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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Sponsored Is cannabis really safe? Here’s what you need to know
Thai society’s views on cannabis continue to change for the better as the industry grows. More and more people are starting to embrace the plant for its medicinal and holistic wellness benefits. But despite growing acceptance, some stigma and perception...
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Red herring in reef bombing probe
KRABI: Investigators probing the dynamiting of coral in Koh Lanta National Park thought they had made a breakthrough yesterday when a tip-off led them to two men who, they found, were in possession of explosives. Questioning revealed, however, that the two suspects had not been involved in the destruction of the Hin Daeng and Hin Muang reefs. Pol Col Adisak…
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TAT figures show effects of Sept 11
BANGKOK (AFP): Projected growth in Thailand’s tourist arrivals this year has been cut by more than half as a result of the September 11 attacks on the United States, officials said yesterday. The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) said in a statement that, before September 11, visitor arrivals for the whole year had been predicted at 10.3 million, an increase…
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Pirate goods warehouses raided
PATONG: More than 50 officers from Bangkok’s Crime Suppression Division (CSD) netted more than 7,000 items of fake brand-name merchandise yesterday evening in raids on five warehouses near the market off Rat-U-Thit 200 Pi Rd. The officers organized the raids after being tipped off by private investigators hired by popular brand-name companies. Raphee Chumprapa, who tracks down illegal copies of…
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Stats show tourism boom – up to September
THAILAND: Before the effects of the September 11 atrocities hit, Thailand’s tourism was booming, with the number of tourists visiting the country up by more than 7% on the figure for 2000. According to the latest statistics issued by the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), 7,496,718 international tourists arrived between January 1 and September 30 – a 7.16% increase on…
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Ambushes kill five police, one guard
BANGKOK (AFP): Gunmen opened fire in simultaneous attacks on police checkpoints in three southern Thai provinces, killing five officers and a civilian guard, officials said this morning. The unidentified attackers hit five police outposts – one in Yala, one in Pattani, and three in Narathiwat – at about 7:30 last night, local police said. Thai Interior Minister Purachai Piemsoomboon said…
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World-renowned reefs, fish destroyed by dynamite
KRABI: The diving community along the Andaman coast is in an uproar after fishermen used dynamite to blast fish around the famed coral reefs at Hin Daeng and Hin Muang, destroying both the reefs and the marine life around them. Both sites are underwater mountains in Koh Lanta National Park. Hin Daeng, which has a peak that pokes above the…
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Vendor arrested for selling protected fish
PHUKET TOWN: A vendor has been arrested for selling protected fish species at the Rassada Pier today, just days after Phuket Senator Paiboon Upatising lodged an official complaint with Governor CEO Pongpayome Vasaputi about gaps in the law that allow many arrested for illegal fishing to walk free. Acting on a tip-off, the Marine Police and officers from the Provincial…
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60,000 nabbed in clean-up
BANGKOK (AFP): Almost 60,000 people were arrested in the first three months of the ongoing crackdown on Bangkok’s after-hours nightspots, brothels and gambling dens, police said today. Thai police spokesman Pongsapat Pongcharoen said the crackdown had resulted in 24,867 cases involving 58,894 people. Some 8,621 people were caught betting in Thailand’s huge underground lottery while 540 people were busted for…
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Naughty tour guides in the spotlight
PHUKET: Vice-governor Vinai Buapradit chaired a meeting of high-ranking officials, tour guides and tourism industry representatives on Friday to discuss the problem of tour guides who damage Phuket’s tourism. At the meeting, K. Vinai highlighted the importance of the issue, saying, “The problem with tour guides is important because they represent 60 million Thais. “I’ve asked everybody here today to…
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Health Office Chief transferred
PHUKET: Dr Boonrieng Chuchaisangrat, Chief of Phuket’s Provincial Health Office (PHO), has been reassigned to an equivalent post in the northern province of Uttaradit. His transfer will take effect on January 24. Replacing him will be Dr Wanchai Sattayawutitong, currently the Director of the International Health Division of the Office of the Permanent Secretary in Bangkok. Dr Boonrieng told the…
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Judgment soon on murder suspect’s sanity
PHUKET: Specialists at the Suan Saranlom Hospital in Surat Thani say that by the end of this month they will be able to form a judgment as to whether murder suspect Siwadol “Dol” Lomin is insane or not. Dol is the prime suspect in the murder of popular Koh Yao long-tail boatman Bangsen Jaidee, 52, whose body was found floating…
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Cabinet slashes visas on arrival
BANGKOK (AFP, Gazette): The cabinet decided at a meeting yesterday to axe 81 nations from a list of 97 whose citizens may obtain a 15-day tourist visa on arrival. The new list of 16 is expected to be brought into force about a month from now. Citizens from the countries chopped off the list will then have to obtain a…
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Rassada Port officially opened
PHUKET TOWN: CEO Governor Pongpayome Vasaputi today officially opened Rassada Port. The port, which was built by and belongs to the Phuket Provincial Administration Organization (OrBorJor), is managed by SeaTran Travel Co, which on August 20 was awarded the contract to operate the port for 30 years. SeaTran plans to develop the port into a center for tourist distribution, and…
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Senator pushes for action on illegal fishing
PHUKET TOWN: Phuket Senator Paiboon Upatising yesterday lodged an official complaint with Governor CEO Pongpayome Vasaputi about a loophole in the law that allows people to catch certain protected species of fish with impunity. In his complaint, Senator Paiboon said that even though many people are arrested for illegal fishing, they are released because of gaps in the law, or…
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All-night opening for Christmas, New Year
PHUKET: The Royal Thai Police announced today that, as in previous years, entertainment venues may stay open from Christmas Eve until 6 am on Christmas Day, and from New Year’s Eve until 6 am on New Year’s Day. Pol Col Paween Pongsirin, Superintendent of Phuket Town Police Station, told the Gazette, “All entertainment venues will be allowed to trade through…
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Gov backs away from Phi Phi row
PHUKET: Governor CEO Pongpayome Vasaputi today backed away from his controversial suggestion that the national government should buy out existing businesses on the Phi Phi islands and run the islands as a state enterprise. Addressing a press conference, the Governor said, laughing, “I don’t want to talk about this. I just wanted to shed some light on the subject. “I…
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Motorcycle injury stats keep breaking records
PHUKET: The number of people injured in traffic accidents involving motorcycles continues to reach new heights, according to the latest statistics released by the Wachira, Thalang and Patong government hospitals. Between September 20 and October 20, 958 people were injured in motorcycle accidents, boosting the year’s total to 9,481 – a 12% rise on the 8,434 injured in the same…
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Meeting slams illegal Korean tour guides
PHUKET TOWN: Governor CEO Pongpayome Vasaputi today spearheaded an attack on the problem of illegal Korean tour guides at a high-level political meeting. The meeting, at the Phuket Provincial Hall, brought together MPs from the Parliamentary Tourism Committee and local tourism officials. “Thai guides have complained that Koreans have become the real guides, Gov Pongpayome said, “while the Thai guides…
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Australia road show “a big success’
PHUKET TOWN: The Phuket Road Show in Australia earlier this month was a great success, Panu Massirat, a member of the Phuket Tourism Association and organizer of the road show, said today. “As soon as I got back to Phuket, I got more than 10 phone calls from tour agencies in Australia asking me about tourism in Phuket, and the…
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Teenagers reenact Ao Nang killing
KRABI: The three teenagers accused of the murder of German tourist Petra Sack on Ao Nang Beach two weeks ago took part yesterday in a reenactment of the crime. But despite one of them retracing his flight from the scene, during which, he told police, he had lost the knife used to stab Ms Sack, police were unable to find…
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Islander stings “black money’ con man
BANGKOK: Utter the phrases “West African” and “black money” in the same breath, and, surely, most people will sniff one of the oldest con-tricks in the book. Yet it seems that there are still some people out there whose greed makes them blind to their own gullibility. Granted, in the latest case to come to light, the con men carefully…
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Three confess to Ao Nang murder – police
KRABI: Police have arrested three construction workers from Amphur Chaoud, Nakhon Sri Thammarat, who, they say, have confessed to stabbing 33-year-old German tourist Petra Sack on Ao Nang Beach on November 28 at Ao Nang. Miss Sack died four hours after the stabbing. Two of the three were arrested on Sunday. One, a 16-year-old, was found in Songkhla, where he…
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Police seek better photos of mob leaders
THALANG: Police have been unable to issue warrants for the arrests of people suspected of being involved in a mob three weeks ago at the Yacht Haven marina because the pictures they have are not clear enough for positive identification. The mob beat up Kent Michalick, a member of the crew of the superyacht Yanneke Too and trashed the pick-up…
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Regatta ends on windless note
KATA: The 15th Phuket King’s Cup Regatta ended with a whimper rather than a bang when the final day’s racing was canceled for lack of wind – the second such windless day in the six-day event. As a result, the seven class awards were made on the basis of races completed by the end of Friday, as follows: Racing: 1.…
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Slow going in Krabi murder probe
KRABI: Police have released one suspect held during investigations into the November 29 murder of German tourist Petra Sack, after it was found that the man, Santi “Neng” Sagnakul, was in Phang Nga at the time of the murder. Another man, Somchai “Ann” Samartjit, 22, is still being questioned, though police say they are now more inclined to believe that…
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Deputy PM calls for traffic-free Bangla
PATONG: Deputy Prime Minister Pitak Intrawitayanunt, who is also Minister for Tourism, conducted an inspection tour of Patong on foot last night to investigate the possibility of converting part of the beach road and all of Soi Bangla into a pedestrian zone at weekends. The proposed L-shaped zone would cover about 1.5 kilometers of road, starting from the Phuket Cabana…
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Casino boss gambles on nudists
BANGKOK (AFP): Senator Vikrom Isiri, the entrepreneur who built the Andaman Club casino and hotel on Myanmar’s Son island, close to Ranong, now plans to build a nudist colony on the nearby island of St Luke’s. The Nation newspaper reported that the resort will cater to Europeans who “like to take their clothes off in public”. “Everybody [guests] will have…
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Panellists announced for Phuket Seminar
The hosts of the 14 December seminar on “The Prospects for Land Resource Management and Tourism in Phuket” have announced speakers from both the public and private sectors. Travelling from Bangkok for the occasion will be: – Rajatin Syamananda, Director-General, Town & Country Planning Dept – Thasanee Chantadisal, Director of the Urban & Environmental Planning Division, Office of Environmental Policy…
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Traffic drive nets 1,000 offenders in 5 days
KATHU: Police here have been showing that they are serious about their crackdown on traffic violations. Between December 1 and yesterday, they fined nearly 1,000 people for a variety of offenses. In many cases, people were cited for more than one violation. A total of 914 people were charged with riding a motorcycle without a helmet and were fined 100…
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Tuna boat burns and sinks
KOH HEY: A Taiwanese-owned tuna fishing boat, the KM Vaninda 34, caught fire yesterday about nine nautical miles off Koh Hey and sank after burning fiercely for about an hour. The Taiwanese skipper and engineer, along with the seven other crew members – one Malaysian and six Indonesians – jumped overboard and were rescued by a passing dive boat, 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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