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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Minimum wage set to rise
PHUKET: Phuket’s lowest-paid workers could be in line to receive a New Year present – of an increase in the minimum wage of five baht a day.The Chief of the Provincial Labor Protection and Welfare Office, Patom Phetmanee, told the Gazette today it was likely that the minimum wage in Phuket will rise on January 1, from 168 baht a…
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Law-breaking vendors put “on notice’
PHUKET: Undercover inspectors are visiting shops and stores to check that they are not selling alcohol outside the permitted times or alcohol and cigarettes to minors, Wisut Romin, the Deputy Secretary of Phuket Provincial Administration Office, has told the Gazette.Said K. Wisut, “The 253rd declaration of 1972 Revolutionary Council states that shops having liquor licenses are allowed to sell alcohol…
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TAT to put up B60m for F1 boat race
PHUKET: The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) is set to double its sponsorship of next year’s F1 powerboat Grand Prix, to 60 million baht.Swin Chatsuwan, Managing Director of Paragon Events, which has won the contract to organize the race, said yesterday that the TAT had agreed to his company’s request to provide full sponsorship.He added that the race – the…
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TAT to celebrate B300m high-season bonanza
PHUKET: The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) expects no less than 300 million baht to be injected into the Phuket economy over the upcoming holiday period from December 23 to January 2.TAT Region 4 Director Suwalai Pinpradab told the Gazette today that a recent check of hotel occupancy rates and advanced bookings indicates that most island hotels will be fully-booked,…
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Patong Tower auction “a big success’
PATONG: A total of 55 units were sold in Sunday’s auction of apartments in the 32-story Patong Tower. Around 500 people turned up to bid in the auction, held at the Patong Resort Hotel.On the block were 61 one-bedroom apartments, seven two-bedroom apartments, seven three-bedroom apartments and five four-bedroom penthouses.The media were barred from the auction and the Tower’s owner,…
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Fingerprint clue in tourist’s murder
PATONG : Police are to compare a fingerprint thought to belong to the murderer of a 61-year-old Swiss tourist with prints of the staff of the hotel where she was staying.Jeanette Sager was found dead in room 208 of the Horizon Beach Resort Hotel on December 7. Police believe she was killed when she returned from the hotel pool and…
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Expo center bickering ‘has cost B100bn’
PHUKET CITY: Juthamas Siriwan, the Governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), today lamented the long delay in coming to a decision on the site for Phuket’s International Convention and Exhibition Center (ICEC), saying that the arguments have cost Phuket 100 billion baht in lost revenue.“Building an ICEC in Phuket has to be delayed until we have a clear picture…
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“Burmese Cemetery’ claims another victim
PHUKET CITY: Another murder victim was found floating in the murky waters of Rassada Port yesterday morning.Staff of the Por Pichai raft called police after finding the body floating in the sea close to the raft.Pol Lt Col Tiwakorn Kongpeth, of Phuket City Police Station, said the man – believed to be Burmese and between 20 and 25 years old…
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Mystery surrounds Briton’s death
PHUKET: Mystery surrounds the death of Briton Stephen Harris, leaving his family saddened and confused. Mr Harris’s body was was discovered at the Monte Carlo Hotel on Rat-U-Thit 200 Pi Rd on October 29. (See Gazette Online story here.) At that time Pol Lt Col Boonlert Onklang of Kathu Police Station told the Gazette that an initial inspection by a…
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Senator calls for Laguna buildings to be demolished
PHUKET: A new land row is brewing at Laguna after the head of the national Land Inspection Working Group called for a toilet to be demolished, claiming it is built on state land.Speaking after a meeting of 14 local officials, Senator Pricha Pitanon backed local land officers’ claims that the toilet, plus another building covering just four square metres, stand…
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Two sought over restaurateur’s murder
RAWAI: Police are on the lookout for a man and a teenager involved in the beating to death of a Koh Racha Yai restaurateur after a 15-year-old boy turned himself to Chalong Police Station yesterday evening.Pol Col Chalit Kaewyarat, Superintendent of Chalong Police Station, told the Gazette that the 15-year-old had confessed to police that he was one of three…
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King’s Cup final day set to be a cracker
KATA: Hopes are riding high for the steady north-easterly wind, today averaging about 16 knots, to continue for the final race in the King’s Cup Regatta tomorrow, which will be a critical factor in determining who will be this year’s winner.While the top three in nearly all race classes are within a few points of each other in the overall…
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The beach party’s over
PHUKET: Vice-Governor Vinai Buapradit has ordered officials to take action tomorrow to prevent drunken youths and tourists “swarming” onto beaches when entertainment venues close at 1am.“People have complained to the provincial office about the disturbance caused by tourists and youths drinking and dancing on the beaches after the bars have closed,” said the Vice-Governor. “People who live near the beaches…
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Hi Fidelity edges ahead in King’s Cup
KATA: Winds were a steady 20 knots yet, apart from some moderate chop beyond Koh Racha, the seas were calm for some swift sailing in the King’s Cup Regatta today.Neil Pryde’s Hi Fidelity today finished just 44 seconds ahead of Peter Ahern’s Yo! to take the lead in the Racing class by a single point.As tomorrow will be a rest…
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Swiss visitor murdered in hotel
PATONG: A 61-year-old Swiss tourist was found dead of head wounds in her room at the Horizon Beach Resort Hotel yesterday. Police are treating her death as murder.Staff of the luxury hotel, located on Soi Kebsap, called police at about 1 am yesterday to say that they had found the body of hotel guest Jeanette Sager lying face down in…
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Yo!, High Fidelity neck-and-neck
KATA: Gray skies and lighter winds marked the second day of the Phuket King’s Cup Regatta, but the fleet still found enough breeze for the Racing Class to complete three races, leaving Peter Ahern’s Yo! and Neil Pryde’s Hi Fidelity level on overall points, with eight apiece.Meanwhile, the Pla Loma crew member injured in yesterday’s race collision, Sandra Rosewane Lee,…
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Phuket aims at world golf record
PHUKET: In an effort to raise international awareness of the island’s growing golf tourism industry, Phuket province is to try to get in the Guinness Book of World Records by hosting the world’s biggest golf tournament It is hoped that the “Phuket – Golf Paradise of Asia” golf tournament, on March 5, will attract at least 500 golfers from around…
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Mahachon ‘will not contest Phuket seat’
PHUKET: Phuket is one of only two southern provinces in which the newly-formed Mahachon Party will not field a parliamentary candidate in the coming general election, due to be held by February 13.Chadej Insawang, Secretary of Mahachon and a former governor of Phuket, told the Gazette yesterday that the party had looked into running a candidate in the province, but…
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Drive to decrease holiday accidents
PHUKET CITY: The Phuket Office of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation (ODPM) has launched a campaign to reduce the number of road accidents, injuries and fatalities in the period to the end of the New Year holiday.The ODPM is urging road users not to drink and drive and motorcyclists to wear helmets. It has also urged all drivers to carry their…
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Crash mars first race of regatta
PHUKET: Three people were rescued from the water and a woman has been hospitalized with a suspected broken hip after two yachts collided half a mile offshore in the first day of racing in the Phuket King’s Cup Regatta today.Simon James of the regatta’s race management committee, told the Gazette that Blue Juice and Pla Loma collided half a mile…
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Gov to push for expo center in Ao Phuket
PHUKET: Governor Udomsak Usawarangkura says he will ask the Cabinet later this month to approve plans for Phuket’s International Conference and Exhibition Center (ICEC) to be built in the proposed Ao Phuket development. “The estimated cost of reclaiming land in Ao Phuket is 1 million baht a rai, which is cheap compared with the price at which land in Phuket…
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Bamboo sharks released at Cape Panwa
CAPE PANWA: The Phuket Marine Biological Center (PBMC) and Phuket Provincial Administration Organization pooled their resources and released 99 Indonesian Bamboo sharks yesterday in a gesture to mark the birthday of HM King Bhumibol Adulyedej.The sharks – between six and 12 months old and measuring up to 50 centimeters long – were bred at the PMBC. Harmless to humans, these creatures…
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Mobile minimarts launched
PHUKET: The Phuket Provincial Administration Organization (OrBorJor) yesterday unveiled some of the “mobile minimarts” which will sell “clean” food around the island in a 1.5-million-baht initiative to promote food hygiene among vendors and buyers.Phuket Technical College worked with the OrBorJor to design a stainless steel rust-free minimart attachment for motorbikes, at a cost of 23,000 baht each.OrBorJor President Anchalee Vanich-Thepabutr…
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Gov mediates in spa tax dispute
PHUKET: Phuket Governor Udomsak Usawarangkura has agreed to ask the Finance Ministry to review the controversial 10% excise tax on spas, following a meeting on the issue held at his office this morning. Gov Udomsak chaired the meeting, which was attended by Phuket Spa Business Club Chaiman Pakin Raktae-Ngam, who is leading the opposition to the tax, and Supatra Horsrisumpun,…
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Phuket “should be special admin zone’ – NIDA
PHUKET: A group of researchers from the National Institute of Development Administration (Nida) today argued in favor of Phuket being turned into a special administrative zone with an elected Governor. At a seminar at the Phuket Merlin Hotel today, the Nida research team, led by Juree Vichit-Vadakan, said that results of a survey they conducted showed that 83% of 298…
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On a wing and a prayer
PHUKET: People in Phuket have made more than half a million origami birds to be sent to the troubled southern provinces of Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat as part of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra’s unusual peace initiative.Nationally, more than 80 million of the origami birds have been collected. They will be taken by aircraft and scattered over the three provinces – which…
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Three arrested over murder of laborer
PATONG: Police have arrested three men for the murder of Boonsong Sulaopa, a 31-year-old construction worker from Loei, whose body was found dumped in a ditch near Laem Daeng Beach, between Patong and Kamala, on November 24.Pol Capt Sophon Borirak, of Kathu Police Station, said that police had charged Pacheun Muangnontasri with murder, while his brother Boonjan and fellow laborer…
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Plan now or face problems, Phuket warned
PHUKET CITY: The Deputy Secretary General of the National Economic and Social Development Board (NESDB), Santi Bangor, today warned that without proper planning Phuket may face growing environmental problems.The island’s official population is 270,000, he said, but some 200,000 other people live here unregistered, and Phuket also gets some four million tourists a year.This means, in effect, that Phuket has…
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Gamblers still top crime stats
PHUKET: Gambling topped the latest Provincial Police crime statistics, for the period November 1 to 25, with 172 people arrested for playing illegal games of chance, 29 of them caught buying or selling underground lottery tickets. Some 73 people were arrested on drug-related charges, with 27 arrests involving ya bah (methamphetamine) and 261 pills seized. The remaining 46 drug-related arrests…
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Copy of giant Buddha cast
PHUKET: Work began yesterday on a smaller version of the controversial Mingmongkol Buddha, as the committee behind the project sought to dispel allegations that brass donated to the project had “disappeared”.Rumours have been circulating that more than 12 tons of brass earmarked for the massive image atop the Nakkerd Hills in Karon, had gone missing.The head of the project committee,…
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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