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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Resorts busy but suffering
BANGKOK (AFP): Many resorts have no rooms left, but Thailand’s key tourism industry has taken a battering over the New Year holidays because of the September 11 terror attacks, according to a study released today. Thai Farmers Research Center (TFRC) said fears of terrorism and the gloomy world economy would drive New Year revenue from foreign tourists down to 3.0…
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Yacht excise tax finally reduced
PHUKET: The chief of the Phuket Provincial Excise Office, Narong Srivanitchakorn, has announced that the long-awaited reduction in excise tax on foreign registered yachts has finally come into effect. The new rate of excise tax means that anyone keeping a foreign-registered boat in Thailand for longer than six months must pay taxes and duties totaling 37.6%, or 47.2% if the…
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Senator steps into land row
PA KHLOK: Phuket Senator Paiboon Upatising stepped into the middle of a dispute between local villagers and a Bangkok-based landowner yesterday, standing surety for 15 villagers accused of trespass and of obstructing government officials in the execution of their duty. The charges relate to a piece of land abutting the klong in which villagers keep their fishing boats. The villagers…
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Duangchalerm charged with murder
BANGKOK (AFP): Prosecutors today laid charges against Duangchalerm Yoobamrung and his brother Wanchalerm over the killing of a policeman on October 29 in a Bangkok nightclub. Duangchalerm, 20, who is still in hiding, was charged with murder, while Wanchalerm, who was in court today, was charged with impeding his brother’s arrest and with illegal possession of arms, said Chavalit Lamjuanjorn,…
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CAT appeals for web watchdogs
THAILAND: The Communications Authority of Thailand (CAT) has appealed to the public to report any websites that contain rude words, that promote pornography or illicit drugs, or that defame royalty or any religion. The CAT will forward reports to the Royal Thai Police for investigation. To make a report between 8:30 am to 4:30 pm, call 02-6142514-5 or fax 02-…
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Baby elephant up for “adoption’
PHUKET: The Elephant Help Project (EHP) has appealed for people to “adopt” the soon-to-be-born calf of 18-year-old elephant Sairoong, who is expecting to see in the New Year with her first baby. The arrival of the newborn jumbo will not be a first just for Sairoong, according to Chotika Hotrapavanon, Executive Director of the EHP. She told the Gazette that…
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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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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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15th murder this year in fishing port
PHUKET TOWN: A man was found murdered on Sunday in the fishing port on Soi Si Sena, raising this year’s murder toll in the area to at least 15. Pol Maj Jiradej Kawinkij of Phuket Town Police Station said that police, after receiving a report at around 8:30 am, arrived at the scene to find the body floating in the…
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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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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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Police step up festive season security
PATONG: Police will tonight launch a campaign to improve tourists’ safety over the festive season by beefing up the police presence on the street. The campaign will run until January 15. A task force of 100 officers, drawn from Phuket’s Tourist, Marine and Highway Police as well as officers from Kathu Police Station, will assemble at 8 pm tonight at…
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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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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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Boom in business registrations
PHUKET: The latest statistics on business registrations show that business people on the island are not nearly as pessimistic as might be thought, given the global downturn and the expected effects of the September 11 atrocities. In fact, the numbers from the Phuket Commercial Registration Office (CRO) show, there has been an increase in new business registrations. Veerachai Tantiwathanavallop, Director…
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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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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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Seminar identifies greatest threats to Phuket
PHUKET TOWN: The greatest threat to Phuket’s continued success as a top tourist destination is not a lack of planning, but the fact that few plans are put into action and, when they are, there is a lack of supervision or enforcement. That was the clear message from the majority of speakers in yesterday’s seminar on “The Prospects for Land…
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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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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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A false sense of security
PHUKET TOWN: This year has not been a good one for 47-year-old security guard Pirat Rungpian, from Nakhon Pathom. After six years of robbing businesses he was supposed to be protecting, his career in crime finally came to a halt after a wheel fell off. Literally. Pirat was arrested in Nakhon Sawan on Friday on a charge of attempted robbery…
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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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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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Patong upgrade to town status delayed
PATONG: Patong Mayor Surasak Maneesri has blamed the previous local administration for a lack of progress in getting the town’s status upgraded from tessabaan tambon (village) to tessaban muang (town). In February last year, local government officials estimated that the application process would take eight months to a year to complete. But, said Mayor Surasak, “The Ministry of Interior has…
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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