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.
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Old town set for seven-week festival
PHUKET CITY: Thalang Rd, Krabi Rd and Dibuk Rd will be transformed into a cultural medley showcasing local food stalls and performances between 7 pm and 11 pm every Friday, Saturday and Sunday from September 23 to November 6.The “7 weeks of Phuket City’s Cultural Roads” festival will have shows from a variety of countries, Minister of Culture Uraiwan Thienthong…
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Governor to promote Phuket in Japan
PHUKET: Phuket Governor Udomsak Usawarangkura will arrive in Japan tomorrow for seven-day visit to promote Phuket as a safe holiday destination.Gov Udomsak told the Gazette that he was invited by the Japanese government to verify that Phuket’s tsunami warning system is operational and ready to protect tourists in the coming high season.“I am traveling to Japan in order to confirm…
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Ruby Goddess arrives in Phuket
PHUKET: A large turnout welcomed the 2005 Phuket Vegetarian Festival’s main invited guest, the Mazhofu statue – otherwise known as the Ruby Goddess – at Navamindra Memorial Square last night.Mazhofu is a well-known Chinese deity originating on Meizhou Island in Fijian Province. Devotees believe that Mazhofu protects followers from the dangers of the sea. The deity has about six million…
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OrBorJor wins “transparency’ award
PHUKET: The Phuket Provincial Administration Organization (OrBorJor) is one of only two OrBorJor in the country to win an award from the King Prajadhipok Institute, which monitors the progress of democracy in Thailand, for its “transparent” practices.Senate President Suchon Chaleekrae handed the award to Phuket OrBorJor President Anchalee Vanich-Thepabutr at the Rama Gardens Hotel in Bangkok on Monday.OrBorJor Vice-President Sutin…
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One more year for Gov Udomsak
PHUKET: Phuket Governor Udomsak Uswarangkura will be in the province for one more year before retiring, the Ministry of the Interior in Bangkok announced today.Vice-Governor Winai Buapradit has been appointed Governor of Phang Nga, while Vice-Governors Niran Kalayanamit and Supachai Yuwaboon will continue serving in their posts in Phuket Province.Before being appointed to Phuket, Gov Udomsak was Deputy Director-General for…
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Patong to host jet-ski competition
PHUKET: The island’s first jet-ski racing competition will be held in Patong Bay on December 10 and 11, Vice-Governor Niran Kalayanamit announced today.After returning from a meeting with Deputy Prime Minister Suwat Liptapanlop last Thursday, V/Gov Niran said that with a prize purse of US$10,000 (approximately 410,000 baht), the tourney for the HM King Bhumibol Adulyadej Trophy is expected to…
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Nopadol offers Thai experts to help ID “Katrina’ victims
PHUKET: The head of the Thailand Tsunami Victim Identification center (TTVI) today offered the services of Thai fingerprinting experts if the United States needs outside help in identifying the bodies of Hurricane Katrina victims.Pol Gen Nopadol Somboonsub told the Gazette that he is unsure of the exact situation in the US now, but he assumes that bodies could be in…
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Woman commits suicide off Sarasin Bridge
TAKUA TUNG: In an eerie echo of a famous double suicide of the 1960s, a 36-year-old Phuket woman died yesterday evening after jumping into the sea from Sarasin Bridge.Pol Maj Apidej Chauykua of the Khok Kloy Police Station, Phang Nga, told the Gazette that the woman, Boonsri Anekthammapinit, of Moo 2, Tambon Wichit, drove her Honda motorbike onto the bridge,…
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Thailand to step up fight against “ice’
NAI YANG: Thailand will improve its coordination with Asean (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) partners as part of its fight against drug trafficking in the region, with particular focus on the growing popularity of “ice”, a crystalline form of methamphetamine (ya bah).Deputy Prime Minister and Justice Minister Pol Gen Chidchai Vanasatidya made the announcement at the Senior Officials Meeting on…
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Provincial warning systems “to be linked by the end of the year’
PATONG: Suranand Vejjajiva, Minister of the Prime Minister’s office, has inspected the tsunami warning system in Patong and promised to link the systems in the six provinces affected by the tsunami with the National Disaster Warning Center (NDWC) at Nonthaburi by the end of the year.K. Suranand visited Phuket before joining a mobile cabinet meeting in Khao Lak.“The information I…
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19 die on Phuket roads in July
PHUKET: Nineteen people died in traffic accidents in Phuket in July, according to official figures obtained from Wachira Phuket, Thalang and Patong government hospitals, and Phuket International and Ruampaet private hospitals.Of the total, 18 people died in motorcycle accidents and one person was killed in a car accident.During the same period 1,277 people were injured in road accidents. Of these,…
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Airport bus service to launch in October
PHUKET: The island is to get a regular bus service between Phuket City and the airport, the Gazette was told exclusively this week.The service will use four buses, each of them capable of seating up to 34 people. It will start at 5:30 am every day from Phuket City and 6:30 am from the airport. The last bus will leave…
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British business task force to assess tsunami needs
PHUKET: A delegation of senior British businesspeople under the banner of the Prince of Wales International Business Leaders Forum (IBLF), is currently visiting Phuket, Phang Nga and Krabi as part of a tour of tsunami-stricken areas in Asia. The IBLF and the business leaders make up what they have dubbed “The Tsunami Business Task Force”, formed to assess local needs…
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Phuket Air “will not close down’
BANGKOK: Capt Chawanit Chiamcharoenvut, Executive Vice-President of Phuket Air, this afternoon confirmed to the Gazette that Phuket Air is not going out of business, but will instead expand its local routes.The announcement came after a report in today’s Bangkok Post that quoted Senator Vikrom Aisiri, founder and president of the airline, as saying the company was “preparing for a ‘soft…
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Briton charged with cheap air ticket scam
PATONG: British national Jonathan Duncan, 24, was arrested today and charged with fraud after allegedly selling what he said were cheap air tickets to foreign tourists.He was arrested at 3:30 pm in Room 112 of the Patong Grand View Hotel, where police also seized a laptop computer as evidence.Pol Lt Col Boonlert Onklang said at Kathu Police Station that Duncan…
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Gov rebuffs offer of 10,000 tsunami homes
PHUKET CITY: Governor Udomsak Uswarangkura has rejected an offer from a mysterious businessman from Dubai to build 10,000 homes for tsunami victims.The Governor explained that Phuket already has enough donated homes to house all tsunami victims in the province.The businessman, who gave his name simply as “John”, visited Phuket Provincial Hall on August 25 to request that land be donated…
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Karon drops opposition to gay event
KARON: Phuket is set to host “Nation V”, Asia’s largest gay and lesbian party, from November 4-6 as originally scheduled, after organizers met with the Phuket Governor and leaders of the Kata-Karon Municipality in a closed-door meeting. The municipality, who earlier nixed plans to hold the party in their bailiwick, have approved the use of Karon Stadium for Fridae’s fifth…
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Seabed sculptures to draw divers
ANDAMAN COAST: The Department of Marine and Coastal Resources (DMCR) plans to install novel underwater attractions off the six Andaman provinces affected by the tsunami. The underwater structures and designs are ostensibly to attract divers in lieu of tsunami-damaged coral.The Marine Science Faculty of Kasertsart University will be the main consultant to the project after the DMCR approached the faculty…
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TAT sees revival of Japanese tourism in Phuket
PATONG: The Director of the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) Tokyo office expects about 300,000 Japanese to visit Phuket during the second half of 2005, as the message that it is now safe to return to Phuket is finally being heard.TAT Tokyo Office Director Patchaneelux Swatdee made the comments during a meeting of tourism industry experts at the Graceland Resort…
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Soccer hero to return for football clinic
PHUKET: Peter Withe, arguably Thailand’s most successful head coach ever and currently Indonesia’s national coach, is to return to Thailand to take part in a football clinic in Phuket, for children who were affected by the tsunami.This Sunday, August 28, the three-hour free clinic at Surakul Stadium for some 400 students from 19 schools will start at 8:30 am with…
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Bank launches mortgages for foreigners
PHUKET: Bangkok Bank has broken ranks with the Thai banking establishment to become the first Thai bank to offer mortgages targeted firmly at foreigners wanting to buy property in Thailand.The mortgages are fairly limited in scope – they can be applied only to condos; the buyer must come up with the first 50% of the purchase price; and the mortgage…
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Dubai mystery man offers 10,000 tsunami homes
PHUKET CITY: A businessman from Dubai met with Phuket Governor Udomsak Uswarangkura today to offer to build 10,000 houses for tsunami victims.The man, who gave his name simply as “John”, visited Phuket Provincial Hall to request that land be donated upon which to build the Australian-designed structures. The prefabricated homes would be shipped as knocked-down kits to Thailand, enabling them…
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TOT blamed for mobile phone jams
PHUKET: Mobile phone operators, who once touted their services as the solution to the lack of land lines on the island, are now finding themselves victims of their own success.They are fending off waves of customer complaints and trying to find solutions to the overloading of telephone networks in the peak hours between 5 pm and 10 pm.Boonkul Masangchai, Manager…
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Property industry club launched
PHUKET: Members of the island’s property and construction industries, along with related occupations, met last night at the Green Man pub in Chalong to launch a Phuket chapter of the Lighthouse Club, an international networking organization that also does charitable work for construction workers and their families.Officiating at the launch was a founder and former president of the Lighthouse Club…
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Thai ambassadors recruited to spread the word
PHUKET: Thai ambassadors based overseas are the best messengers to tell the world that the tsunami-affected areas have fully recovered, Foreign Affairs Minister Kantathi Suphamongkhon announced on Saturday.About 80 Thai ambassadors based in 62 countries came to Phuket over the weekend for presentations on the recovery of the tourism industry in tsunami-affected areas.The visit was one leg of a 12-day…
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Duty-free to tempt Thai tourists
PHUKET: The government is launching a temporary duty-free project in Phuket, Phang Nga and Krabi Provinces from September 1 through December 31, to entice Thai tourists to the region.The announcement was made by Deputy Finance Minister Warathep Rattanakorn at a meeting dubbed “Recover three Andaman provinces with Duty-Free” at Dusit Laguna Resort on Saturday. K. Warathep explained that the government…
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“Mazhofu’ to allay tourists’ worries
PHUKET: In an effort to attract more Asian tourists to Phuket’s yearly Vegetarian Festival the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) Phuket Office, Phuket Provincial Administration Authority (OrBorJor), Phuket City Municipality and representatives from Phuket’s Chinese shrines will bring a specially-made “Ruby God” or Mazhofu statue from its original home in Meizhou Island in Fujian Province, China.Suwalai Pinpradab, the Director of…
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Work starts on “world’s largest’ Buddha image
PHUKET: Construction of a 1,000-ton concrete Buddha image, touted as the largest of its kind in the world, has started high on the Nakkerd Hills between Karon and Chalong.Suporn Wanichkul, the head of the project committee, told the Gazette yesterday that the Buddha will be 45 meters high and 25 meters wide. He claims that it will be the biggest…
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Minister buries underground cable pleas
PATONG: It appears unlikely that Patong will get the 350 million baht it wants for burying power cables, after Sports and Tourism Minister Pracha Maleenont sternly shot down a budget proposal for the project at a meeting on post-tsunami redevelopment. The meeting, at the Graceland Resort and Spa on Wednesday, was held to discuss progress reports on tourism redevelopment efforts…
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Transportation Office deluged with license applications
PHUKET CITY: Overworked staff at Phuket Provincial Transportation Office (PPTO) are rushed off their feet by the demand for new licenses and license renewals.Teerayuth Prasertphol, Chief Technical Officer of the PPTO, told the Gazette that the office is receiving 80 to 150 applications for new licenses and as many as 200 applications for renewals a day. “There has been a…
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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