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.
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Phuket motorists advised to avoid Chao Fa East Rd
PHUKET: Motorists traveling along Chao Fa East Rd are in for a real treat this weekend, as drain installation work along a stretch of the busy artery begins today. The roadwork will affect northbound and southbound traffic along the section of road from Dowroong School south to the Tor Song Saeng Hotel, just before Pattana Thongthin Rd. Chao Fa East…
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Phuket police auction seized motorbikes
PHUKET: Chalong Police this week took the opportunity to clear out their car park with a public auction of motorbikes seized as evidence in drug-related cases. It was short work, with all 18 motorbikes sold in an hour on Wednesday. The proceeds, a total of 100,100 baht, will be handed over to the Ministry of Finance, said Snr Sgt Maj…
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Phuket Governor donates sugar to fasting Muslims
PHUKET: The Phuket Governor and his wife today presided over a ceremony to distribute sugar to local Muslims who are now fasting during the holy month of Ramadan. The ceremony, held at Phuket Provincial Hall at 3pm, saw Phuket Governor Wichai Phraisa-ngop and his wife Thaisika distribute 51 large sacks of sugar, one for each of the 51 mosques on…
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Thai League Cup: FC Phuket draw high-energy opponents
PHUKET: FC Phuket will face a real test of their prowess later this month when they take on Thai Premier League (TPL) team Osotspa Saraburi FC in the opening round of the 2010 Toyota League Cup, the Thai League’s version of England’s FA Cup. The pairing, set for August 29, was the result of a lucky draw among 64 qualifiers,…
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Remote-control aircraft crashes into Phuket temple hall
PHUKET: One of the island’s most famous temples is threatening to file a police complaint after a remote-controlled aircraft crashed into the roof of the nuns’ dining hall on Wednesday night. News of the damage at Wat Luang Pu Supha in Chalong Village 6 was reported to the media yesterday at 12:30pm by Mr Piyawat Leehaweerachart, a 45-year-old layman who…
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Phuket hospitality; stocks, autos boom; ‘Death Merchant’ verdict today
Phuket NEWS Hound – A daily digest of news about Thailand from around the world, compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community. Phuket ready for Asian Hospitality Show Phuket’s first Asian Hospitality and Travel Show is shaping up to be a winner, with strong buyer and seller interest in the run-up to the October 1-3 event. Events Thailand, the…
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Phuket Lifesaving Carnival set for September 11
PHUKET: The Phuket Lifeguard Club’s third annual carnival, this year to be held at Loma Park in Patong on September 11, is targeting youngsters in order to boost surf lifesaving skills on the island. “We want to promote water safety and surf awareness in a fun environment to appeal to the local community to embrace lifesaving as a sport. We…
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Update: Phuket Immigration nabs Taiwanese for drugs
PHUKET: As reported in the Gazette’s Phuket NEWS Hound earlier today, Phuket Immigration Police yesterday announced the arrest of a man wanted for drug smuggling eight years ago in his native Taiwan.Phuket Immigration Superintendent Col Panuwat Ruamrak named the man as Wu Jung Mu, 51.He was arrested at the Mei Zhou Phuket Hotel on Luang Por Wat Chalong Rd on…
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Are you one of the Top 10 Beach Clubs in Phuket?
Welcome to the new Thaiger Gold Awards which list the Top 10 in a series of popular categories searched often on the internet. With The Thaiger already ranking highly on Google we are proud to present this exclusive opportunity to be part of the Top 10 Beachclubs in Phuket list. There can only be ten in the list, obviously, and…
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Phuket smackdown: Five arrested on narcotics charges
PHUKET: Phuket City Police arrested five people and seized seven vehicles, firearms and a heady variety of narcotics during a drug raid on a home in Koh Kaew on Tuesday. Officers led by Phuket Provincial Police Deputy Commander Komol Watrakorn told a press conference at Phuket City Police Station yesterday that the first arrest was that of Koh Kaew resident…
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Norwegian falls for ATM scam in Phuket
PHUKET: Police are warning tourists to be vigilant while using ATM machines following the alleged theft of 200,000 baht from a Norwegian tourist in Kata last week. Kjell Olar Farseth, 52, filed a complaint with Chalong Police yesterday morning stating that a man who offered to help him operate the Kasikorn Bank ATM machine near the Karon Municipality offices in…
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Phuket Update; foreigner nabbed; Phuket airline happy; Wiki wasted
Phuket NEWS Hound – A daily digest of news about Thailand from around the world, compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community. Phuket airport arrivals soar Passenger traffic through Phuket International Airport during the first half of this year surged 28 per cent compared to a year earlier – marking a dramatic recovery for Phuket as the island resort…
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Arson attack on Phuket guesthouse
PHUKET: Police are seeking a foreign tourist who threw a Molotov cocktail into the office of a guesthouse on Nanai Road in Patong yesterday. According to the Siangtai Daily website, the attack shattered a large window and caused a deafening explosion at the Jaraan Guesthouse on Nanai Soi 7 shortly before 1am yesterday. The incident was reported by 65-year-old Krissana…
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Phuket Property: Vikings wary; Phuket Fitness Fiesta; Cops slammed, loved; Phuket villas
Phuket NEWS Hound – A daily digest of news about Thailand from around the world, compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community. Phuket property: Scandinavians scared Scandinavians are planning to sell their properties in Phuket ‘en masse’ after the political riots in Thailand badly shook their confidence, says Thanan Tanpaiboon, president of the Phuket Real Estate Association. “In the…
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Revered Phuket monk to turn 114
PHUKET: Hundreds of well-wishers are expected to help revered Phuket monk Luang Pu Supha celebrate his 114th birthday next month. The secret to the aged monk’s longevity is to “eat less, speak less and always speak the truth”. Last year the Gazette broke the story about Luang Pu Supha’s reputed age on September 4. For previous reports click here. Having…
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Phuket Thailand Open volleyball dates confirmed
PHUKET: It has been confirmed that the Swatch FIVB Beach Volley World Tour will once again have a stop in Phuket, with this year’s Phuket Thailand Open to take place on the sands of Karon Beach from November 2 to 7.More teams competed in last year’s event than in any other tournament on the Beach Volley World Tour. This year,…
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Phuket musician in charity drive for son
PHUKET: Rino Mangon Vogt, 10, is a boy who knows he could die before the end of this year. Rino is suffering from a rare and congenital heart condition known as Ebstein’s Anomaly. Usually present at birth, this life threatening anomaly can show itself at any time, even into adulthood. The cause lies within one of Rino’s heart valves, which…
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Radio Thailand Phuket announces contest winner
PHUKET: Radio Thailand Phuket has announced a photograph by Sakorn Jarasbusarakam as winner of its Mothers’ Day Photo Contest. The contest, under the theme “The bond between mother and child”, was held in celebration of national Mothers’ Day on August 12, also the 78th birthday of HM Queen Sirikit. The winning entry shows a young mother blowing on a spoonful…
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Blackout in Chalong, Phuket tomorrow
PHUKET: The Provincial Electricity Authority (PEA), Phuket branch, has announced scheduled blackouts to carry out maintenance on high voltage power lines in Chalong from 9am to 4pm from tomorrow and on Thursday. Affected areas include: August 18: West side of Chao Fah West Road from the Wat Chalong area to and along Soi Ban Klang, and Soi Gloom Yang. August…
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Phuket Police seek high-tech solution to ya bah problem
PHUKET: With no end in sight to the battle against the illegal trade in ya bah (methamphetamine), Phuket Provincial Police hope to buy high-tech drug detection technology in order to better check vehicles entering the province at the Tah Chat Chai checkpoint. Phuket Police Commander Pekad Tantipong made the announcement at a press conference at Phuket City Police Station this…
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New building code affects Phuket hillside projects
PHUKET: Phuket Natural Resources and Environmental officer Natthaporn Jarunkiatkhajorn has confirmed that tighter controls on building on hillside land in Phuket came into force on July 31, some two months earlier than expected. “After we receive an official letter from the Department of Natural Resources and Environment Policy and Planning Division in Bangkok, we will immediately send letters informing related…
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TAT announces Thai Travel Mart 2010
PHUKET: The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) has confirmed that the Thailand Travel Mart Plus Amazing Gateway to the Greater Mekong Sub-region will be held from September 8 to 10 at the IMPACT Convention Center in Muang Thong Thani. The Thailand Travel Mart Plus (TTM+) is the country’s premier annual trade event designed to promote travel and tourism to Thailand…
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Phuket ‘killer Brit’ has reputation for violence
PHUKET: It has emerged that Lee Aldhouse, the British man being hunted by police in connection with the murder of American Dashawn Longfellow, is “extremely violent” and has threatened to kill in the past. Sources said Mr Aldhouse first came to Phuket in 2006 to train in Muay Thai. He told people he was from Birmingham, England and had been…
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Where’s Juthamas?; Cambodia’s complaint; floods; hot info
Phuket NEWS Hound – A daily digest of news about Thailand from around the world, compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community. Juthamas back in lions’ den PHUKET: The Nation reports this morning that the national anti-graft agency is likely to seek legal indictment of former Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) governor Juthamas Siriwan in connection with a bribery…
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Now you see him: Famed magician to open venue in Phuket
PHUKET: Joe Conrad, one of Asia’s best-known magicians, will be staging a regular magic show at his own venue in Patong come December. Billed as Asia’s Premier Magic Spectacular, the 90-minute show is being choreographed as family entertainment with initial prices set at 900 baht for adults and 600 baht for children. The show’s grand finale will feature a “disappearing”…
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American murdered in Phuket; Police hunt “killer Brit’
RAWAI: An American man was found stabbed to death in his hotel room near Ya Nui Beach and a search has been launched for the prime suspect, a British Muay Thai boxing student named, so far, only as “Mr Lee”. Chalong police received a report at 6am today that an American “tourist” had been murdered in his room at an…
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Phuket tuned out; ‘High-end’ again; Dengue critical
Phuket NEWS Hound – A daily digest of news about Thailand from around the world, compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community. Phuket tuned out for $3 a night Although Phuket was to have been the first Tune hotel to open among the 24 such $3-a-night lodgings planned for Thailand, the honor, it seems, will now go to Pattaya…
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Phuket Rotary Club organizes relief for Pakistani flood victims
PHUKET: The Rotary Club of Patong Beach has launched a disaster relief drive to provide aid to some of the 14 million people in Pakistan displaced by devastating floods and in desperate need of water, food, shelter and sanitation. “As was the case with the Haiti earthquake relief, we’re working with the Canadian shelter box group, newly renamed ‘Disaster Aid…
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Dusit Group formally announces Phuket resort acquisition
PHUKET: Dusit International CEO Chanin Donavanik has issued the following statement regarding the group’s recent acquisition of the Dusit Thani Laguna Phuket resort: “Dusit International announces the acquisition of one of its most successful properties which it has managed for the past 23 years, and one of the best performing hotels in Phuket, Dusit Thani Laguna Phuket, previously owned by…
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Arrested Colombians got car in Phuket
PHUKET: A set of Phuket-issued car license plates was among seized evidence presented by police today during a Bangkok press conference to announce the arrest of a Colombian couple on burglary charges. Bangkok Metropolitan Police Commander Santhan Chayanont announced the arrest of Colombians Camilo Andres Albois Gonzalez, 27 Luzda Lee Taborda Ospena, 44. Presented as evidence was a red Honda…
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.
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