Phuket News
Phuket news, politics, business, tourism, and nightlife—stay updated with breaking stories, events, and expat updates from Thailand’s top island destination. Get the latest from The Thaiger, your trusted Phuket news source.
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12Go introduces Japan Rail Passes to enhance travel accessibility for international travellers
For those who have travelled throughout Thailand, 12Go is a well-known provider of various trips, though the platform itself has a much wider reach. Ranging from buses to planes, 12Go is undoubtedly a leading booking platform for travel throughout the...
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Russian driver kills motorcycle rider in Phuket
A Russian man crashed his rented black SUV into a motorcycle and killed a Thai motorcycle rider on road in Phuket on Wednesday. Officers from Chalong Police Station and the Phuket Ruam Jai Rescue Team were notified about the incident at the Chalong Intersection on Patak Road in the Chalong sub-district of Phuket at about 9.20pm, Wednesday, December 28. The…
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American man dies after jumping from 3rd floor of Phuket Airport
An American man died yesterday after he reportedly jumped off the 3rd floor of the Phuket Airport passenger terminal. The 35 year old American, who was later identified as Jason, jumped from the 3rd floor smoking area of Phuket Airport at about 3pm yesterday. The airport rescue team and medical workers rushed to the scene to provide first aid and…
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German man’s yacht vanishes from Phuket, Thailand
A search is underway to locate ‘Marco Polo,’ a German man’s yacht, which mysteriously vanished from a pier in Phuket, southern Thailand, yesterday morning. At 11am, 58 year old Marco Käfer of German nationality found that his eponymous boat was missing from Phuket’s charming Nai Harn Beach in Rawai district. Concerned Käfer was informed by a witness that three people…
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Rawai residents shocked by baby crocodile
Residents in the Phuket district of Rawai got a bit of a shock yesterday when they encountered a baby crocodile. The little croc was hanging out at a local lotus pond in the neighbourhood. Many of the neighbours called city officials to report the unnerving visitor. The Rawai Municipality began receiving reports yesterday about a baby crocodile on the loose…
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Fireworks and sky lanterns still illegal in Phuket
Officials in Phuket have issued another reminder to the public that releasing fireworks and sky lanterns in public areas is illegal. The warning put out yesterday is a reminder of a rule passed earlier this year on May 6 that called for a crackdown on all illegal fireworks. Phuket Vice Governor Anupap Rodkwan Yodrambam made that original proclamation on behalf of…
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Phuket remembers anniversary of Indian Ocean Tsunami
Today marks the anniversary of one of the deadliest natural disasters ever to befall mankind. The Indian Ocean Tsunami, also known as The Boxing Day Tsunami, struck Phuket and the surrounding areas at 10am on December 26, 2004. In the province and neighbouring provinces, religious ceremonies were held today to mark the 18th anniversary of the deadly tsunami. Religious ceremonies…
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Road accidents involving motor bikes on the rise in Phuket
As we head into what has become known in Thailand as the “Seven Days of Danger” – the holiday period from December 24 to January 4 that always sees an increase in road deaths – a new report initiative is shedding light on an increase in motorbike accidents in Phuket. The Phuket Provincial Administrative Organisation has begun releasing a report…
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Dern Rim Lay Festival on Kata Beach today
Phuket is celebrating the holiday with the launch of a number of Christmas and New Year’s events, starting with the Dern Rim Lay @ Kata Festival. The festival began yesterday and continues now in Karon on Kata Beach. Street stalls line the beach and around 150 vendors are offering food and shopping to the thousands of locals, residents, expats, and…
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Teen brutally stabs other teens with scissors in Phuket fight
In a brutal fight in Phuket this week, a teen attacked a group of other teens with a pair of scissors near a school in the main city district on Monday. The suspect is a 16 year old boy, while his victims are 14-17 years old. Thai media reported that a group of teens went to meet the attacker at a…
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Patong lifeguards rescue Australian tourist who suddenly fell unconscious
Patong Beach lifeguards rescued an Australian tourist after she suddenly lost consciousness and her pulse yesterday. The lifeguards provided the elderly woman with CPR as they waited for an ambulance from Patong Hospital to arrive. The lifeguards used a cardiac pump to help revive the woman. The woman’s pulse was back after the CPR, although she was still unconscious. The…
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Group attacks Russian man near Phuket shopping mall
A group attacked a Russian man in front of a Phuket shopping mall, according to a police report. The attackers beat the man up in front of the Central Phuket shopping mall at the Darasamut Intersection. The victim filed a report to Wichit police on November 26, and the assault was reported in Novosti Phuketa yesterday. The report said the…
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Phuket gets ready for New Year road safety campaign ‘Seven Days of Danger’
Phuket is getting ready for the annual road safety campaign known as ‘Seven Days of Danger.’ The campaign will be held around the New Year from December 29 to January 4. Phuket Vice Governor Anupap Rodkwan chaired a meeting about the campaign at Phuket Provincial Hall yesterday. Officials will use various strategies to improve road safety during the campaign. These…
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Where to celebrate New Year’s in Phuket (2023)
Phuket is one of the most popular holiday destinations in the world and it’s no wonder why. With its stunning beaches, vibrant nightlife, delicious food, and unique culture, Phuket is the perfect place to celebrate the 2023 New Year. From spectacular fireworks displays to beach parties to cultural events, there’s something for everyone when it comes to ringing in the…
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Phuket pickup truck accident injures three people in front of school
A Phuket truck accident injured three people in front of a school on Thursday. A pickup truck overturned and crashed into another pickup truck in front of Thai Rath Wittaya School on Wichit Songkram Road in Kathu district. CCTV footage of the incident found that the driver of a black pickup truck lost control at a curve before overturning and…
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Phuket Immigration crackdown nets 138 total violations
After spending the first half of the month vigilantly and vocally cracking down on immigration violations, Phuket Immigration announced the results of its efforts. They focused mainly on people overstaying the stamp on their passports and not being registered correctly at the place where they lived. Immigration was working under the slogan of getting “Phuket to be Crime Free” running…
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Get ready for ‘Sexy Run on the Beach’ in Patong this weekend
Get ready for a steamy event coming up in Patong this weekend. All genders and ages are invited to participate in the ‘Sexy Run on the Beach.’ The event will be held on Sunday, December 18 from 4pm to 6pm at Sea Pearl Intersection. Participants will run along the beach for about 3 kilometres. They are invited to wear anything…
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Phuket hotels see labour shortages as tourism swells
Maybe hoteliers didn’t believe in the government’s rosy tourism predictions. Hotels in Phuket are reporting a labour shortage as Russian tourists pour into the holiday island. Now they are rallying the government to market hospitality jobs in Phuket to attract foreign workers. They say Thai people just don’t want maintenance, kitchen, and food and beverage jobs. The president of the…
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Russians still biggest tourist group in Phuket, peak expected during holidays
Russians remain Phuket’s biggest tourist group, and the island resort’s tourism is expected to peak during the holidays, according to the president of the Southern Thai Hotels Association, Sueksit Suwannadissakun, who believes the peak of tourism High Season will be between December 24 to January 5. About 57% of hotels in the island province reopened in October, jumping to 70%…
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Vendors propose doubling space for chairs and umbrellas on Patong Beach
Authorities are figuring out a solution to find a balance between unrestricted beach space and the availability of sun loungers and beach umbrellas on Patong Beach. Vendors who rent these lounge chairs for customers to bask on the beach have asked for the space designated to them to be increased. They say there’s too much demand from tourists and not…
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Thieves ransack a Patong rental house
Thieves ransacked a rental house in Patong, stealing almost everything including doors and window panes. The house owner, 44 year Phatsamon Chompanat, reported the incident to Patong Police on Monday. Phatsamon said she had left her house locked when she left Phuket two years ago. She said she occasionally came back to visit the house to clean it. When she went…
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GrabTukTuk to be launched in Phuket next year
GrabTukTuk revealed it will be launching a new app in Phuket at the beginning of next year to provide about 100 tuk tuk cars for the beach resort’s locals and tourists. Phuket tuk tuk driver Suchart Nitiwaranuluck was hailed by tourists and criticised by his peers in April after he offered a very affordable 50 baht for a round trip…
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Swedish man falls from Patong hotel
A Swedish man fell from a Patong hotel on Monday. The man, 64 year old Bo Peter Svensson, fell from the second floor of a hotel on Sawatdirak Road near the Sai Namyen Intersection. Rescuers found Bo with several injuries and rushed him to a nearby hospital. The hotel owner, 52 year old Supaphon, told police that Bo had checked…
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Financially embarrassed elderly Thai man found hanged one day after birthday
Just one day after his 69th birthday, an elderly Thai man allegedly took his own life after reportedly being in a bad financial situation. The man, Nopparat, was discovered by his neighbour hanging on the second-floor balcony outside a rented room above shops in Thalang, Phuket. Police say he was found with package tape around his neck tied to an…
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Patong deckchair touts must double capacity to survive
Patong’s deckchair touts – the legal ones – want local authorities to double the number of chairs and umbrellas, claiming that the existing quantity is insufficient to meet demand on Phuket’s Patong Beach. Only 10% of Patong Beach has been allocated to about 60 small-time operators, as part of a new attempt to limit their operations along the entire beach.…
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Not holding water – Phuket authorities blameless for floods
Phuket authorities, blameless for this year’s floods, have decided that the sale of government land was behind the recent inundations and landslides on the island. During a disaster mitigation forum at Phuket Rajabhat University, authorities were able to demonstrate their innocence again and again. The new owners of former government land built an unauthorised dam, completely contrary to the purpose…
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Fine Dining with a Phuket View | Amari Phuket
https://youtu.be/qAP2-loBVpE Join Natty Warisa and Jay for a 5 Star Fine DIning Foodie Journey, as they take you to some of their favorite dining spots in Phuket, Thailand. In this episode, they will be highlighting the must have Phuketian foods at Rim Talay Restaurant, Amari Phuket’s beach side restaurant where you can watch the island slowly awaken with color over…
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An Azur Air flight circles Phuket for hours, then aborts
An Azur Air flight intended for Russia never made and no one is saying why. The flight took off toward Novosibirsk after a five-hour delay but never made it past the Andaman Sea. It circled for hours and ended up back in Phuket leaving about 200 passengers stranded. Azur Air flight ZF3750 was supposed to depart at 3.50pm yesterday toward…
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Canadian hitman in Phuket killing moves closer to extradition
The Canadian hitman accused of killing a Vancouver gangster in Phuket is one step closer to extradition after a ruling from an Alberta judge. Matthew Dupre was committed to extradition Friday, to be surrendered to Thailand to be tried for his involvement in the death of Jimi Singh Sandhu. Dupre was a member of the Canadian Armed Forces in Afghanistan…
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Chinese tourist found dead in Phuket
A Chinese tourist has been found dead in Phuket yesterday. The 46 year old woman was found hanging from a durian tree in the Sakhu district, The Phuket News reported. A local woman, 60 year old Churaiwan Lengyi, told police she found the Chinese woman’s body when she went out to check if her laundry had dried. She alerted a…
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Officials say no to floating lanterns and fireworks on Patong Beach
Officials aren’t liking floating lanterns and fireworks on Patong Beach. On Wednesday night, officials were alerted that vendors were welling these items on the beach, according to Kathu District Chief Siwat Rawangkul. A team led by Siwat then inspected the beach to crack down on people selling and using the items. The team then found stashes of lanterns and fireworks…
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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