News
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Sponsored Infinito helps hotels in Thailand with revenue management
Maximising revenue and profit–isn’t that the ultimate goal for every business in the hospitality industry? If you run a hotel, you might have heard that revenue management is an effective way to boost your top-line revenue. It involves using data...
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Phuket tsunami warning buoys arrive
PHUKET: The ship bringing the two tsunami direct-detection buoys to be installed off Phuket has arrived at the Phuket Marine Biological Center (PMBC) at Cape Panwa. The Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center (Seafdec) ship docked with the “tsunameters” on board at the PMBC pier last night after setting sail from Samut Prakarn on Monday. The ship will depart about 1…
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New Phuket Town road to “open’ Christmas Eve
PHUKET: The new Phuket Town road linking Sakdidet Road and Chao Fa East Road will be officially opened on December 24. “The public should be informed officially that the road is finally finished and ready to use,” said Governor Tri Augkaradacha, who will preside over the ceremony. The 684-meter road, known as Sai Phang Muang Kor Rd, is already open…
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Phuket’s DEA “drug lord’ souvenirs on hold
PHUKET: The US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) office in Bangkok has confirmed that its “spot a drug lord” souvenirs will not be available in Phuket until the new year. The souvenir items, a collection of coffee mugs, pens and T-shirts bearing images of some of the DEA’s “most wanted” drug traffickers, were initially intended to be distributed this week to…
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Phuket storm pushes King’s Cup racers aground
PHUKET: Racers in the Phuket King’s Cup Regatta are working furiously this morning to recover several yachts pushed ashore by strong winds and swell during the night. The last race of the regatta was canceled as organizers stared at four boats beached at Kata Beach and seven boats caught in the surf break. Many boats have already left the bay…
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Evolution Racing wins Phuket King’s Cup 2010
PHUKET: Ray Roberts and his Evolution Racing crew just held onto series honors today to win the 24th Phuket King’s Cup Regatta. It was a dramatic start for Roberts. Missing the start gun put Evolution at the back of the pack on the start line. Then the big boat of the fleet, Frank Pong’s Jelik III, along with Song Xia…
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Major Phuket blackouts announced
PHUKET: The Phuket Provincial Electricity Authority (PPEA) has announced three scheduled blackouts to affect Chao Fa East and Chao Fa West Roads in Chalong – two of the busiest roads in the south of the island. Power supply along these roads will be shut off in order to carry out maintenance on high voltage power lines, install new lines and…
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Phuket’s Laem Phromthep now a no-smoking landmark
PHUKET: Laem Phromthep is now a no-smoking peninsular. “The prohibition zone starts at the bottom of the stairs and extends along the hill,” Rawai Municipality officer Sanya Kontien told the Gazette. The ban, which includes the drinking of alcohol, began at the end of last month and signs have been posted to inform visitors at Phuket’s iconic tourist attraction. The…
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Phuket Poll: Fair to have English tests for UK spousal visas?
PHUKET: All Thais must now pass an English-language test in order to be granted a visa to stay in the United Kingdom on the basis of being a spouse or legal companion of a UK national. Is this new restriction, which applies to all non-Europeans, appropriate and fair? Have your say by voting in the new Phuket Gazette readers’ poll…
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Phuket divers to clean up Patong Bay
PHUKET: Divers from the Thai Diving Association and the Department of Marine and Coastal Resources Phuket office will stage an underwater cleanup in Patong Bay next Thursday. “The underwater waste to be collected includes fishing nets thrown overboard by fishermen as well as empty bottles of beer and other alcohol that tourists have thrown into the sea,” Ongart Chanacharnmongkol, Director…
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Gang slays Phuket security guard
PHUKET: After standing up to a gang of young thugs, a security guard was gunned down at a municipal parking lot in Phuket yesterday. Phuket City Police were notified of the murder at 7:40am by residents at the new government workers’ housing complex off Rattanakosin 200 Pi Road in Wichit. Officers led by Phuket City Police chief Wanchai Ekpornpit rushed…
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SDF moves to stave off Phuket distemper outbreak
PHUKET: Soi Dog Foundation, one of Phuket’s leading animal welfare organizations, is calling for help in its efforts to prevent an island-wide outbreak of the dreaded canine disease distemper. “Soi Dog is currently working around the clock doing mass vaccinations of dogs at temples and other locations. Distemper has been virtually eradicated in the west; however this is not the…
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Phuket King’s Cup “lost’ crewman
PHUKET: The crew of Pytheas Aura, a 14-meter cutter racing in the King’s Cup Regatta, woke this morning to find fellow crewman, Canadian Joseph James Patrick, 42, dead on his bunk. Police believed he died of a heart attack. Mr Patrick had lived on Phuket for several years, staying in the Kata area, a friend told the Gazette. He apparently…
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Phuket caddie gunned down, killed
PHUKET: A caddie at the Mission Hills golf club in Phuket was killed by single gunshot to the back of the head yesterday morning. Thalang Police identified the victim as Amornrat Petchtrong, 26. Local villagers discovered her body before dawn on an access road about 200 meters from the golf course in Pa Khlok. An eyewitness told police he was…
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Phuket Gazette poll: Will the Patong Tunnel ever see daylight?
PHUKET: A majority of Gazette online readers think the Patong Tunnel will become a reality some day – but they disagree on when that day will come. In the latest readers’ poll, readers were asked: Do you think the proposed tunnel beneath Patong Hill will ever be built? And if so, when? Overall, almost two-thirds of respondents (64.4%) thought the…
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Phuket King’s Cup Regatta: Day 2 update
PHUKET: With the final provisional results just in for today’s racing in the Phuket King’s Cup Regatta 2010, Ray Robert’s Evolution Racing has kept pole position in the Racing class with arch rival Neil Pryde’s HiFi still in second place. The Evolution crew have so far secured four wins from five races. With three races left in the regatta, the…
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Phuket King’s Cup: Evolution extends lead
PHUKET: Stiff breeze offshore made for good yacht racing today, day two of the Phuket King’s Cup Regatta 2010, with Ray Roberts’ Evolution Racing extending their lead in the Racing class by one point. Arch rival Neil Pryde and his crew on HiFi drew first blood yesterday, winning the regatta’s opening race, but Evolution fought back from their disappointing fourth-place…
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Top Thai junior golfers to play in Phuket
PHUKET: More than 140 of Thailand’s best junior golfers will compete at the Thai Golf Association (TGA) Junior Regional Championship at Phuket Country Club this week. The four-day competition, for boys and girls between the ages of nine and 17, starts on Wednesday. Play culminates with the final round on Saturday, when the regional junior champion will be crowned. Featuring…
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Evolution Racing leads Phuket King’s Cup Regatta 2010
PHUKET: Defending Racing class champion Neil Pryde on HiFi started the first day of Phuket King’s Cup Regatta (KCR) 2010 today with a win, but it was Ray Roberts’ Evolution Racing who closed the day leading the class. After placing fourth in the first race this morning, Evolution recovered to win the next two races. “In the first race there…
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Phuket ramps up Christmas blood drive
PHUKET: The Phuket Regional Blood Center is stepping up its blood donation campaign in the run-up to the”Seven Days of Danger”, when more supplies will be needed to meet an expected increase in road accidents over the holidays. The Phuket chapter of the Thai Red Cross Society has announced that the center’s mobile blood collection clinic will accept donations at…
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Acrobuffos set to soak Old Phuket Town
PHUKET: Renowned street artists Seth Bloom and Christina Gelsone, better known as The Acrobuffos, are headlining the entertainment set to take over Old Phuket Town on December 17-19. The comic duo will be performing as part of the first-ever Phuket Street Show Festival, which coincides with the Patong Carnival this month. While the Acrobuffos bill themselves as “laughmakers, street players…
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Phuket drug detection gone to the dogs
PHUKET: Local authorities expect two puppies now under intensive training at Phuket International Dog School (PIDS) to become effective drug detection dogs by January. The two candidates, Bebe and Boo Boo, are both four months old. Bebe is a four-kilogram female beagle, while Boo Boo is a male pit bull currently weighing in at seven kilos. The project is the…
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Phuket Opinion: Fire lanterns out of control
PHUKET: The festive season is upon us and visitors from around the world continue to pour into Phuket in what is shaping up to be a banner high season for tourism – at least in terms of arrivals. Use of khom loy (“fire lanterns”) is increasingly common during festivals in Phuket and the night sky above our island was replete…
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O’Donnell wins Phuket’s inaugural Ironman 70.3
PHUKET: Former US Navy lieutenant Tim O’Donnell today dominated the formidable 50-strong field of some 800 competitors to win the inaugural Ironman 70.3 Asia-Pacific Championship at Laguna Phuket in just under four hours. The American, whose impressive 2010 season included the Ironman 70.3 Florida title, was first out of the water from the 1.9km swim in 24 minutes 34 seconds.…
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Phuket marks His Majesty’s birthday
PHUKET: As dawn broke over Phuket this morning, the island began its celebrations of HM King Bhumibol Adulyadej’s 83rd birthday. At the Rassada Municipality office and at Queen Sirikit Park on Dibuk Road in Phuket Town, people gathered at 7am to join in giving alms to Buddhist monks. At 9am, the Phuket Provincial Administration Organization (PPAO) opened its doors for…
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New Pink Bus route announced
PHUKET: The award-winning Pink Buses in Phuket Town will ply a new route between Saphan Hin and Rassada early next year. Paiboon Upatising, president of the Phuket Provincial Administration Organization (PPAO), told the Gazette that the new route will be serviced by eight new vehicles, known locally as po thong. It will be the third PPAO Pink Bus route to…
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Illegal worker crackdown to start “this week’
PHUKET: The multi-agency task force of government officers responsible for rounding up all illegal foreign workers throughout Southern Thailand is expected to start operations this week. The news follows a meeting of representatives of the five regional teams in Bangkok last Friday. Noppodol Ployudee, Chief of the Phuket Provincial Employment Office (PPEO), will lead the team for Southern Thailand. “I…
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Phuket “night tsunami’ drill update
PHUKET: The center of operations for Phuket’s first “night tsunami” drill will be at the Rajaprachanukroh 36 School in Kamala. The drill, to be held on December 14, will begin at 8pm. The Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation (DDPM) has confirmed that more than 200 volunteers will take part, and Phuket Governor Tri Augkaradacha will preside over the exercise.…
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Phuket ‘mangrove road’ wins EIA approval
PHUKET: Construction of the Klong Koh Pee Road project moved a step closer to becoming a reality yesterday when Phuket Governor Tri Augkaradacha confirmed the Special Committee on Environment had given the plan the green light. Gov Tri received the news at a meeting with the special committee on Wednesday in Bangkok, which was also attended by Phuket MP Raewat…
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Phuket golf prodigy Pariwat drives on
PHUKET: Pariwat Pinsawat, Phuket’s top-flight 14-year-old golfer, was in devastating form last weekend at Phuket Country Club. The youngster finished top of the leader-board at the end of the two-day event to win the PCC-Mazda Championship Cup. Not only did he lift the prestigious Amateur Cup, he also went home with a brand-new Mazda2 car after firing a hole-in-one at…
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Better care needed for Phuket’s disabled
PHUKET: Vice-Governor Nivit Aroonrat has joined other leading provincial figures in a call for better facilities for disabled people in Phuket. At a fun day for the disabled at Saphan Hin, V/Gov Nivit on Wednesday voiced his support for the event, saying such activities helped to raise awareness of the problems disabled people faced in their daily lives. He also…
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