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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Opinion Closely Split On Legalized Gambling
PHUKET: Readers of the Phuket Gazette are split right down the middle on the question of whether legal gambling and casinos would be a favorable development for Phuket. A record 955 voters participated in the newspaper’s poll which closed at noon today. It posed the question: “Would you like to see legalized gambling and the opening of casinos in Phuket?”…
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Two Tourists Drown In Separate Incidents
NAIHARN/PATONG: A 50-year-old German man and a 75-year-old Swiss woman, both tourists, drowned in separate incidents last week. On February 27, the German tourist, Arno Krain, drowned at Naiharn Beach. His body was found on the sand by police in a patrol car. The following day, acting on an anonymous tip-off, police recovered the body of Mrs Rosa Marie Spanibrusin…
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Police Nab Suspected Serial Murderer
PHUKET TOWN: Police have announced the arrest of a member of a three-man gang believed responsible for a string of murders and vehicle thefts across the southern provinces of Thailand between July and December last year. In custody and charged with murder and theft is Prapai Baupeng, 26, from Krabi. Phuket police allege that he and two others would typically…
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Anti-rabies Campaign Ready For Phuket
PHUKET TOWN: As part of Thailand’s annual drive to eliminate rabies, the Phuket Provincial Livestock Office is offering free vaccinations for the island’s dogs. Announcing details of this year’s campaign, the Chief of the Office, Niphat Roungruang, said he expects to vaccinate about 8,500 of Phuket’s estimated 11,000 dogs by the end of this month. Dog owners may also ask…
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Photo Contest Focuses On “Essence Of Thailand’
PHUKET: Le Meridien Hotels & Resorts (Thailand), in conjunction with the Bangkok Post and Canon Marketing (Thailand) Co Ltd, have organized a nationwide competition for professional photographers and aspiring amateurs. An array of generous prizes, including roundtrip tickets to Paris on Air France with five nights accommodation in a Le Meridien Hotel, are being offered to encourage photographers to capture…
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Witnesses Fail To Appear In Tong Murder Trial
PHUKET TOWN: A court session scheduled to have taken place this morning was postponed when all five prosecution witnesses slated to testify in the Danis Wayne Tong murder trial failed to appear. The witnesses, Meen Klasuk, Arthit Chiyaiya, Wittaya Taweewongsap, Prasarn Lohajareekul and Ramon Alphibare [name transliterated by the prosecution], will now be subpoenaed to appear May 4-5, according to…
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Boxing Match To Benefit Local Reporters
PHUKET TOWN: The Phuket Reporters’ Club is organizing a night of Thai boxing at Saphan Hin Stadium on Friday, February 26, to raise money for the club. Mr Yongyod Phruksarak, president of the club, said that Phuket Governor Chadej Insawang will deliver a short opening address as the event’s guest of honor. There will be nine matches, the first of…
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Mapping Out Coral For Tourism
SATUN: The Royal Thai Navy has lent its support to an environmental marine survey off Ko Tarutao, Ko Adang, Ko Rawi and Ko Lipe in Satun province as part of the Chulabhorn 39 Project. Rear Admiral Suraphon Chandaeng, Chief of Staff of the Royal Thai Navy Third Fleet, has told Rear Admiral Chavalit Isarangkul, the Director of the Chulabhorn 39…
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VIP Welcome Awaits Octogenarians
PATONG BEACH: A VIP welcome awaits a German couple when they arrive in Phuket on February 22. Rudolf and Caroline Frommlet, both 86 years old, have being coming to the island every year for the past 17 years, so the Tourism Authority of Thailand is planning a special ceremony for the couple at the airport this time around. Rudolf and…
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Willing To Serve But Not Service
PHUKET TOWN: Early in the evening on Valentine’s Day, two girls from Lamphun Province near Chiang Mai told police they had narrowly escaped being forced into prostitution. The pair said they were tricked into traveling from their northern homes for work in a Phuket Town red light district by a husband and wife team who told them they would be…
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A-Go-Go, Then A-Gone-Gone
PATONG: An English tourist celebrating Valentine’s Day with her husband and two friends had her purse stolen as they watched go-go dancers on Patong’s Soi Bangla. Mrs Evin Annerry, 56, lost 1,500 baht, her credit card and other valuables when she, her husband and friends paused for a few minutes to watch the dancers from the sidewalk along the glittering…
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Metropole Makes Room For Beauty
PHUKET TOWN: Sixty of Thailand’s most beautiful women will be visiting Phuket from March 20-24 in a warm-up for the Miss Thailand beauty pageant. The girls will be taking part in rehearsals for the pageant, which will be held in Bangkok on March 27. The contestants also visited Phuket last year. The trip is sponsored by the Phuket Chamber of…
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Phuket Airport To Add Personal Touch
PHUKET TOWN: Government departments and tourism businesses have launched a program to improve the quality of service at Phuket International Airport. Plans for a “Living Room of the Nation” project were thrashed out during a seminar attended by over 250 people at The Metropole hotel on February 11. The project aims to train staff at the airport to provide high-level…
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Santi Ho Withdraws From Sunshine
PHUKET TOWN: Phuket’s latest entry into the local radio market has lost one of its founders to an internal dispute. Sunshine Radio (95 FM) took to the air late last year, and was immediately dogged with technical and personnel problems. Though enthusiastic about its mission and ambitious in its goals, the station was plagued by frequent shutdowns, halting segues and…
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Swedish Tourist Dies In Bike Accident
CHALONG: A Swedish tourist died from head injuries after he rode his motorbike into a gully near the Arcadia Hotel and Resort on Karon Beach. Mr Bo Christer Elisson, 32, was travelling with a companion on another motorbike when the accident occurred at 4 a.m. on February 10. He was not wearing a helmet. Mr Ellison’s companion, who did not…
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Phuket Rugby Sevens Date Announced
PHUKET TOWN: The Phuket International Rugby Sevens tournament has now been confirmed for July 24-25. The tournament, which will bring to Phuket 24 Thai and international teams, has been delayed because of imminent changes in the administration of the Thai Rugby Union (TRU). The TRU will meet next month to form a new committee which will then be responsible for…
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Police Go Hi-Tech – At a Price
PATONG BEACH: The Kathu Police Station is asking for donations to complete a hi-tech, 930,000 baht Control and Operations Centre. Pol Col Kokiat Wongvorachart, superintendent of Kathu Police, said local businesses had already donated 415,000 baht, but police need another 515,000 baht to complete the centre. He said the project was not eligible for government funding. The Control and Operations…
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Gloomy Forecast For Tourist Spending
PHUKET TOWN: In the Gazette Poll for the week ended yesterday, local residents, Thai and foreign alike, expressed considerable pessimism about the outlook for tourist spending in 1999. An overwhelming 79% of them saw visitor spending dropping from 1998, with 10% predicting that it would remain unchanged from last year’s apparently depressed level. Only 1% of the 290 Phuketians participating…
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Trade Center To Encourage Business
PHUKET: The Ministry of Industry is to set up a trade center in the vacant Offshore Mining Organisation building in Phuket Town. The purpose of the center is to facilitate marketing of locally produced goods to foreign buyers. “We plan to organize a trade center displaying industrial and consumer goods, and handicrafts,” said Adisorn Naphavaranonth, Chief of the Phuket Provincial…
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Australian Post Graduate Studies Offered In Phuket
PHUKET TOWN: The Rajabhat Phuket Institute has teamed up with Edith Cowan University in Perth, Western Australia, to offer post graduate degrees. The institute currently has 25 students studying for Masters Degrees and PhDs through distance learning programs with the Australian university, according to Wannee Wannapruk, Vice President for General Affairs. A total of 16 of students are Rajabhat Phuket…
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Andaman Sea Kayak Marathon – 1999
PHUKET TOWN: A series of four grueling marathon races by sea kayak will take place in Phang Nga Bay March 4 through 6. The event, sponsored by the Southern Office of the Tourism Authority of Thailand, has attracted participants from more than ten countries. The four categories of competition are as follows: · International Sea Kayak Ultra Marathon/Open Men. Distance:…
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Foreign Biker Killed On Patong-Kamala Rd
KAMALA BEACH: Alexander Payne, a 24-year-old Englishman living in Kamala and working in Patong, died late Friday night or early Saturday morning when the motorcycle he was driving flew off an embankment and into a deep ditch near Nakaburi at the crest of the Patong-Kamala Road. He was alone at the time of the accident. The wreckage was spotted by…
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Dolphin Deaths Under Investigation
CAPE PANWA: Eleven bottle-nosed dolphins and one dugong were found dead on January 25 in a protected coastal zone off Libong Island in nearby Trang province. Villagers at Koh Libong in Kantang District spotted the dolphins floating in a no-fishing zone around the island and reported the find to Trang Fisheries officials. The dolphins and the dugong were transported to…
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New Stadium For Karon
KARON BEACH: Construction started earlier this month on Phase I of a 10 million baht football stadium and grandstand at Karon. Located on 10 rai of land on Bang Ngueg Road (the ‘Beach Road’) at the south end of the beach near the Ruam Thep Inn, the 1,000-seat, 117-meter-long facility is slated for completion in September. Tawee Thongchaem, head of…
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Rugby Tournament Postponed
PHUKET TOWN: Phuket’s first international rugby tournament, scheduled to take place at Sapan Hin Stadium February 27-28, has been postponed until May. The event, under the Patronage of His Majesty The King, is being organized by the Thai Rugby Union in cooperation with Phuket municipality. Phuket Mayor Phumisak Hongyok told the Gazette yesterday that the head of the Thai Rugby…
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Tourist Belted By Tuk Tuk Driver
PHUKET TOWN: Kenneth James Nelson, a 51-year-old Englishman, discovered that it can be painful indeed to thwart the aspirations of a tuk-tuk driver. At 8.30 a.m. on January 25, he was walking along the street in front of the Ruangjit Cinema (opposite The Metropole hotel) in Phuket Town when a red tuk-tuk approached him. The driver asked if he needed…
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Trade Fairs Seen As Harmful To Local Merchants
PHUKET TOWN: Growing numbers of Trade Fairs traveling into and around Phuket are damaging the business of many local shops, according to the Phuket Merchants Association. They say they have been receiving waves of complaints from the shops and that some have had to close down, unable to compete with the marketing power and pricing practices of the fairs. A…
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1999 Gazette Guide Now On Sale
PHUKET TOWN: The 1999 Gazette Guide, Phuket’s Business & Entertainment Directory, or ‘yellow’ pages, is now on sale. Priced at 140 baht, the 310-page book, containing 2,504 listings, is the island’s largest business database. The Guide may be purchased at the following locations: Deli Supermarket (Patong), Dokyah Bookstore (Phuket Town), Good Earth Books & Tea Room (Kata Center), Jay’s Business…
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Navy’s Third Fleet Heightens Safety Role
CAPE PANWA: Vice Admiral Somphop Bhuridej, Commander in Chief of the Royal Thai Navy Third Fleet, announced on Wednesday that the Third Fleet will assist in ensuring safety for those who travel by boat to Phuket’s outlying islands. The announcement follows a spate of fatal accidents which occurred in the region’s public ferry services last year, and which were summarized…
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Hygienic Food – An Amazing Achievement
PHUKET TOWN: Many of Phuket’s restaurants need to lift their standards of cleanliness and service, according to Cdr Dr Deja Sukaromana, the Deputy Minister of Public Health. Cdr Dr Deja is in Phuket to promote the “Amazing Hygienic Food” campaign set up by the Phuket Provincial Health Department and the Tourism Authority of Thailand. Restaurants are an intrinsic part of…
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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