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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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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Decision on dog pound “in one month’
PHUKET CITY: Governor Udomsak Uswarangkura has said that he plans to reach a decision on whether or not to shut the controversial Mid Road Dog Shelter in Thalang by the end of September.At a meeting on August 31, which was held to discuss a number of topics and attended by representatives of every government agency in the province, Gov Udomsak…
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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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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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Phuket Air banned by France
PARIS: Problem-plagued Phuket Air hit another hurdle this week when it was revealed that it has been banned from flying into France since June 4 on safety grounds. The Bangkok-based carrier has already been barred from British and Dutch airspace.The French civil aviation authority (Délégation Générale de l’Aviation Civile – DGAC) website included Phuket Airlines in a list of six…
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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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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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PM to hold Cabinet meeting in Phang Nga
PHUKET: Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra will hold a “mobile” Cabinet meeting in Phang Nga on September 5 and 6.On September 5, he will arrive, accompanied by some of his ministers, at Phuket International Airport in the morning, and be driven to Tambon Khuek Khak (Khao Lak) and Takuapa district in Phang Nga, before having lunch with local people.The Prime Minister…
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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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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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Phuket Air jumbo seized in S Korea – twice
SEOUL: A Phuket Air jumbo jet has been seized in South Korea after the carrier’s owner, Phuket Airlines Co Ltd, allegedly failed to settle debts owed to its local sales agent.The Nation in Bangkok reported August 23 that the Boeing 747-300 had been impounded at Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul.The aircraft had initially been banned from flying back to…
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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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“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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Cloud seeders back in Phuket
PHUKET: Despite recent rain showers, the Royal Rainmaking Project has been called in again to help stave off yet another looming water shortage in Phuket.Isara Anukul, Chief of the Water Allocation Division of the Phuket Irrigation Office (PIO), told the Gazette on Wednesday, “The water level in Bang Wad Reservoir [Phuket’s main water source] has dropped to 450,000 cubic meters…
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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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Officials inspect wrecked Kamala resort
KAMALA: Kathu’s top official paid an inspection visit on Wednesday evening to the tsunami-damaged Kamala Bay Terrace Resort, where he asked the hotel’s sole remaining employee to try to organize a clean-up as soon as possible. Kathu District Chief Khantee Silapa, accompanied Phuket Provincial Security Affairs Chief Nikorn Torhiranyapreuk, said the visit was prompted by a complaint to the Phuket…
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Gov orders encroachers’ homes demolished
PHUKET CITY: Governor Udomsak Uswarangkura yesterday ordered the demolition of 30 terraced houses being built for illegal encroachers on Sirinath Marine National Park land by the Sakoo Tambon Administration Organization (OrBorTor).The Governor announced his decision at an open meeting at Phuket Provincial Hall, attended by the Sakoo OrBorTor Chief Surapong Panyawai and Sirinath Marine National Park Chief Thanapong Aphaisorn.At the…
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Haze gone, unlikely to return
PHUKET: Blue skies returned to Phuket today as the haze from Indonesia receded, thanks to a combination of local winds and increasingly effective fire-fighting on Sumatra. Chumnong Chitpukdee, Chief of the Meteorological Department‘s Southern Meteorological Center (West Coast), told the Gazette this morning that the weather in Phuket has already returned to normal. “Luckily for us we have sea breezes…
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Masks issued to combat Sumatran smoke
PHUKET CITY: Residents with respiratory ailments can protect themselves from the smoke that has enveloped the island by picking up free face masks at Wachira Phuket Hospital. Dr Wanchai Sattayawutthipong, Chief of the Phuket Provincial Public Health Office (PPHO), told the Gazette that the average particulate matter reading (PM-10 reading, for particles less than 10 microns in size) in air…
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New charter flights from Europe
PHUKET: One of the biggest names in European tourism is joining forces with a German airline to launch a new Phuket charter service at the start of the high season. Thomas Cook Airlines Belgium, founded in 2002 and based at Brussels Airport, and low-cost carrier Condor Flugdienst plan to operate flights to Phuket between November and April next year.“Europe will…
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Sumatra “haze’ reaches Phuket
PHUKET: Hazy atmospheric conditions in Phuket today are the result of forest fires on the Indonesian Island of Sumatra that have left much of Malaysia and Southern Thailand coughing in smoke over the past week.Chumnong Chitpukdee, chief of the Meteorological Department’s Southern Meteorological Center (West Coast), confirmed that Sumatra is the source of the haze, which is being carried here…
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Gamblers top arrest stats – again
PHUKET: Gambling, for the third successive month, topped Phuket’s arrest statistics, according to figures released recently by Phuket Provincial Police, who made 144 arrests for gambling in July. Seventeen of the cases involved the sale of underground lottery tickets.Sixty-seven people were arrested for the illegal possession or use of narcotics, with 1,521 ya bah (methamphetamine) tablets seized.Of the five murder…
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Karon to crack down on tailors
KARON (Kom Chad Luek): Community leaders in Kata-Karon have issued a warning to the 144 tailor shops in the area that they will crack down on any that continue to use aggressive touting techniques or take advantage of tourists. Tambon Karon Chairman Winai Chidchiaw said that, at a meeting among village headmen and other community leaders, it was unanimously agreed…
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Patong, Kamala revamp still 8 months away
PHUKET CITY: The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) says that the number of tourists is on the rise since it launched a promotion for tsunami-affected areas.The only place that has not benefited, the TAT says, is Khao Lak, which it believes needs more time to recover before it can be promoted.The TAT’s plans to continue bolstering the recovery of tsunami-affected…
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Miss Teen Canada delivers the ‘bear necessities’
PHUKET CITY: Miss Teen Canada International 2005, 18-year-old Amanda Klyn, donated some 2,000 teddy bears to children affected by the tsunami, during her visit to Phuket and Phang Nga from August 7 to 9.Miss Klyn was invited to visit Thailand by Sananchart Thephasadin, the Thai Ambassador to Canada, after winning her title in January.She explained that the teddy bears were…
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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