Phuket News
Discover the latest news and updates from Thailand’s most famous and beautiful island, The Thaiger’s hometown, having previously operated as the Phuket Gazette.
Our team brings you breaking news, in-depth analysis, and exclusive stories from Phuket, covering everything from local politics and business to lifestyle and tourism. Learn about the island’s stunning beaches, vibrant nightlife, and thriving expat community, as well as keeping updated on events, and attractions.
The Thaiger is your ultimate guide to staying connected with Phuket’s ever-evolving landscape. To keep up with the most reliable news source on the island, subscribe to our newsletter and follow us on social media.
-
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...
-
Election Thailand: Poor turnout at Phuket ‘absentee’ polls
PHUKET: Despite more than 40,000 people taking the time to pre-register to cast “absentee ballots” for the July 3 election, only half that number actually turned up at polling stations in Phuket yesterday. “A total of 20,874 people cast ‘absentee votes’, which is 51% of the 40,630 people who registered to do so,” said Phuket Election Commission Director Kitipong Thiengkunakrit.…
-
FC Phuket take Songkhla by the horns
PHUKET: Saturday’s “southern derby” at Surakul Stadium lived up to expectations for an exciting match, but failed to produce any goals for FC Phuket and regional rivals Songkhla FC. The game was originally scheduled for March, and with the fixture filled Phuket and Songkhla are now up to date for league games played. Each of the 18 teams in League…
-
Aussie tourist jumps to his death in Phuket
PHUKET: A distressed Australian tourist in Phuket jumped to his death from the sixth floor of a hotel in Patong today. Marc Gerard Hoy, 34, had worried staff at the Bel Air Resort Phuket near Patong Hospital by behaving strangely when he checked in at 3am this morning. A female hotel receptionist, who asked not to be named, told the…
-
Phuket’s young voters want job security and stronger tourism policies
PHUKET: Students at Phuket Vocational College rate job security and sustainable development of Phuket’s tourism industry among their top criteria in selecting which candidates to vote for in Thailand’s general election next Sunday. About 300 students from the college on Thursday attended a rally at Saphan Hin, where the three candidates contesting Phuket Constituency 1 urged the students to exercise…
-
Phuket Tourist Police volunteers branch out
PHUKET: Phuket’s newest Tourist Police Volunteer Center opened at Chalong Circle this week and is already helping foreigners in need in the south of the island. Within hours of opening their doors on Monday, officers at the center were called on to assist a Russian couple whose rented motorbike was involved in a minor accident at the roundabout. The motorbike…
-
McEnroe on Murray
PHUKET: “Murray has now put himself in a very good position, once again. He had to step it up against a more experienced player and he did just that and showed signs that he could go all the way – he was brilliant at times.” Former Wimbledon champion and a true legend of the sport, John McEnroe remarking on the…
-
Strong winds ground pilots at Phuket Fun Fly
PHUKET: Paragliding enthusiasts assembled in Rawai for Phuket Fun Fly 2011 found the wind too strong this morning for pilots to safely get off the ground, but expect flying conditions to improve over the weekend. “We still cannot glide right now because the wind is too strong. It is too dangerous,” said Sarayut Chinpongsatorn of the Thai National Paragliding Team.…
-
School van crash: Police to pursue charges against pickup driver
PHUKET: Police will pursue charges against the driver of a speeding pickup that crashed into a school van on Tuesday morning, killing two and leaving many others injured. The driver, 41-year-old Nikom Kaewmanee, told police he was driving at about 100kmh when he tried to overtake the van, which had 15 occupants, Thalang Police told the Phuket Gazette . The…
-
Phuket rubber tapper killed by hoe
PHUKET: Phuket Police are questioning the girlfriend of a rubber tapper found bludgeoned to death in the hills behind Layan Beach earlier today. Thalang Police responded to a report of a murder in Cherng Talay Village 6 at 9:20am. At the scene, inside a small hillside shack, they found the body of a 49-year-old man thus far identified only as…
-
Phuket caught in nationwide alcohol ban this weekend
PHUKET: The sale of alcohol will be banned throughout Phuket this weekend ahead of the polls opening for the absentee and early voting on Sunday, Phuket Police Commander Pekad Tantipong has confirmed to the Phuket Gazette. “The sale of alcohol will be prohibited from 6pm on June 25 [Saturday night] through to midnight on June 26 [Sunday night],” Maj Gen…
-
Police net thief in B100mn Phuket tuna factory haul
PHUKET: Phuket City Police have arrested a man they believe is part of a gang which stole equipment with a reported value of almost 100 million baht from a tuna cold storage facility in Rassada. The management of the Siam Tuna company informed police that the company’s new facility had been broken into repeatedly and equipment worth almost 100 million…
-
Bogus timeshare operators under fire in Phuket
PHUKET: A high-powered task force set up by the Phuket Governor yesterday declared war on illegal timeshare operators in Phuket. The focus is on those that use bait and switch and other illegal tactics to bilk up to a billion baht from unsuspecting tourists. “Phuket Governor Tri Augkaradacha is very serious about solving the problems with timeshare companies and he…
-
Wichit to open first ‘community dialysis center’ in Phuket
PHUKET: The first kidney dialysis center in Phuket to be run by a local administrative body is 80 per cent complete, the Mayor of Wichit has announced. Work on the five-million-baht Wichit Kidney Dialysis Center, located at the Laem Son Public Health Center on Pattana Thongthin Road, began about five months ago, he said. The center will offer dialysis for…
-
MCC to play in Phuket
PHUKET: The prestigious Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) announced today that the first match of their Thailand cricket tour will be played at the Alan Cooke Ground (ACG) in Phuket. According to information received by the Phuket Gazette, “The [ACG] has been designated the venue for the first game of their [MCC] Thailand tour in February of 2012.” The news comes…
-
More bluebottles wash ashore in Phuket
PHUKET: The Phuket coastline is still not yet clear of Portuguese man o’ war “jellyfish”, with the latest sighting by a sharp-eyed beachcomber at Patong Beach at dusk yesterday. Professional photographer Dan Hartwright was walking along the beach with his young son on his back when he noted the characteristic air bladder of one of the creatures washed up on…
-
Vote buying on the rise in Phuket: Governor
PHUKET: Phuket Governor Tri Augkaradacha yesterday ordered all police officers across Phuket to keep an eye on specific communities where vote buying is reportedly taking place, ahead of the July 3 general election. The governor yesterday chaired a meeting of Phuket Election Commission (PEC) and representatives from every police station on the island. “The PEC has received many complaints about…
-
Strategic Airlines gets stranded Phuket Aussies home
PHUKET: Australian carrier Strategic Airlines have announced that most of its passengers from Melbourne and Brisbane who were stranded in Phuket for the past week have been flown home. Following a week-long series of flight disruptions, cancellations and delays, the airline’s efforts to fly the growing group out of Phuket paid off. “As far as I know, there are no…
-
Phuket father, daughter die in paraquat murder-suicide
PHUKET: A man killed his two-year-old daughter and took his own life with lethal doses of the herbicide paraquat last week, Phuket City Police have confirmed. A witness to the tragedy, 25-year-old Aekkachai “Champ” Suksai from Nakhon Sri Thammarat, told the Phuket Gazette he was making coconut milk at a shop near Koh Sireh Circle last Thursday when he saw…
-
Phuket Lomas game for UK tour
PHUKET: TEN YOUNG rugby players left Phuket on June 18 for the trip of a lifetime. Pupils from Baan Sai Nam Yen School in association with the Asia Center Foundation and the Phuket Lomas rugby team are in the UK to play in the Manchester Touraid Rugby Festival (Lomas tour blog). An eight-team tournament will be played, and include the…
-
Tourist Police launch beach safety campaign
PHUKET: In an effort to minimize the number of drowning deaths in Phuket this monsoon season, the Tourist Police today began distribution of some 10,000 handbills warning beachgoers about the dangers of rip currents — and what to do if caught in one. Garry Halpin, a Tourist Police volunteer from New Zealand, told the Phuket Gazette that the handbills will…
-
Phuket Vagabonds develop RSA rugby scholarship
PHUKET: SOUTH African rugby club Kriel Roosters strengthened existing ties with Phuket by inking a deal to develop a scholarship program for promising youth players. The Kriel Roosters, based in Pretoria, have been regular participants at the Phuket International Rugby 10s tournament, winning in 2010 and reaching the finals of this years competition. Many teams remarked on the increase in…
-
Phuket sleepwalker fights for life after two-storey fall
PHUKET: A mechanic is in hospital with severe head injuries after falling from the balcony of his second-storey apartment in Rassada last night. Police believe the man was walking in his sleep at the time. Lt Col Sien Keawthong of the Phuket City Police identified the man as Worrawut Chaleewan. Thought to be in his mid-30s, Mr Worrawut fell from…
-
Phuket bluebottle scare: the coast is clear
PHUKET: The invasion of Portuguese man o’ war “jellyfish” at Phuket beaches over the weekend appears to have ended, but lifeguards are keeping a watchful eye on the situation in order to ensure the safety of swimmers and beachcombers. Vitanya Chuayuan, publicity officer of the Phuket Lifeguard Club, confirmed this morning that there have been no reports of the pseudo-jellies…
-
Two dead, many injured in Phuket school van crash
PHUKET: A three-vehicle collision near the Heroines’ Monument in Phuket left two dead and many injured this morning. The two dead were staff members at the well-known Muslim Witthaya School in Koh Kaew. Police identified one the deceased as 54-year-old Phang Nga resident San Thasai, driver of a school van transporting young school students from their homes in Baan Bang…
-
Two gunned down in Phuket gangland “misunderstanding’
PHUKET: Phuket police today presented three men charged with the gangland-style slayings of two men in Patong early yesterday morning. Nat “Chit” Nakpetch, 31, from Kathu, Somnuek “Wae” Suwanthanoo and Poochit “Max” Pookham, both 29 and both from Nakhon Sri Thammarat, were presented to media at Patong Police Station today. All three men were charged with planning and carrying out…
-
Russian found hanged in Phuket police cell
PHUKET: Phuket Police are investigating the apparent suicide of a Russian tourist while in a detention cell at Patong Police Station on Saturday night. Patong Police duty officer Pattapee Srichay confirmed the identity of the deceased as Evgeny Otrubyannikov, a 26-year-old Russian national. Mr Evgeny apparently took his life at about 10pm by using his shirt to hang himself by…
-
FC Phuket score first away win against Thanayburi
PHUKET: Three wins in seven days has given new FC Phuket coach Sompong Wattana some breathing room after setting his stall out to not lose three on the trot when he joined the club just three weeks ago. A 1-0 win over Thanyaburi Rose Asia United FC in Saturday’s Toyota League Cup first round gave Phuket their first away victory…
-
Portrait FC take round eight of Phuket’s AFL
PHUKET: Three absorbing matches dominated interest in round eight of the current Adult Futsal League (AFL), played on Thursday. Top of the table Portrait FC faced an improving Island Boys side with an in-form goalkeeper as the evening’s opening bout. The first half ended goalless as a result of some inspirational shot-stopping and the second half began with Portrait’s attack…
-
40,000 voters in Phuket sign up to cast ballots for other provinces
PHUKET: Shedding a little more light on the size of Phuket’s “hidden population” is the fact that more than 40,000 people have registered for absentee ballots in the upcoming general election. According to information released earlier today by the Phuket Election Commission, a total of 40,680 people registered to vote in other provinces during the registration period that ended on…
-
Portuguese Man o’ War invade Phuket
PHUKET: As if monsoon-season rip currents weren’t bad enough, the head of the island’s lifeguard association is warning the public of a new threat lurking in the Phuket surf: the dreaded bluebottle “jellyfish”. Vitanya Chuayuan, publicity officer of the Phuket Lifeguard Club, said two of the pseudo-jellies were spotted at Nai Thon Beach on Wednesday. Over the weekend there were…
Phuket is a province in the south of Thailand. Phuket's beaches face the Andaman Sea allowing the west coast beaches fantastic sunsets right throughout the year. If you're looking for news in Phuket, go to thethaiger.com/phuket Or follow our instant news in our Facebook pages.
The good news is that Phuket is famous for its foodie scene with an enormously diverse range of local and international foods - Phuket and southern favorites, street food along with international choices catering for the 12 million visitors to the island each year. Thaiger follows Phuket news and information 24 hours a day with regular updates.
Phuket is only 'just' an island with a 300 metre bridge linking it to Thailand's mainland. We're always reporting in the news that the channel beneath is frequently dredged to maintain Phuket's status as an island. On the other side of Sarasin Bridge is the Province of Phang Nga.
Getting to Phuket is easy as the island has land, air and sea connections. Phuket is also used as a take-off point for local island trips as Thailand's largest island is surrounded by over 30 pristine islands. Koh Phi Phi and the famous Maya Bay are always in the news and would be the best known of the island's just off Phuket's shores.
Phuket is an island and a province. It's the largest island in Thailand – 48 km north to south, 21 km east to west.
It's about 20% smaller, in area, than Singapore but much less densely populated. Whilst the island nation of Singapore boasts a population of nearly 6 million, Phuket has a permanent population of around 400-450,000 (but varies a lot with the influx of tourists and a workforce that is always changing). Most of Phuket remains jungle and tropical rainforest despite an acceleration of development over the past 20 years.
Unlike some of Thailand's other popular islands (that are in the Gulf of Thailand), the news is that Phuket is located in the Andaman Sea.
Phuket is 878 km north of the equator.
Don't forget to check out some other things to do in Thailand - get help starting a business or finding a job in Thailand, buy Thailand property, rent a yacht or book a medical procedure worldwide.