother, and Phuket’s muay…
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Phuket police beef up Patong security
PHUKET: Police in Kathu are boosting their presence on the streets of Patong for Phuket’s tourism high season. At a meeting with his top officers earlier this week, Kathu Police Superintendent Arayapan Pukbuakhao called for his officers to boost security, in terms of crime suppression and safety, and to work towards reducing the number of accidents involving tourists during the…
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Lucky lizard finds loving home
RATCHABURI: Do huge monitor lizards make strange bedfellows? One family in Ratchaburi doesn’t seem to think so. Bunchoo Rotchum, 75, his wife Somya, 65, and their two-year-old granddaughter Donlaya are sharing their bed with a 2.5-meter water monitor, causing a sensation in their village in tambon Pikunthong. The creature, which the family named “Jaothong”, wandered into their home on November…
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High-tech clearance on the horizon for Phuket yachts
PHUKET: Travelers entering Thailand via the new Chalong Marina will have the option of submitting official entrance and registration documents electronically, before reaching the port. The Software Industry Promotion Agency (SIPA) is on schedule to complete the new registration system by February next year as construction on the complex continues. Construction is expected to finish by September next year. SIPA…
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Phuket Pirates: Being evil isn’t all it’s cut out to be
PHUKET: The Andaman Players new musical comedy, The Pirates of Phuket, takes to the stage of Le Meridien Phuket Beach Resort in Patong this Saturday evening, offering some sage advice for anyone considering a change of vocation. For instance, it’s well worth thinking twice before settling on “Evil Genius” as your new career path. As the Players ably explain in…
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Phuket’s first night tsunami drill hailed a success
PHUKET: Phuket’s first-ever night tsunami evacuation drill last night was a qualified success, but officials say more needs to be done to ensure residents in all risk areas are truly ready to conduct an after-dark evacuation. Last night’s drill was conducted at the Rajaprachanukroh 36 School in Kamala, just 100 meters from the high-tide mark at Kamala Beach. Activities, from…
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