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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Tour of beauty
PHUKET: Picturesque Phuket provided the perfect backdrop for a visit by 81 of the world’s most beautiful young women today.The competitors in the Miss Universe 2005 beauty contest came to Phuket to boost post-tsunami tourism, and they received a warm welcome from residents and tourists.After lunch at FantaSea, Kamala, and seeing the “Amazing Kamala” show, one group of contestants went…
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Sticker fever unabated
PHUKET: Since its launch five weeks ago, the Phuket Gazette‘s “We Love Phuket” sticker campaign has yielded continuing surprises. Originally budgeted for 8,000 stickers, the project has now printed and placed 14,000. Though currently out of stock, an additional 6,000 pieces will arrive from the printer this Friday (20 May). Of those, 3,200 have already been booked, so a further…
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Entertainment license fees finally arrive
PHUKET: More than 14 months after all entertainment licenses were declared statutorily void, a list of fees for entertainment licenses has been announced, paving the way for provincial authorities to start processing applications.Wisut Romin, Deputy Secretary of the Phuket Provincial Administrative Office, told the Gazette that he received the list of fees today, although it was ratified by the Ministry…
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Bypass expansion stems water supply
PHUKET CITY: Phuket Provincial Water Supply (PPWS) has announced that its customers living in areas to the south of the bypass road expansion project will experience reductions in flow rate until about May 25. The reduced flow, about 50% on average, will result from a PPWS project to move water mains to accommodate the road expansion now underway by the…
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Tsunami cost B20 billion in tourism revenue
PHUKET: The province has lost at least 20 billion baht in revenue from tourism between January and March because of the December tsunami, Tourism Council of Thailand President Vichit Na Ranong said on Friday.K. Vichit said, “Phuket makes on average 70 billion baht a year from tourism. Generally, the province makes around twice as much revenue in the high season as…
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Employment Office launches English-language web pages
PHUKET: The Phuket Provincial Employment Office (PPEO) has created several English-language web pages on its website to help foreigners understand the complexities of obtaining and extending a work permit. The pages include translations of the 1978 Working of Aliens Act, the 1979 Royal Decree listing professions that aliens are prohibited from engaging in, and other information useful for those looking to work in the Kingdom.…
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Police blitz late-night entertainment venues
PHUKET CITY: Police and provincial government officers are raiding entertainment venues around the island up to 20 times a month to ensure they are not trading past the 1 am deadline for closing, Provincial Chief Administrative Officer (Palad) Vichan Busapavanich said today. Speaking at a press conference at Phuket Provincial Hall this morning, Palad Vichan said, “The law says that…
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Miss Universe beauties to visit Phuket
PHUKET: Miss Universe 2005 contestants will visit tourist attractions and hospitals, and learn about “Phuket culture”, when they visit the island on May 19 on a tour designed to boost Phuket’s tourism industry.The 82 young women from around the world will spend a day in the province during the run-up to the competition, which will take place in Bangkok on…
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Dulwich divorce is final
PHUKET: The divorce is final. Dr Arthit Ourairath, CEO and Founder of Dulwich International College, has announced that ties between Dulwich College in London (DCL) and Phuket’s top international school have been severed.Dulwich International College will, from June 24, be known as the British International College of Thailand, unless agreement can be reached with another school willing to replace DCL’s…
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Dengue fever cases up sharply
PHUKET CITY: The Phuket Public Health Office (PPHO) is urging the public to take steps to eradicate mosquitoes around their premises in an effort to prevent the spread of dengue fever. Despite efforts by the PPHO to prevent the spread of mosquito-borne disease after the tsunami, there have been 68 reported cases of the disease since the beginning of the…
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Princess visits tsunami survivors
PHUKET CITY: HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn has visited Phuket to donate fishing equipment to survivors of the December 26 tsunami.The Princess’s first stop was in Baan Khok Tanod, Chalong, where around 500 local people were waiting to greet her.Phuket Governor Udomsak Usawarangkura told the Princess about two areas that were damaged by the tsunami and the 216 houses and…
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968 businesses still await aid
PHUKET: Nearly five months after the tsunami, some 968 small business owners in Phuket are still awaiting 20,000 baht in financial aid packages from the Ministry of Interior (MoI) to re-start their businesses.A group comprising mostly small-scale vendors and beach massage business operators contacted the Phuket Office of the MoI’s Department of Local Administration (DOLA) recently to see why their…
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Phang Nga airport plan put on hold
PHUKET CITY: Plans to build an airport in Phang Nga have been put on ice because of the tsunami.Deputy Transport Minister Vichet Kasemthongsria last year backed a proposal to build an airport on Koh Kho Khao, an island just north of Baan Nam Khem, in Takuapa District, to serve the province’s then-booming tourist industry.But Takuapa District Chief Administration Assistant Kanitsorn…
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OrBorJor promotes Phuket in UAE
PHUKET: A 22-member delegation from the Phuket Provincial Administration Organization (OrBorJor) have returned from the Arabian Travel Market in Dubai, where for three days they promoted the delights of Phuket – and studied the way the city, famed for being duty-free, operates.OrBorJor President Anchalee Vanich-Thepabutr, who headed the delegation, said that the Phuket booth got good feedback from visitors, though…
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University “taking a gamble’ with casino course
PHUKET CITY: A Phuket university has reignited the debate over casinos in Phuket by offering a course in casino and gaming management.The Phuket campus of Prince of Songkhla University (PSU) has started to offer the 45-hour courses to masters degree and doctorate students, even though casinos are illegal in Thailand. The course has received approval from the Ministry of Education.But when…
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Off to the movies? Click before you go!
PHUKET: Movie-goers in Thailand are familiar with the vagaries of screening schedules; the phenomenon of sudden, unannounced cancellations; and the difficulties in getting through to box office telephone recordings. For foreigners, these problems are often compounded by communication difficulties. It was against this background that the SFX Coliseum cinema at Central Festival and the Phuket Gazette teamed up two months…
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Glut of housing for tsunami survivors
PHANG NGA: This province, the hardest hit in Thailand when the tsunami struck on December 26, may end up with twice as many houses as it needs to accommodate peole rendered homeless by the disaster, Provincial Governor Anuwat Metheeviboonwut said on Saturday.Speaking at his residence in the province, Gov Anuwat said that so many non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and individuals, from within…
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Phuket Air quietly barred from UK
LONDON: Just days before being banned from flying to the Netherlands, Phuket Air was also quietly barred from flying to the UK, it has emerged. One of its aircraft has also been seized for non-payment of landing fees at London’s Gatwick Airport.The website of the UK Department for Transport (DFT) says that “the Secretary of State has suspended the permit…
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In love with stickers
PHUKET: Tragedies often heighten “sense of community” among their survivors. The personal – as opposed to government – response to the tsunami in Phuket has been broad, swift, and convincing, with seemingly endless stories of goodwill and good deeds. In the hope that the wave of community spirit might continue undiminished over the next few months until tourism resumes its…
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Ghost-busting monks return on PM’s orders
PHUKET: Monks from Taiwan and Japan are due to perform a ceremony for tsunami victims in Patong on Monday, on the orders of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra – 40 days after Phuket Governor Udomsak Usawarangkura ordered an end to rituals to appease ghosts.Napasorn Kakai, Assistant Director of the Tourism Authority of Thailand Region 4, said PM Thaksin had declared that…
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B7 million earmarked for sports complex study
PHUKET CITY: The proposal to build an international-standard sports training complex in Phuket appears to be limping ahead with 7 million baht being earmarked by the Ministry of Sports and Tourism for a feasibility study.Confirmation that the study is to receive funding was given today by Promchote Traivate, Head of the Phuket Office of Sports and Recreation Development (POSRD). The…
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Phuket “badly needs a plan’
PHUKET CITY: Phuket desperately needs a long-term development strategy following the tsunami, a Phuket Chamber of Commerce (PCC) seminar entitled “Phuket Alert” was told yesterday. The PCC is considering development issues facing the province and will make recommendations within two months so that they can be included in a development plan for Phuket now being drafted by the National Economic and…
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Phuket Air apologizes for latest problem
BANGKOK: Troubled no-frills airline Phuket Air yesterday apologized to passengers delayed by the recent decision by the Netherlands Department of Civil Aviation (NDCA) to bar the airline from landing at Amsterdam. The NDCA banned the airline after discovering that an emergency floor light on an aircraft that landed at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport was inoperative, and that the medical certificate of one…
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Meridien chain close to new ownership
PHUKET: Plans are on the table for recapitalization of debt-ridden Le Meridien Hotels & Resorts, which operates four hotels in Southern Thailand.Two of the hotels, Le Meridien Phuket Beach Resort and Le Meridien Khao Lak, are to reopen later this year after being severely damaged by the catastrophic events of December 26.Le Royal Meridien Phuket Yacht Club at Nai Harn…
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Water authorities weigh options
PHUKET: Phuket Irrigation Office Project Director Watchara Arepornsiri today said that if rain does not start to replenish Phuket’s water reserves by the middle of this month, he will call in the Royal Rainmaking Project to seed clouds and make artificial rain.K. Watchara explained to the Gazette that Bang Wad reservoir currently holds 1.9 million cubic meters of water, and…
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Phuket to host big WHO meeting
KARON: Phuket will this week host an international World Health Organisation (WHO) meeting on the health ramifications of the December 26 tsunami.Delegates from Indonesia, Burma, The Maldives, Sri Lanka are due to join colleagues from Thailand at the Hilton Phuket Arcardia Resort and Spa between May 4 and 6 to discuss what the tsunami has taught them about topics such…
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Seminar on natural disasters
PHUKET CITY: Government officers and people involved in the hotel trade and other tourism-related businesses in the six Andaman provinces struck by the December 26 tsunami gathered at the Royal Phuket City Hotel on April 30 for a seminar on “earth-based natural disasters”.The event was organized by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment’s Department of Mineral Resources (DMR).The aim…
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Mayor dodges dismissal debate
PHUKET CITY: Phuket City Mayor Somjai Suwannasuppana has insisted it is back to business as usual following her sudden sacking of her three deputies on April 8.Mayor Somjai denied that she was locked in any kind of dispute with the former deputies – Ayuth Tansiriroj, Niwas Aroonrat and Piya Siamhan, all members of the “Young Turks” Team which had ruled…
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Mixed reviews for tsunami drill
PATONG: The practice evacuation of the southern half of Patong Beach this morning received mixed reviews, from both tourists and the many government officials who attended. Arriving by helicopter shortly after 10 am, Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra met a crowd of some 1,500 volunteer evacuees, many of them children wearing T-shirts made specially for the event. Also on hand were…
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New Dulwich franchise on the table
CHERNG TALAY: Frustrated parents of students at Dulwich International College (DIC) last night gave a bumpy ride to the negotiator from Dulwich College in London (DCL) in the ongoing crisis talks. Parents at the meeting, held at the Sheraton Grande Laguna Phuket, were particularly irked by consistently polite refusals by DCL Deputy Master Ralph Mainard to reveal precisely what the…
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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