Pattaya News
Welcome to The Thaiger’s Pattaya news page, your one-stop destination for the latest happenings in Thailand’s coastal town, AKA Sin City of the East! Our dedicated team delivers up-to-the-minute news, in-depth analysis, and exclusive stories from Pattaya, covering everything from local politics and business to entertainment and lifestyle. Stay informed about the city’s thriving tourism industry, expat community, and vibrant nightlife, as well as updates on events, attractions, and transportation.
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Police roles could be moved to other Government departments
The police force is looking to transfer many of its current key missions to other agencies if the reform plan approved by the National Reform Committee on Judicial Affairs goes ahead. The regulation of traffic flow and enforcement of traffic laws, for example, will be handed over to the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA), the Pattaya City Administration and some 30…
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THAIGER TODAY Tuesday, November 21
Stabbings in Thalang and Phuket Town | US 7th Fleet Admiral and Thai PM attend Sail Past in Pattaya | 20 escape from Songkhla detention | ‘Spotlight Phuket’ dumps the dirt on Patong corruption | MRT Blue Line in BKK ditches passenger seats.
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THAIGER TODAY Monday, November 20
50th anniversary for ASEAN Navies in Pattaya | Police – get a haircut! | Laguna Phuket Triathlon | Two entertainment venues closed for five years | Boat Lagoon Weekend returns next month.
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Government crackdown uncovers 100,000 illegal immigrants
The 95 arrested in Phuket last week for overstaying their visas could be just the tip of a 100,000 person iceberg, according to the country’s Deputy PM Prawit Wongsuwan. 62 Indians, 11 Pakistanis, 6 Egyptians and 16 foreigners from other nationalities were rounded up last Friday by immigration police whilst 15 Phuket-based police are being being asked to ‘please explain’ why…
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THAIGER TODAY Tuesday, October 31
New King, new coins | Thai PM issues ‘thanks’ to flood victims | Qatar Airways introduces new direct flights to Pattaya | The world’s most ‘stressed’ cities | Phuket drugged-up bus driver to lose license.
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Residences on the rise
Bill Barnett from c9hotelworks.com reports on the rise and rise of the residential living properties with hotel branding and management…. Property developers across Thailand are experiencing a magnetic attraction for hotel branded residences in order to spur price premium points and buyer demand. Currently there are 29 new hotel residence projects countrywide with nearly 90% of these located in resort…
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Qatar adds Pattaya to its flights to Thailand
Qatar Airways out of Doha says they’re responding to increased customer demand for services to Thailand by launching direct flights to Pattaya, the airline’s fifth route to the country. The new four-times-a-week service, which kicks off next January is in addition to the airline’s existing direct flights to Bangkok, Krabi, Phuket and soon to be launched, Chiang Mai. The service…
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THAIGER TODAY Monday, October 23
Junior world Badminton Champ | Van plows into ByPass Road pole | Rama 9s Grand-Daughter leads final rehearsal for this week’s Royal Funeral | Surprise visitor on Pattaya Beach | Jellyfish invasion long Gulf beach | Vets ‘apologies’ for not being able to save young elephant.
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UPDATE: Beach butt ban
After finding a large amount of cigarettes on Patong Beach following the results of several volunteer beach cleans, the Director General of Marine and Coastal Department announced that from November onward, the department will enforce the law – Section 17 of Marine and Coastal Management Promotion Act – to prohibit smoking on the beach. “After collecting trash from Patong Beach,…
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Banning the butt – cigarette ban on Phuket’s beaches
What is the most numerous item found at the many beach cleans organised by groups around the island? Plastic bottle? Straws? Flip-flops? plastic bags? No. It’s cigarette butts. People smoking on the beach and leaving their butts in the sand are a major contributor to the island’s beach rubbish problem. And it’s not just Phuket. Beaches around the kingdom have…
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Punching above its weight – Rayong, Thailand
Singapore has been crowned as the Asia-Pacific city of the future by the Financial Times. The city/state was able to attract the largest share of investment in the region in the period 2012 – 2016, putting on top of the Economic Potential category. Asia-Pacific Cities of the Future, by Economic Potential: 1. Singapore 2. Tokyo 3. Shanghai 4. Hong Kong 5.…
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THAIGER TODAY Thursday, September 28
PM says Yingluck is in Dubai | Polish man suspected of blowing up an ATM ‘planning more attacks’ | Crisis meeting in Pattaya to sort out Taxi/Uber turf wars | UN Aid agencies visiting Rhakine State today
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Back in Bangkok after Phuket court case dropped
Jonathan Head is back in Bangkok following his two day visit to Phuket. His case came to an abrupt conclusion when the man suing him, Phuket lawyer Pratuan Thanarak withdrew the charges. He was suing Mr Head over a story that appeared on the BBC in 2015 where the lawyer claimed he was defamed. Jonathan Head investigated foreigners being scammed…
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Defamation case against BBC’s Jonathan Head has been dropped
The Phuket lawyer, Pratuan Thanarak, who brought defamation charges against BBC broadcaster Jonathan Head, has dropped his criminal defamation suit. Head investigated foreigners being scammed of their retirement homes in Phuket in a 2015 BBC report. Jonathan faced up to five years in jail over the charges. His report detailed how two foreign retirees had their properties ‘stolen’ from them by…
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‘Safety’ mayhem on Phuket’s waters
Editorial by Duncan Worthington Let’s be clear from the off that we’re talking about speedboats, specifically day tour operators who pack in the tourists on an overpowered wooden speedboat and then zip off (at speed) to stop A, B, C and D, with a lunch thrown in along the way. In Phuket’s high season, these overpacked “cattle tours” can be…
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Turkish Airlines announces direct flights to Phuket
PHUKET: The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) has announced the launch of new Turkish Airlines flights to Phuket this week. There are now four direct flights per week from Istanbul. “This new Istanbul-Phuket service is part of the collaboration between the TAT and Turkish Airlines to meet the growing demand for travel to Thailand from holiday-makers from Turkey, Europe and…
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On Deck: Samui – The unpolished marine jewel of Thailand
PHUKET: Samui is an island of coconuts and a microcosm of Thailand’s modern tourism industry, with facilities geared to backpackers at one end of the scale, right up to five-star resorts at the other, and everything in between. From a marine perspective, it is – to some extent – an unpolished jewel. If Samui Island was on Thailand’s east coast,…
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Ministry denies blocking Google services following connectivity issues
PHUKET: The Ministry of Digital Economy and Society denied that the government ordered the blocking of Google and YouTube after a technical issue with Thai internet provider 3BB meant that customers were unable to access Google services on Saturday, the Thai National News Bureau reported today. The issue seemed to affect anyone trying to access the sites from a Thai…
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‘AD’vertorial: Buy one, get two free, plus lunch
PHUKET: There’s no such thing as a free lunch but you can easily buy one [sic] with the savings you get on Free Classifieds (what?) in both the Phuket Gazette and Nation newspapers this month. When you enter a basic text-only ad in the Gazette Online (560 baht), that ad runs also, word for word and free of charge, in…
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Recent highlights of Thailand’s marine industry
PHUKET: The Singapore Yacht Show, held just before Songkran, has become a leading marine industry event. It is a place where global brands are present and also where many from Thailand’s marine industry attend. With two-and-a-half days of conferences, it’s very much a business event, distinct from Thailand’s boat shows which focus more on the experience of owning a boat,…
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Finance: Russians slated to return to Phuket
PHUKET: The economy of Phuket will pick up over the next couple of years because the Russian economy, ruble and stock market are finally recovering. Russia’s energy and commodity driven economy was hit hard by low energy and commodity prices, along with President Obama’s sanctions in response to the annexation of Crimea in 2014 and other troubles in Eastern Ukraine.…
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Swiss expat admits abusing more than 80 boys in Thailand
THAILAND: Swiss authorities yesterday confirmed that a man suspected of sexually abusing more than 80 boys in Thailand will be going on trial to face numerous allegations including molestation. It was reported that some of his victims were as young as nine years old. “The unnamed man has admitted to taking thousands of pornographic pictures of the boys, but denied…
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Opinion: Protecting Phuket’s image as a tourist destination
PHUKET: The recent incarceration of a Russian tourist for the heinous crime of feeding breadcrumbs to a fish is just the latest in a long-running series of embarrassments for Thai law enforcement and our tourism industry. The story made international headlines, including such mass media heavyweights as TASS and the UK’s Daily Mail, re-reporting after it was first reported by…
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Party it up like you’re in Ibiza
PHUKET: Did you know that the Balearic island of Ibiza and the Andaman island of Phuket are within a few square miles of being the same size? There are other connections too: quite a large chunk of Ibiza has UNESCO World Heritage status, while Phuket cuisine recently picked up the UNESCO seal of approval. Additionally, a significant and growing chunk…
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On Deck: Yachting forum needs better exposure
PHUKET: We’ve had one regatta, two superyacht rendezvous and a yacht show in the last month in Phuket. Squeezed in between all of that was the little-discussed Thailand Yachting Forum (TYF). Held a day before the Thailand Yacht Show, the second TYF was this year hosted by Phuket Boat Lagoon. Juthaporn Rerngronasa, TAT Deputy Governor for International Marketing, kicked it…
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Property Watch: Not everything can be ‘unique’
PHUKET: No other word suffers as much abuse in the Phuket property market as the word ‘unique’, to the extent that the misuse itself is almost unique. The word is important for property investors, because the ‘Unique Selling Point’ is a factor that ought to be addressed at an early stage of investment. However, items that are not unique could…
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On Deck: Ready for a wet ‘n’ wild year end?
PHUKET: Are you ready for the busiest time of the year? Not Christmas and New Year, but the six or so weeks of marine industry madness that is upon us. Kicking things off is the Ocean Marina Pattaya Boat Show. From 24th to 27th November, eyes are on the Gulf of Thailand as boat brands from around the world join…
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On Deck: Pattaya jumps aboard marine tourism trend
PHUKET: Yachting in the Gulf of Thailand is nothing new but it is fair to say that the Andaman Sea region has grown much more quickly and has a much larger marine leisure industry than the Gulf of Thailand. Think Phuket and Pattaya; some would say they are chalk and cheese on so many levels. While Phuket’s abundance of nearby…
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By The Book: Renting a villa in Phuket
PHUKET: Renting a villa or apartment long term is very popular in Thailand, especially in resort areas such as Phuket, Pattaya, Hua Hin and Koh Samui. Many would-be buyers are deciding to hold off and rent for a year or more while they get to know the area and learn the ways of Thailand without so much risk. Renting long…
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On Deck: Sailing ignored as a mainstream sport
PHUKET: Bangkok was host to Asia’s Sports Industry Awards & Conference (SPIA Asia) at the beginning of this month. A two-day conference with presentations from leaders in the regional sports industry – IMG, Lagardere, GroupM, Media Pro, Total Sports Asia, TATA Consulting, and many more – discussing the best practices and latest developments within the sports industry, was followed by…
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