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 hotels not happy with THAI Airways
Phuket NEWS Hound – A daily digest of news from around the world compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community PHUKET: Fears of Phuket hotels being forced into a massive price war are already being realised with THAI Airways International “cordially inviting” hotels contracted under its Royal Orchid Holidays (ROH) program to offer 50% discounts. TTR Weekly reports that…
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Kriel Roosters win Phuket Rugby 10s
PHUKET: Scoring three tries in the first half, the Kriel Roosters from South Africa trounced the Moorabbin Rams from Australia 31-0 in the final of the 12th Overgaard Phuket International Rugby 10s played at Karon Stadium yesterday. The South Africans were clearly the fresher side, making the most of their speed advantage by quickly passing the ball wide and using…
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Phuket to host Asian Hospitality & Travel Show in October
PHUKET: Events Thailand team and Skal Phuket are combining talents to stage the inaugural ‘Asian Hospitality & Travel Show’ at the Central Festival Phuket Convention and Exhibition Center from October 1 to 3. “The exhibition is geared towards becoming a platform for networking between suppliers within the Asian Hospitality and travel sectors,” said Events Thailand committee member Simon Samaan, who…
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Phuket trains drug dogs
PHUKET: A pair of 2-month-old puppies are the latest addition to Phuket’s arsenal in the fight against drug trafficking. Currently being cared for at the house of Muang District Chief Supachai Pochanukul, ‘Nin’ and ‘Chao Kuay’ will be start a drug detection course when they are six months old. After completing five months of training at the Phuket International Dog…
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A Phuket Imperative: Credible Public Transport
PHUKET: Public debate has intensified in recent weeks as road projects that have been talked about for years appear closer to becoming reality in Phuket. Despite the recent chaos in Bangkok, the number of tourists visiting the island continues to grow. Airports of Thailand (AoT) reported over 120,000 international arrivals at Phuket International Airport in April 2010, a 41% increase…
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Phuket will lead recovery of Thai tourism
Phuket NEWS Hound – A daily digest of news from around the world compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community PHUKET: The curent issue of Time magazine quotes Bill Heinecke, whose Minor group owns two hotels in Phuket, as emphasizing that Phuket and Hua Hin were among the many places in Thailand where “tourists were never in any danger…
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Mystery shrouds fatal Phuket road accident
PHUKET: Police are investigating a hit-and-run accident that left a man dead on the bypass road last night. Phuket City Police duty officer Lt Teerawat Amnachjaroenying identified the victim as Wittaya Sapsong, 35, whose body was found at 7:30pm on the southbound side of the bypass road in Koh Kaew, between the Bypass Seafood restaurant and the entrance to Premium…
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Muay Thai star arrested in Phuket
PHUKET: Former Muay Thai star Chaisiri Boonman, better known by his ring name Kwan-ngen Chokeladda, was one of two men arrested yesterday for committing at least two roadside robberies in Phuket. The arrests were announced by Chalong Police Superintendent Wichit Intorrasorn at a press conference at Chalong Police Station at 6:30pm yesterday. At the press conference, police presented Arnon Kongnoon,…
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Natural causes suspected in Phuket “drowning’
PHUKET: Cherng Talay Police are awaiting a coroner’s report to learn whether a German tourist who died at Surin Beach on Wednesday drowned or died of other causes. Cherng Talay Police duty officer Lt Tatchagrit Ritnuang identified the deceased as 51-year-old Marek Klein. Mr Klein, his wife and 10-year-old daughter were guests at the nearby Courtyard by Marriott Phuket resort.…
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Update: Phuket International Film Festival
Phuket NEWS Hound – A daily digest of news from around the world compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community PHUKET: Scheduled for June 4-13, the Phuket International Film Festival is offering 10 days of award-winning movies, parties and networking events with international filmmakers, cultural activities and, of course, world-famous Thai hospitality. The film festival is unique in that…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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Australians warned off Phuket medical tourism
Phuket NEWS Hound – A daily digest of news from around the world compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community PHUKET: The Australian Medical Association (AMA) yesterday urged people to be cautious after a Gold Coast business offered plastic surgery and dental holidays in Phuket. For background on the CosMediTour offer, see Tuesday’s Phuket NEWS Hound, here. Although doctors…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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U.S. Embassy in full service
PHUKET: The U.S. embassy in Bangkok re-opened today for “limited operations” and will resume full services tomorrow after being closed for a week due to the street protests. “In Thailand, our embassy was open for limited operations today [Monday] and we anticipate resuming full operations tomorrow,” State Department spokesman Philip Crowley told reporters. The United States closed its embassy, located…
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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,…
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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…
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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…
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Briton dies in Phuket hotel room
PATONG, PHUKET: The body of a British man who died of apparent heart failure was discovered by his father in a Patong hotel room yesterday afternoon. Kathu Police Duty Inspector Jakkapong Luang-aon identified the body as that of UK national Kevin Dean, age 47. Mr Dean’s body was discovered at about 2:30pm on the bathroom floor of his room at…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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Phuket Perspective: Major media did poorly in the protests
PHUKET: While on holiday in Phuket two weeks ago, a Malaysian Sun Daily columnist was disappointed, if not disgusted, by the reports of respected international media covering the protests in Thailand. In his column Down2Earth last week, he wrote about a spectacle that many Thais in Phuket and all over Thailand, including Bangkok itself, had been observing with indredulity for…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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Phuket Fun Fly underway in Rawai
PHUKET: The Phuket Paragliding Club’s first-ever Phuket Fun Fly is underway in Rawai. Hundreds of paragliders from around the world are taking the big leap from the launch site at Laem Phromthep, then gliding along to their final descent at Nai Harn beach. Activities include spot landing and gate passing competitions, as well as ‘fancy dress flying’. Experienced paragliders will…
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