Phuket News
Phuket news, politics, business, tourism, and nightlife—stay updated with breaking stories, events, and expat updates from Thailand’s top island destination. Get the latest from The Thaiger, your trusted Phuket news source.
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Decade of inaction on twin city slammed
PHUKET TOWN: The man behind a twin-city agreement between Phuket and the French Riviera city of Nice slammed the provincial government today for ignoring the agreement for more than 10 years, causing Phuket to miss some big opportunities to learn from Nice and to attract more French visitors. Jessada Kraipusspong, former deputy managing director of Asia Voyage and Pansea Group…
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Tambons angry over slow progress in investigation
PA KHLOK: The chairman of the Phuket OrBorTor Association (POA), an umbrella organization for the island’s Tambon councils, says the POA is ready to complain to the Ministry of Interior about the slow progress made by police investigating the attempted assassination of Pa Khlok OrBorTor member and journalist Siripoj Cheechang. K. Siripoj was working to stop a local “investor” from…
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Airport limo operators slam “black’ taxis
PHUKET AIRPORT: Legitimate limousine operators fed up with illegal “black taxis” taking business from them at the airport protested today to the Phuket office of the Airports Authority of Thailand (AAT). Representatives of the Phuket Limousine and Business Service Cooperative Ltd (PBC), led by Vitoon Sae’iw, the organization’s secretary, presented the AAT with a video that they said shows the…
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Hotels reiterate refusal to pay new tax
PHUKET: The committees of the Thai Hotels Association (THA), Southern Chapter, and the Phuket Tourist Association (PTA) today announced that they will not collect hotel tax from tourists on behalf of the Phuket Provincial Administration Organization (OrBorJor) until the organization is able to clarify a number of issues. The refusal to collect the tax came in response to the latest…
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Lions Club raffle results
PHUKET TOWN: The Lions Club of Phuket Pearl has announced the winners of its “Smile for the Future” raffle and food fair, drawn on Saturday at Saphan Hin during the club’s annual fund-raising event. The winner of the first prize, a Nissan pick-up truck, was K. Chalermpong (ticket number 19195). Sompong Aunmettajit (ticket number 27367) won the Yamaha motorcycle, Maneerat…
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Contractor takes drastic measures to get payment
PHUKET: A building contractor was so irritated by a dispute over payment with a customer that he did some extra work around her house this morning. He nailed planks across all her doors and windows, making her a prisoner in her home with her two small children. House owner Paetai “Noi” Kaeser, 35, living at 78/392 Soi 3, Phuket Villa…
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Elephant owner sought after death crash
LAMPANG (AFP): Police in this northern Thai province were today looking for the owner of a female elephant which was in a collision with a truck, resulting in the deaths of two people. Police tracked down the elephant yesterday, a day after it collided with a fuel tanker truck while crossing a main road leading to Chiang Mai. The truck…
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Police arrest motorbike hit-man
PHUKET: A finance company employee was shot dead while on his way home at 8:20 this morning. His killer was arrested just three hours later. Pol Maj Sanya Thongsawas of Phuket Town Police Station said that the victim, Aroon Yutitham, 28, was riding his motorbike from Phuket Town to his home at 8/4 Moo 1, Tambon Wichit, and had stopped…
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Efforts to stop deadly child disease stepped up
PHUKET: The Phuket Provincial Health Office has set up protection measures at the Phuket International Airport to ensure that an epidemic in Singapore of Coxsackie B virus – better known as hand, foot and mouth disease – does not spread to Thailand. The potentially deadly disease has already spread to Malaysia, with 221 cases reported, and two deaths. In Singapore,…
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Loch Palm killer “may be psychopath’
KATHU: A leading psychiatrist says he believes that the unidentified woman found dead near the Loch Palm Golf Club on Saturday may have been murdered by a psychopath. “The damage to the victim’s body shows that the murderer may be a psychopath, and probably sadistic as well,” said Dr Chanuan Sampatanrak of Wachira Phuket Hospital. “This is a very unusual…
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Chaos reigns over park fees
PHUKET: Conflicting announcements from the Royal Forestry Department (RFD) have left tour operators and dive companies wondering just what the policy on national park entry fees is, how it will be applied, and when. On August 15, the RFD announced an increase in entry fees – for foreigners only – to 200 baht for adults and 100 baht for children.…
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Bad weather will last 3 more days
PHUKET: The island will experience strong winds and heavy rain over the next few days as a tropical depression passes over the province, Amorn Chantanavivate, the director of the Southwestern Regional Meteorological Center, said today. The current bad weather is being caused by a moderate southwest monsoon over the Andaman Sea and the southwestern coast of Thailand, he explained. Storms…
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Bangkok autopsy for murder victim
KATHU: The mutilated corpse of an unidentified woman found near the Loch Palm Golf Club on Saturday has been sent to the Institute of Forensic Medicine in Bangkok for an in-depth autopsy. “We have sent the body to the institute because no pathologist in Phuket can perform complex analysis such as DNA testing,” explained Pol Maj Tanapong Moktong of the…
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Woman found brutally murdered
TUNG TONG: The mutilated body of a woman, believed to be Thai, was found near the Loch Palm Golf Club on Saturday afternoon. Pol Capt Teerarat Choychanchaikul of the Tung Tong Police Station said the victim died of blood loss from six stab wounds – two in her stomach, one in her throat, one in an armpit, one in her…
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Four injured in early-morning crash
PHUKET TOWN: Two Korean men and two Thai men were injured in a two-car accident early yesterday morning. Pol Capt Kitipong Klaikaew of Thung Thong Sub-District Police Station said that a pick-up truck and a jeep collided on Wichitsongkram Rd, west of the Thainaan Restaurant, at 2 am. At the scene – a part of the road that locals call…
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Massive manhunt for rapist
PHUKET TOWN: The Provincial Police Office today launched a city-wide hunt for a man who raped a British tourist, Dawn Farmer, 22, on Tuesday night. They also issued a sketch of the man, drawn from a description given by the victim. Saying that the crime is “a blot on Thailand’s reputation in the tourism industry”, the head of all Thailand’s…
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Injured activist regains consciousness
PHUKET: Environmental activist Siripoj Cheechang, critically injured in what appears to be have been an assassination attempt on Wednesday morning, has regained consciousness, his doctor reported this afternoon. Dr Niran Taweekul, a neurosurgeon at Wachira Phuket Hospital, said that K. Siripoj is now in stable condition. “Last night, he was responding to us, but we can’t check his ability to…
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Activist injured, Governor slams “gangsterism”
PA KHLOK: The new Governor of Phuket has warned that he will confront gangsterism in the province after an environmental activist was critically injured in what appears to have been an assassination attempt. The activist, Siripoj Cheechang, 35, was run over by a pick-up truck that knocked him off his motorcycle, and then turned around and ran over him. Visiting…
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Scottish tourist raped during festival
PHUKET TOWN: Instead of enjoying her holiday during the island’s Vegetarian Festival, a tourist from Scotland ended up being raped on Tuesday night. The victim, 22-year-old Dawn Farmer, told police that she was raped by a man wearing the traditional white clothing popular with celebrants during the chaotic festival. The white clothing is associated with the festival’s undertone of purity,…
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Deadly child disease “not seen in Phuket’
PHUKET: A doctor at the Phuket International Hospital has allayed fears that a virulent form of Coxsackie virus, more commonly known as hand, foot and mouth disease, has spread from Singapore to Phuket. Primary schools in Singapore have been closed in an effort to limit the spread of the Coxsackie B virus, which can result in death, particularly in infants.…
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Boat operators warned over Similans
SIMILAN ISLANDS: Boat operators wanting to enter the Similan Islands Marine National Park before November 2 have been warned that they must get special permission first, or face action for contravening the National Parks Act of 1961. The warning was issued after two vessels were halted on Wednesday by Wittaya Hongwiangchan, who took over as the park’s Chief in May.…
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Councilors arrested for corruption
PRACHUAP KHIRI KHAN: Thirty heavily armed officers from the Bangkok-based Crime Suppression Division (CSD) yesterday swooped on the Prachuap Khiri Khan Provincial Administration Organization (OrBorJor) and arrested the president and 15 other members. Those arrested were charged with soliciting bribes in return for approving an 18-million-baht road construction project. Some were also charged with illegal possession of weapons. Pol Maj…
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Start of hotel tax postponed
PHUKET TOWN: Members of the Phuket Provincial Administration Organization (OrBorJor) today voted to postpone the introduction of the controversial tax on hotel room revenue for one month. At the meeting, the members decided that collection of the tax should be postponed until November 1, and that the rate should be 0.5%. This rate will hold until September 30, 2001, after…
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Airport throughput up in August
PHUKET: This year’s low season numbers continue to be impressive, according to the latest monthly figures issued by Phuket International Airport. These show an 8.23% rise in passengers using the airport in August, compared with August 1999. The statistics show that 294,733 passengers went through the airport in August, compared with 272,326 in the same month last year. The number…
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No more dog slaughters: Governor
PHUKET: It’s official: there will be no more killing of stray dogs in Phuket except in the case of individual animals that pose a threat to the public. The ruling came after a meeting of provincial officials and their counterparts from the Phuket Town Municipality, chaired by the Governor of Phuket, Charnchai Soontharamut. The meeting came on the heels of…
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Bus drivers win dispute
PHANG NGA: More than 70 sorng taeow (local buses) blocked Tai Muang Beach Rd in Phang Nga on Monday in a successful protest against an increase in fees demanded by the province’s transport concession holder. The contract between the sorng taeow drivers and the concession holder, Phuket Sa Ha Yan Yont Khon Sog Co Ltd, required the drivers to pay…
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Hotel tax: OrBorJor faces more hostility
PHUKET: Leaders of the Phuket Provincial Administration Organization (OrBorJor) today went out to explain the proposed new hotel tax to the island’s hotels. They found themselves facing hostile and querulous audiences of mostly middle-level hotel employees – hotel owners and senior managers mostly stayed away. Neither the Phuket Tourism Association (PTA) nor the Thai Hotels Association (THA) was represented. In…
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IBAP holds inaugural meeting
PHUKET TOWN: The fledgling International Business Association of Phuket (IBAP) held its inaugural meeting today at the Royal Phuket City Hotel, drawing a capacity crowd of 73 people. The meeting was held to introduce the concept and aims of the IBAP and to solicit discussion, questions and suggestions from those who attended. Keynote speaker Dr Prasit Koysiripong, President of the…
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Eight arrested for illegal fishing
MAITON ISLAND: Officers from Phuket Provincial Fisheries Office have arrested eight Thais and impounded two boats caught double-trawling in a protected marine area. Intipol Khwathai of the Phuket Provincial Fisheries Office told the Gazette that he received, via the Phuket Town Police, an anonymous tip that illegal fishing was taking place around Maiton Island. The area is part of a…
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National park fees rise by 1,900 pc for foreigners
NAI YANG: In accordance with a nationwide price increase announced in August, the Royal Forestry Department (RFD) is to raise its entrance fee for Sirinath Marine National Park by 1,900% – for foreigners but not for Thais. The entrance fee for foreign adults is to rise from 10 baht to 200 baht a person, while the fee for children under…
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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