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 A healthy tomorrow starts today: Celebrate the great American Smokeout day
The Great American Smokeout, held this year on November 17, is a nationwide event that encourages smokers to take their first steps towards a smoke-free life. If you’re an expat in Thailand, this day could be a timely reminder to...
-
Raid in Rawai: Phuket bar crackdown continues
PHUKET: Five popular nightspots in Rawai had some unexpected guests early this morning when a provincial security task force arrived to enforce closing times. The crackdown is part of an island-wide effort ordered by the Interior Ministry. It follows the December 27 signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) by Deputy Interior Minister Thavorn Senniam and the operators of nightspots…
-
Get ready for the weekend in Phuket
PHUKET: The latest edition of the Phuket Gazette is on sale now. Pick up a copy of Phuket’s most popular local newspaper for lots of interesting articles not available online, including: NEWS – Upcoming MICE event to be largest ever held on the island. – Efforts to secure UN World Heritage status for Phuket Town buildings. – Sea gypsies fight…
-
Phuket Police pounce on porn pirates
PHUKET: Coordinated raids on a counterfeit video manufacturer and three sales outlets have led to the arrest of six people and seizure of more than 30,000 discs, some of them pornographic. Fifty provincial and Region 8 police officers divided into four teams set out from Phuket Provincial Police headquarters at 7pm on Wednesday night to make the arrests. Joining them…
-
Phuket Red Cross draw blesses the lucky
PHUKET: Atiphon “Tu” Wongmaha, the human resources manager at the Blue Marine Resort & Spa in Kalim, has won the top prize in the annual Phuket Red Cross Fair lucky draw: a townhouse valued at 2.5 million baht. The two-storey townhouse in the Phanason Villa housing estate at Bor Rae in Wichit covers 21 square wah. The 37-year-old Rayong native…
-
Phuket Blood Center calls for donations
PHUKET: The Phuket Regional Blood Center run by the Thai Red Cross is calling for blood donations, especially of blood types A-, B- and AB-. “After the Seven Days of Danger [national road safety campaign] over the new year, we do not have enough to support the patients at Bangkok Hospital Phuket,” said Pornthip Rattajak, acting director of the center.…
-
Phuket revelers gatecrash curry shop
PHUKET: The owners of a mom-and-pop store in Phuket got a rude awakening early this morning when a car crashed through the front of their home. Thalang Police received a report at 2:45am that a car had crashed into the shopfront of a home on the northbound side of Thepkrasattri Road, opposite the electrical substation in Baan Lipon, Thalang. Led…
-
Phuket “lucky license plates’ to go under the hammer
PHUKET: The island’s high-rollers will descend upon The Metropole hotel in Phuket Town on February 26 and 27 for the sixth annual “Lucky” License Plate Auction. Organized by the Phuket Land Transport Office (PLTO), the event will see 301 license plates go to the highest bidders. The auction will be held from 8:30am to 4:30pm in the Prapitak Grand Ballroom.…
-
Phuket Punchline Comedy returns next month
PHUKET: Following the success of its sell-out shows last year, the Phuket Punchline Comedy Club returns for its first show of 2011 at the Holiday Inn Resort in Patong next month. Three of the sharpest comedic minds on the UK comedy circuit will take to the stage on February 23. Among the comedians lined up is Nick Doody, rated as…
-
POLL: Did the “Seven Days of Danger’ safety campaign make Phuket roads safer?
PHUKET: Four people died on Phuket roads during the recently-completed ‘Seven Days of Danger’ road safety campaign, half last year’s toll. Do you think the police road checkpoints set up around the island as part of these campaigns actually make Phuket roads safer? Have your say in the latest Phuket Gazette readers’ poll by clicking here or on the icon…
-
EXCLUSIVE: One-on-one in Phuket with Bob Sinclar
PHUKET: More than 3,000 music fans flocked to Famous Nightclub in Patong last Tuesday to see French DJ Bob Sinclar – the man behind the worldwide hits Love Generation and World, Hold On. Here’s the Phuket Gazette‘s exclusive interview with the man himself. If one DJ has stood out from the rest over the past decade it would be Bob…
-
New development plan for Phuket’s Saphan Hin
PHUKET: A proposal has been put forward to develop a multi-purpose tourist center at Saphan Hin in Phuket Town. The plan was pitched to Phuket Governor Tri Augkaradacha by Norwegian maritime engineering company LMG Marin at a meeting last week. Saphan Hin is Phuket Town’s largest park and its seafront has long been earmarked as a location for a major…
-
Woman beaten unconscious on Phuket beach
PHUKET: A young woman selling fruit on Surin Beach was beaten unconscious in broad daylight by attackers allegedly representing a local restaurant, the victim’s father said. Sawang Tonglaw, who heads a group of vendors on Surin Beach, and 15 fellow vendors, took their case to Phuket Provincial Hall today, citing a history of intimidation and death threats against them. The…
-
TAT takes Deep South kids on Phuket megatrip
PHUKET: The Tourism Authority of Thailand took 60 poor children from Thailand’s troubled Deep South provinces on a National Children’s Day trip of a lifetime to Phuket on Saturday. The lucky youngsters were chosen from schools in Yala, Narathiwat and Pattani provinces, where an Islamic separatist insurgency continues to rage with almost daily acts of violence. Included on the itinerary…
-
Gazette Poll: Phuket has too many hotels
PHUKET: A clear majority of Phuket Gazette Online readers believe the island’s hotel industry is in a state of oversupply, the results of the newspaper’s latest poll reveal. Overall, more than half of those taking part (58.9%) thought there were too many hotels in Phuket, compared to just 17.1% who thought there were not. Almost a quarter of all those…
-
Park booze ban: Phuket tourism players “shaken, not stirred’
PHUKET: Reactions by key figures in Phuket’s tourism industry are mixed over the recent ban on alcohol inside 110 national parks nationwide. However, many agree that the rule will be very difficult to enforce at marine national parks. Pracha Rachai, Events Manager at Andaman Aqua Trails, said the ban had already caused “a lot” of cancellations by Russian tourists, the…
-
National park booze ban “well received’ by Phuket tourists
PHUKET: The directors of several national parks in the Andaman region have told the Phuket Gazette they have received good compliance with the ban on alcohol inside parks. The ban came into effect late last month. Natural Resources and Environment Minister Suwit Khunkitti issued the ban immediately following the December 26 stabbing murder of a student by a group of…
-
Children’s day on Phuket
PHUKET: Children’s Day activities kicked off in Phuket today with addresses to the island’s next generation by the Phuket Governor and head of the provincial council. Phuket Governor Tri Augkaradacha and Phuket Provincial Administration Organization (OrBorJor) president Paiboon Ubatising both addressed a crowd of youths and civil servants at Phuket Provincial Hall, one of the many places staging special events…
-
Investors target Phuket as tuna-industry hub
PHUKET: In a move that would more than double Phuket’s tuna-fishing fleet – already the third largest in Asia – a delegation of Taiwanese investors are looking to set up an operations center in Phuket to take advantage of increased tuna stocks in the Andaman Sea. The delegation of executives from Singapore-based Seaspire International floated the idea yesterday at a…
-
New Phuket school library opens
PHUKET: Baan Tungkha School in Rassada has opened a library on its grounds for students and locals alike. Vice Governor Weerawat Janpen presided over the opening ceremony of the 600,000-baht facility, one of the few of its kind on the island. School director Wilas Parinyaniyom explained, “Our school committee wanted to gather secondhand books and computers and make them available…
-
Chinese dive tourist recovering in Phuket hospital
PHUKET: The young Chinese diver airlifted from the Surin Islands to Phuket yesterday is conscious, speaking and able to eat, doctors said today. Zouxin Jie, 26, was early yesterday afternoon airlifted from the Surin Island National Park by a Thai Navy helicopter to Phuket, where she was transferred to Vachira Phuket Hospital. Dr Weerawat Yorsaengrat, deputy director of Vachira Phuket…
-
Burmese man murdered in Phuket
PHUKET: Police are investigating the murder of a Burmese man found lying dead in shallow water off Kata Beach in Phuket yesterday. Chalong Police were informed by local residents that a body was discovered in the water at the south end of Kata Beach at about 8am yesterday. Arriving at the scene, they found the body of an Asian man…
-
Phuket holiday death toll halved
PHUKET: The death toll in Phuket during the new year ‘Seven Days of Danger’ national road safety campaign, which ended on January 4, remained at four – half of last year’s figure. The number is well under this year’s theoretical “target toll” of 7.6, which the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation (DDPM) bases on a 5% reduction in fatalities…
-
“Phuket proud to host PIMEX’: V/Gov
PHUKET: Phuket Vice Governor Somkiet Sangkaosutthirak today officially opened PIMEX 2011 with resounding praise. “Phuket is very proud to host such an international event. It is the only event of its kind in Thailand,” he told the crowd gathered at Royal Phuket Marina. “Phuket is becoming Southeast Asia’s focal point for international-standard tourism and the marine industry. International investment in…
-
Chinese tourist airlifted to Phuket
PHUKET: A Chinese woman is fighting for her life at Vachira Phuket Hospital after a dramatic airlift rescue from Surin Island National Park this afternoon. Lt Cdr Somsak Boonkam of the Naval Air Section, Third Area Command (NASTAC), told the Phuket Gazette that he was among the five rescuers dispatched on the mission. “At about noon we received radio orders…
-
Phuket set for heavy rains
PHUKET: The Meteorological Department is warning of possible heavy rains and rough seas along the Andaman coast over the next 24 hours, as unusually strong monsoonal conditions prevail in what is normally Phuket’s driest month. In a report issued at 11am today, the Southern Meteorological Center (West Coast) read that a “rather strong” northeasterly monsoon prevails over the southern Thailand’s…
-
Wanted: Phuket scam artists impersonating Governor
PHUKET: Police are hunting for a group of scam artists wanted for impersonating the Phuket governor to solicit donations for an imaginary provincial development campaign. In a meeting yesterday afternoon, Gov Tri Augkaradacha warned people not to fall victim to the scam. The scammers have been calling both government offices and private businesses asking for donations, typically from 30,000 to…
-
Phuket landmark Mom Tri’s Boathouse sold
PHUKET: The owners of the Trisara resort have announced an agreement to buy Mom Tri’s Boathouse, the long-established resort and restaurant complex on the beach in Kata. The Boathouse issued a statement yesterday that Narong Pattamasaevi, Executive Chairman of the Three Dolphins group that owns and operates Trisara, has signed contracts to acquire 100% of shares in The Boathouse Inn…
-
Phuket foreign property sales to grow 25% this year
PHUKET: Real estate sales to foreigners in Phuket are expected to grow 25 per cent this year to 5 billion baht, according to property development firm Seacon. Nevertheless, sales are likely to remain at least 50 per cent lower than during the boom years of 2006 and 2007, when foreign sales came in at 10 to 12bn baht each year.…
-
Phuket police warn over “royal souvenirs’
PHUKET: Phuket police are warning residents to beware of men approaching their homes calling for donations, for which, in return, donors receive souvenir plaques bearing images of His Majesty Bhumibol Adulyadej and the Queen Mother. The warning comes after a group of about 10 men in a Nissan Navara arrived in a neighborhood near the Tha Reua Shrine late yesterday…
-
All change at FC Phuket
PHUKET: The dust may have barely settled on FC Phuket’s dramatic promotion to Thai League Division 1 last month, but it appears the honeymoon may well be over. It will be all change at Sarakul Stadium when the new season kicks off on February 12 as it has been confirmed that last season’s manager Arjan Songsamssub will not take charge…
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.