Phuket

TAT to celebrate B300m high-season bonanza

Published

15 years ago

December 15, 2004

TAT to celebrate B300m high-season bonanza | The Thaiger

PHUKET: The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) expects no less than 300 million baht to be injected into the Phuket economy over the upcoming holiday period from December 23 to January 2.

TAT Region 4 Director Suwalai Pinpradab told the Gazette today that a recent check of hotel occupancy rates and advanced bookings indicates that most island hotels will be fully-booked, or at near-capacity, for the period.

To ensure that everybody has a good time, TAT is teaming up with the provincial government, Thai Airways and Central Festival Phuket to host Phuket Countdown 2005, a series of cultural performances, live concerts, and an international food festival and beer garden. The event, with a total budget of over 3 million baht, will take place at Central Festival Phuket’s Lan Lom Garden [the forecourt in front of Phuja Nirvana], she said.

K. Suwalai said the highlight would be on New Year’s Eve, when festivities will get underway at 5:30 pm. No less than 40 singers and other entertainers from Bangkok will be on hand to help Phuket ring in the New Year, which will be greeted with a 10- to 15-minute fireworks display.

“During the countdown on December 31, we will invite guests from different nationalities to come on stage and give everyone a new year’s blessings in their own native language,” she said.

“Everyone who attends will receive a free balloon and be asked to make a wish for 2005. At the stroke of midnight, all the balloons will be released in unison and will float up to the sky,” she added.

The TAT, noted for its use of colorful slogans to entice tourists to the Kingdom, will then officially declare 2005 as the year of “Happiness on Earth”.

Keep in contact with The Thaiger by following our Facebook page.

Hua Hin

Southern Thailand braces for rough weather and rain

Published

19 hours ago

October 19, 2019

May Taylor

Southern Thailand braces for rough weather and rain | The Thaiger

The Thailand Meteorological Department issued a weather warning for southern Thailand with torrential rain forecast to hit the region throughout the weekend. The heavy monsoon over the Gulf of Thailand and south of the country is being blamed for the rough weather, with the TMD predicting flash flooding in many areas.

(Phuket, Hat Yai and Hua Hin’s forecast below)

“Waves are expected to reach 2 metres in height in the lower Gulf of Thailand and possibly higher at the height of the storm. Ships are advised to proceed with caution.”

For the north and northeast of Thailand, the TMD forecasts strong winds and cooler mornings as the arrival of the “winter” season, coupled with a moderate high-pressure system, causes temperatures to dip.

Hua Hin’s five day forecast

Phuket’s five day forecast

Hat Yai’s five day forecast

SOURCE: The Nation | weather.com

Keep in contact with The Thaiger by following our Facebook page.

Crime

Now you see him, now you don’t… Patong Police hunt foreigner over $30k theft

Published

2 days ago

October 18, 2019

Greeley Pulitzer

Now you see him, now you don’t… Patong Police hunt foreigner over $30k theft | The Thaiger

PHOTO: Patong Police

Patong Police have yet to develop any tangible leads tracking down a foreigner who made off with US$30,000 in cash from a currency exchange booth in Kalim, north of Patong in Phuket, last Tuesday.

The man is about 168 centimetres tall with grey hair and around 60 years old, Patong police told The Phuket News.

“We have no clue what nationality he is.”

He was last seen at the currency exchange booth wearing a purple polo shirt, blue jeans and black cap. Police have checked hotels in the area, police stations across the island and Phuket Immigration, but have yet to join the dots and come up with firm leads.

“Investigators have checked CCTV in the area and collected what evidence we have but we still do not know the man’s name or where he was staying.”

The man had visited the booth several times before Tuesday, when he disappeared with the $30,000 in US banknotes, according to police.

“It was always small amounts”, he added, noting that the amounts didn’t warrant staff at the exchange booth to check the man’s passport before making the exchange.

The man arrived at the booth again at about 1pm on Tuesday, saying that he had 900,000 baht cash to exchange.

SOURCE: The Phuket News

Keep in contact with The Thaiger by following our Facebook page.

Crime

Mystery surrounds security guard found dead in his Phuket room

Published

3 days ago

October 17, 2019

The Thaiger

PHOTOS: Phuket Hot News

The security guard of a hotel in Nai Yang, northern Phuket, 52 year old Yingyot Butsabong, from Maha Sarakham province, was found dead yesterday (October 16) in his room. Police remain mystified how the man came to grief.

A woman named Supattra received a call from the hotel he worked at and was informed that he didn’t show up at work yesterday, so she went to his apartment to check on him.

She saw that his room was locked from the inside, so used the key she had in her possession to open the room and found Yingyot laying on the floor, face down. She thought he was just sleeping so she tried to wake him up but once she flipped him, she found that he already passed away.

She immediately called Saku police, and once on the scene, police found that there was some blood on the floor. The man had a 2 centimetre wound on his left eyebrow which was deep into his skull. There was also a wound on his chin about 1 centimetre long and about a centimetre deep. His left eye had a bruise which looked like he was attacked by a hard object.

Police report that he had been dead for around four hours in the room.

The room was not ransacked and there was no sign of fighting or theft. His body has been sent to Thalang Hospital for a detailed autopsy and to look into the cause of death.

SOURCE: Phuket Hot News

Keep in contact with The Thaiger by following our Facebook page.