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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5 hidden healthcare costs in Thailand and how to avoid them
Thailand's healthcare system is affordable and supported by the Universal Health Coverage (UHC) scheme, offering essential services to most citizens. However, hidden healthcare costs can surprise patients and lead to unexpected expenses. These include specialist fees, insurance gaps, emergency services,...
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Readers’ Poll: Protests damaging Phuket tourism
PHUKET: Most Phuket Gazette readers believe the red-shirt rallies in Bangkok have had a negative effect on the island’s tourism industry, according to the results of our latest poll. With 615 readers casting votes, nearly two-thirds (64.4%) think the demonstrations in Bangkok have damaged tourism to Phuket, despite some earlier industry suggestions that Phuket, as a peaceful destination, could benefit…
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Phuket a super-star for hotel performance
Phuket NEWS Hound – A daily digest of news from around the world compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community PHUKET: According to data compiled by STR Global Hotels and reported by Hotel News Now, the Asia/Pacific region, and most notably Phuket, experienced increases in all three key performance metrics for March 2010. “The Asia/Pacific region is still leading…
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Phuket lifeguards start on Monday
PHUKET: Lifeguards will be back on Phuket beaches from Monday, after the Phuket Lifeguard Club signed a 10-million baht contract with the Phuket Provincial Administration Organization (PPAO) to provide services earlier this week. Club president Prathaiyut Chuayuan inked the agreement on Wednesday, finally putting to rest fears island beaches would be unmanned during the upcoming monsoon season. The club aims…
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Phuket People Network to PM: stay the course
PHUKET TOWN: The Phuket People Network is planning a large rally at Saphan Hin to show support for embattled PM Abhisit Vejjajiva. The PPN is a group of Phuket residents who claim to be neither ‘red’ nor ‘yellow’, but are deeply committed to democratic rule with the Thai Monarch as head of state. Members have been holding daily rallies at…
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Grenade attacks rock Bangkok
Phuket NEWS Hound – A daily digest of news from around the world compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community THE NATIONFive grenades were fired from M-79 launchers at BTS Saladaeng Station and nearby areas last night from unknown launch sites in Bangkok, killing a Thai woman and injuring 75 others including three foreigners, officials said. Ten are in…
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Mystery surrounds Phuket car fire
RASSADA, PHUKET: Police continue to investigate the mysterious explosion and fire that left a Honda Accord a charred wreck on the bypass road in front of Tesco Lotus at about 5:30pm yesterday. The driver, 35-year-old construction contractor Supachai Jongchanasetthakul, was rushed to nearby Bangkok Hospital Phuket, where he was treated for burns to the right side of his stomach. He…
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‘New’ motorcycle helmet law for Phuket
Phuket NEWS Hound – A daily digest of news from around the world compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community PHUKET: Authorities in Phuket say they are about to bring to a halt the dangers of riding a motorcycle without a helmet after the region’s Police queued up new motorcycle safety laws set to come into force later this…
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Will Air Asia become Phuket’s favorite airline?
PHUKET: Given its penchant for quickly fleeing the scene by abandoning routes (such as Phuket-Perth and Phuket-Singapore) when business turns bad, and following notorious fare hikes on routes into Phuket earlier this month, THAI Airways has exposed itself to disenchantment across a wide swath of Phuket’s resident market. And now the island resort province has an increasingly credible suitor –…
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Phuket Police mediate Phanason City dispute
WICHIT, PHUKET: A tentative agreement has been reached between parties involved in a violent confrontation earlier this month at the Phanason City project on Chao Fa East Road in Phuket. In the latest face-off between the two sides, project workers on April 9 demolished local villagers’ vehicles purposely blocking the entrance to the development. Phuket Provincial Police Commander Pekad Tantipong,…
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‘Phuket People Network’ shows support for PM Abhisit
PHUKET TOWN: Around 500 Phuket residents assembled at Provincial Hall yesterday afternoon to deliver a show of support for Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva. Manoon Kiowkram, leader of the newly-formed ‘Phuket People Network’, handed a formal letter to Phuket Governor Wichai Phraisa-ngop around 4:15pm. The letter urged the embattled prime minister to resist red shirt demands to dissolve parliament. The group…
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Beached dolphin dies in Phuket
PATONG, PHUKET: Marine biologists were unable to save a wounded dolphin found clinging to life off Patong Beach yesterday. Veterinarian Patcharaporn Kaewmong of the Phuket Marine Biological Center’s endangered species unit responded to reports of a beached dolphin just before noon yesterday. Arriving at the scene off Loma Park, Ms Patcharaporn found the 60-kilogram, 2.2-meter spotted dolphin in weakened condition,…
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Foreigners in 25% of Phuket road accidents over Songkran
PHUKET TOWN: About one-quarter of the injuries recorded in Phuket during the recent Songkran ‘Seven Days of Danger’ holiday road safety campaign were foreigners, according to official statistics. Figures released by the Phuket Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Office (DDPM-Phuket) show 60 reported accidents resulting in two deaths in the province from April 12 to 18. Of the total number of…
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New Phuket market still on hold
PHUKET TOWN: With the opening of the new market on Ranong Road on hold more than a year after its completion, would-be tenants have filed a complaint charging the municipality with overcharging them on construction costs needed to build food stalls. Work on the project got underway in March 2007, after vendors agreed to move off the site of the…
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Man found dead in Phuket Town jungle
PHUKET TOWN: A 47-year-old man was found dead in a forested area just half a kilometer from the Phuket governor’s house. On April 15, police were searching for evidence in an unrelated case when they discovered the body of Khamkong Yodsaeng from Udon Thani. Duty Officer Chukiat Chaiwiset said it looked like Mr Khamkong had been dead for more than…
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Phuket tourist may be charged in jet-ski death
Phuket NEWS Hound – A daily digest of news from around the world compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community PHUKET: The young man whose jet ski allegedly crashed into 20-year-old Loh Ying Jie in Phuket has not been allowed to leave Thailand and will likely face criminal charges on Thursday, according to the New Straits Times. But the…
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Phuket flights: can Tiger tame THAI?
Phuket NEWS Hound – A daily digest of news from around the world compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community PHUKET: Phuket flights: can Tiger tame THAI? Tiger Airways has launched a promotion with special fares for travel from Singapore to Phuket. Asia Travel Tips reports that the deeply discounted tickets, on sale until 21 April, are priced from…
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Songkran 2010: Two teens dead on Phuket roads
PHUKET: This year’s Songkran celebrations were marred by the deaths of two teenage boys in road accidents, according to the Phuket Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Office (DDPM-Phuket). From April 12 to 15 there were 38 accidents resulting in the two deaths and 42 injuries, DDPM-Phuket said. On Monday around 11:30am a 14-year-old boy was killed when the motorbike he was…
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AFC Cup football match to be played in Phuket
PHUKET: Once again Phuket is set to benefit from political turmoil in Bangkok as an international football match is moved to the island. Bangkok’s Muang Thong United will face Hong Kong’s South China in an Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Cup group match which kicks off at 6:30pm on April 20 at Surakul Stadium. It is the second year in a…
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Phuket’s Soi Bangla declared “iguana free’ zone
PATONG, PHUKET: Following complaints from tourists and animal rights activists, Kathu Police Superintendent Arayapan Pukbuakhao has declared Patong an ‘Iguana Free Zone’. “Many tourists complained about iguana handlers putting the reptiles on them without permission, especially on Soi Bangla. Some tourists got scratched when the handlers pulled them off. NGOs have also complained about the practice,” he told the Gazette.…
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TAT Songkran celebrations a hit in Phuket Town
PHUKET TOWN: Three nights of entertainment organized by the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) ended last night on Thalang Road in Old Phuket Town. This was the first year the TAT has organized Songkran activities in Phuket Town, where a variety of staged shows put on nightly at Queen Sirikit Park were a hit with local residents. Among the performances…
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Phuket jet-ski accident fatal
Phuket NEWS Hound – A daily digest of news from around the world compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community PHUKET: Eleven days after a friend crashed into him while they were on jet-skis in Phuket, 20-year-old Loh Ying Jie died at Singapore General Hospital from swelling of the brain. The New Straits Times reports that Loh, a former…
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Phuket incinerator project to begin in June
PHUKET TOWN: Work on a second solid waste incinerator at Saphan Hin should get underway in a few months’ time, according to Phuket City Municipality. Deputy Mayor Thaworn Jeeraphat said work on the waste-to-energy incinerator, originally scheduled for completion in October this year, should get underway in June. The incinerator, to be built by Malaysian firm PJT Technology Co Ltd,…
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Patong CCTV units on the blink
PHUKET: The majority of closed-circuit television (CCTV) security cameras in Patong don’t work, the Gazette has learned. There are more than 20 security cameras sited in key locations in Patong, but only eight are still functioning properly. Most of the ten CCTV units provided by Patong Municipality are still in operation, but most of the units provided by the Phuket…
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Vietnamese man, 26, commits suicide in Phuket
PATONG, PHUKET: Kathu Police are treating as a ‘probable suicide’ the case of a Vietnamese man found hanged to death in his rented home in Patong early Monday morning. The corpse was identified as that of 26-year-old Huynh Tan Phong, shown in his passport as a resident of Thua Thien-Hue province in Vietnam. The body of Mr Phong, wearing white…
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Songkran stabbing in Phuket
CHALONG, PHUKET: Chalong Police are searching for the man responsible for a stabbing attack that left a young man in critical condition yesterday. Police were notified of the attack at about 5:30pm. By the time they arrived at the scene, an unnamed curry shop and dry goods store on Soi Thanuthep in Chalong Village 8, the victim had already been…
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Phuket tuk-tuk driver to be charged with theft from tourist
PATONG, PHUKET: Kathu Police will charge a Patong tuk-tuk driver with theft after a Maltese tourist claimed the man purposely drove off with a bag containing his cash and valuables. The tourist, 44-year-old Charles Bonavia, appeared at Kathu Police Station accompanied by a friend and two Thai women on Monday afternoon. At around 2pm that day, he and five friends…
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Thai Foreign Minister on rampage
Phuket NEWS Hound – A daily digest of news from around the world compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community PHUKET: Thailand’s foreign minister Kasit Piromya lashed out at the global community yesterday for failing to take action against fugitive premier Thaksin Shinawatra, whom he branded a terrorist and blamed for the country’s deadly political violence. AFP reports that…
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Phuket Police road safety crackdown underway
PATONG, PHUKET: Scores of motorists were stopped and charged with road safety violations at a police road checkpoint set up on Patong Hill at midnight on Sunday. The violators, mostly foreign tourists, had to make their way to Kathu Police Station to pay fines for a variety of infractions including operating a motorbike without a helmet, driving without a license…
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Increase in flights to Phuket Intl Airport: AOT
PHUKET CITY: The effect of the political turmoil on passenger traffic at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi International Airport has thus far been limited, with increased traffic at Phuket International Airport making up for some of the shortfall, Airports of Thailand (AoT) has announced. Suvarnabhumi Airport Director Niran Theeranatsin said that before the protests 16 international and domestic carriers had requested an additional…
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Hong Kong shuns Bangkok, Phuket not affected
Phuket NEWS Hound – A daily digest of news from around the world compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community PHUKET: Hong Kong travel agents yesterday announced the cancellation of all tours to Bangkok until at least April 21 because of the political violence in the Thai capital. Earth Times reports that around 80 tour groups with more than…
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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