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 Chef Fabio Genghini takes over Portofino at Le Meridien Phuket for an Exclusive 2-week residency
Food lovers, prepare your taste buds for a gourmet Italian feast! From July 2 to 13, acclaimed Chef Fabio Genghini will take over Le Meridien Phuket’s beloved Italian restaurant, Portofino as a guest chef. It’s a chance for you to...
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Similans to close on May 15
PHUKET: All nine islands in the Similan National Park will be closed to the public between May 15 and November 15 this year. Kittima Tinkohyao, an officer stationed at the park’s Tap Lamoo office in Phang Nga, explained that the islands are closed every year at about this time because the arrival of the monsoon season makes the seas too…
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Buffalo to face beach fees, gas tax
PHUKET: Pissit Raknamkwei, chief of the Phuket Buffalo Authority (PBA), announced this morning that all bovines in the province must obtain a Beach Use Permit (BUP) from his office no later than April 7. Those failing to do so will be “refrigerated”, he said. It was only the first setback of the month for the island’s water buffalo. The real…
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Drug dealers ride rails for sales
BANGKOK (AFP): Drug dealers are using Bangkok’s new mass-transit Skytrain system to target new clients and expand their markets, reports said this morning. Students are complaining that well-dressed amphetamine dealers are approaching them on the Bangkok Transit System (BTS) and offering them drugs, The Nation said, quoting the deputy director of Bangkok’s Transport Office. To combat the natty peddlers, the…
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THAI boosts flights for Songkran
PHUKET: Thai Airways International announced yesterday that it will increase flights between Phuket and Bangkok during the Songkran festival next month. “The demand for Phuket during the festival this year has been stronger than last year because Songkran coincides with a weekend,” explained Pricha Nawong, district sales manager for Upper Southern Thailand. “So we have decided to add seven more…
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Seven arrested on drug charges
PHUKET: Police yesterday arrested six men for possession of ya bah (methamphetamine) and one for possession of marijuana. The six, named as Prasert Tongruang, 23, Taewa Sansook, 21, Montri Pongkan, 22, Prasert Boopphakarn, 19, Nareth Kongkaew, 22, and Jaroong Pimkij, 26, were arrested in a police raid on a home in Moo 1, Tambon Karon, just after dawn. Pol Lt…
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Body found floating at fishing port
PHUKET TOWN: The body of a man believed to be a fisherman was found floating near a fishing wharf on Soi Si Sena yesterday morning. Pol Maj Sanya Thongsawas of the Phuket Town Police Station told the Gazette that the man, as yet unidentified, was wearing only blue jeans and a white amulet string around his waist. He is estimated…
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Illegals top arrest statistics
PHUKET: Illegal immigrants topped the list of arrests in Phuket between March 1 and 25, according to statistics released today by the Phuket Provincial Police. Of 675 people arrested, 247 were illegal immigrants. This was followed by gambling, with 189 people arrested in the course of 85 raids. Drug-related cases came in a close third with 155 arrests. Thirty-seven of…
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Police rethink death of Burmese woman
THALANG: Police are looking more closely into the death of a young Burmese woman found buried in a shallow grave in a rubber plantation near Baan Manik Mountain in Tambon Srisoonthorn two days ago. The woman was originally reported to have died of malaria and to have been buried secretly by her family. But Pol Col Prapakorn Saksupa, Superintendent of…
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Thai government in crisis after corruption accusation
BANGKOK (AFP): Thailand’s government was rocked by scandal today after an investigation found Interior Minister Sanan Kachornprasart guilty of filing a false statement of his assets. The National Counter Corruption Commission (NCCC) ruled that Sanan had submitted a false declaration outlining a 45-million-baht (1.2-million-dollar) loan which he said he had obtained from a trading company. The NCCC says that no…
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Woman found buried in rubber plantation
THALANG: The body of a young Burmese woman was found in a rubber plantation near Baan Manik Mountain in Tambon Srisoonthorn yesterday afternoon. A villager searching for wild vegetables alerted police after finding a mound that looked like a grave, with pieces of torn cloth and burned paper mixed in with the dirt. Pol Col Prapakorn Saksupa, Superintendent of Thalang…
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10 Laotian women arrested
CHALONG: Ten young Laotian women were arrested at around 1 pm today in Chalong. Pol Lt Teerawat Liumsuwan of Chalong Police Station said police officers spotted the women walking along Chao Fa Nork Rd, near Chalong Circle. They looked “lost and suspicious”, said Lt Teerawat, so the officers stopped them and asked for their ID Cards. They had none. “Certainly…
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Tong Tin Kao Nah in landslide election win
KARON: The Tong Tin Kao Nah Party has won a landslide victory in the Karon Municipal Council elections, which took place on Saturday, winning all of the council’s 12 seats. Two thirds of the municipality’s 3,745 registered voters cast ballots. Tawee Thongchaem, the party’s leader, gathered the highest number of votes, 1,789, setting the stage for him to be selected…
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Tourist Police save American’s holiday
PATONG: American tourist Stanley Olchowski’s holiday in Phuket nearly came to an abrupt end when he left his waist pouch on the 5:30 pm bus from Patong to Phuket Town on Thursday. In the pouch were US$2,700 (about 100,000 baht), 11,480 baht and his passport. Mr Olchowski, 48, promptly contacted the Tourist Police. Pol Cpl Surin Pitpan was dispatched to…
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“Lenient’ visa rules slammed again
PATTAYA (AFP) – A senior security official has slammed Thailand’s lenient tourism policies for allowing international crime syndicates to enter the country and wreak havoc at will. “More and more international crime syndicates are basing themselves in Thailand because of the ease with which they can enter the country due to tourism policies,” said Khachadpai Buruspatana, secretary general of the…
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Inquiry into Patong beatings launched
KATHU: Siripong Sripayang, deputy district officer of Kathu District, is to head an investigation into the beatings of five staff of the Tara Patong Hotel on March 13, allegedly by undercover police from Kathu Police Station, the Gazette learned today In the meantime, the accused officers will remain on duty, said Pol Lt Col Jarus Jetsadawan, Deputy Superintendent of Kathu…
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Phuket launches drive for Thai tourists
PHUKET: The Phuket Tourist Association (PTA) in coordination with the local office of the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) and Phuket FantaSea will launch a campaign to draw more Thai tourists to Phuket in the coming low season. Pamuke Achariyachai, president of the PTA, said the aim of the campaign is to improve the domestic market for Phuket and to…
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Governor irked by scofflaws, flexed muscles
PHUKET TOWN: About 60 people from the Phuket Construction Association staged a protest yesterday afternoon outside Phuket Provincial Hall in an effort to pressure Governor Charnchai Soontharamut to extend the deadline for registration of foreign workers. Soothichai Pinkate, president of the association, first lodged a complaint that when the police went to construction workers’ camps in Patong on March 17,…
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Patong police beatings under investigation
PATONG: Officers from Kathu Police Station met yesterday with representatives of the Tara Patong Hotel to discuss the March 13 beatings of five employees of the hotel by undercover police. “We asked the police for two things,” said Sutham Saejea, personnel manager of the hotel. “First, we asked for 550,000 baht compensation for the victims and their families, and, second,…
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Dive shops form association
KATA: A Dive Operators Club is to be formed to represent the industry in Phuket. This decision follows a meeting of dive shops last night at Kata Beach Resort, which was attended by about 45 people from 27 of the island’s 80-odd dive companies. The decision to form the club follows consternation among the dive operators over a drive by…
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Silkair joins Shopper Card program
PHUKET TOWN: Samuel Lim, Silkair’s manager for Phuket, announced this afternoon that his airline will grant a five percent discount to local Phuket residents who are bona fide holders of the Gazette Shopper Card. The discount will apply to flights originating in Phuket only, and tickets must be purchased at the Silkair office in Phuket Town. The Shopper Card must…
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Phuket says “no’ to jet-ski races
PHUKET: Phuket has declined a request to host a major jet-ski event, known, somewhat dauntingly, as the “Thai Airways International-Jet Sports King’s Cup Thailand Open 2000”. The Jet Sports Boating Association of Thailand had requested that Phuket – specifically Patong – host the competition, featuring participants from 18 countries. But at a meeting on Friday between Provincial Governor Charnchai Soontharamuth,…
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Businessman shoots himself
PHUKET TOWN: Jusim Tantiwit, owner of a large pig farm in Mai Khao, and a relative of Banlur Tantiwit, former president of the Phuket Provincial Administration Organization, (Or Bor Jor), killed himself on Saturday evening. Jusim parked his pick-up truck in the Phuket Adventist Hospital car park, then shot himself with a .22-calibre rifle. Hospital staff found his body in…
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Ya Bah dealer arrested near Sarasin Bridge
TA CHAT CHAI: A street food vendor was arrested yesterday morning for selling ya bah right under the noses of officers at Ta Chat Chai Police Station, just south of the Sarasin Bridge. According to Pol Lt Col Sakchai Limsawas of the police station, officers first received information that people living in the house at 1/2 Thepkasattri Rd – only…
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Chaos after jail break, riot at juvenile prison
BANGKOK (AFP): More than 1,000 youths smashed through the walls of a juvenile prison today and fought a pitched battle with police in eastern Bangkok, causing chaos throughout the neighborhood. The trouble erupted when wardens announced security crackdowns after about 30 prisoners escaped by scaling the walls. About 1,300 youths went on the rampage following the announcement, smashing through the…
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Yacht owners may face tax evasion charges
PHUKET: The owners of three or more of the 11 yachts which were ‘arrested’ in Phuket last month may face tax evasion charges, said Yuttana Yimgarund, a chief inspector from the Thai Customs Department in Bangkok. He declined to divulge the names of the yachts or their owners. “We will have to wait for the owners to send us the…
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Belgian, struck twice, dies in motorcycle accident
CHALONG: A 43-year-old Belgian man, named by police as Carlo Webers, was killed in a traffic accident on Chaofa Nai Rd early yesterday morning. According to Pol Maj Thanate Poungmanee of Chalong Police Station, Mr Webers was riding a motorcycle into Phuket Town at around 1 am. He was near the Tang Luck restaurant when he was hit by a…
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Patong facing water rationing for monsoon season
PATONG: The Phuket Water Works is warning Patong residents that between now and October there will be less tap water available than usual for this time of year. According to Praphop Thongmon, manager at the water works, this is not because Phuket is suffering a drought. It is simply because the supply of water to be shared by Patong, Kata,…
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Movie protest falls mostly on deaf ears
PHUKET TOWN: About 20 environmental protesters gathered to demonstrate against Phuket’s premier screening of ‘The Beach’ yesterday, claiming Maya Bay on Phi Phi Island was destroyed during the show’s filming. The protest lacked support, but drew curious onlookers and moviegoers as they entered the cinema despite pleas by the Phuket Environment Protection Group (PEPG) to boycott the film. Although Twentieth-Century…
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Another student murdered in Phuket Town
PHUKET TOWN: Narongsak Korjanklang, 20, a student from Phuket Technical College, was gunned down on the street in the heart of Phuket Town at around midnight on Sunday (March 12). According to Orapin Tanrattanapitak, 19, who was Narongsak’s girlfriend, Narongsak was riding his motorcycle while she sat on the back. About 20 of their friends were riding alongside them on…
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New “hotel’ has little to offer tourists
PATONG BEACH: Although most Phuket residents and tourists visiting Patong are aware of the slum that has developed in the Patong Night Plaza (opposite Christin Massage on Rat-U-Thit Rd), few are familiar with the details of what transpires within. A website, https://www.hotelburma.com, has now been established to enlighten the curious. According to the website, the “Hotel Burma”, which it bills…
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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