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 Retiring in Thailand: Why and how health insurance is crucial for your golden years
Thailand offers an ideal setting for retirees with its tropical climate, warm hospitality, and affordable living. But enjoying your golden years to the fullest means planning for health coverage. Here’s a complete guide on why health insurance is essential for...
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UPDATE: 3,000 baht Phuket van fare for Australians tourists “all a misunderstanding”
As a follow up of the complaint about an overcharged van fare of 3,000 baht from Phuket International Airport to Kata by two Australians, a meeting was held yesterday between the driver, the tourists and a representative from the Phuket Land Transport Office. They agreed, in the end, that it was all “a misunderstanding”. The complaint about the expensive fare…
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British expat arrested over dog attack in Phuket. 15 year old dog ‘ok’.
PHOTO: Shop surveillance footage of the attack A British expat, Mervyn “Merv” Harding, has now been charged over his attack on a 15 year old dog outside a massage shop in southern Phuket on Tuesday. CCTV footage caught the man parking his motorbike, pulling a metal rod from under the bike seat and then repeatedly beating the animal as it…
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43 year old British man arrested over Phuket dog attack
PHOTO: Facebook/Naiharn Beach Dogs Mervyn Harding, a 43 year old British expat, has ben charged over animal cruelty after he was identified on CCTV attacking a dog with a long rod on Tuesday morning (July 16). He was charged after attacking the dog in front of a massage shop near Nai Harn Beach around 7am on Tuesday. Police started investigating the…
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UPDATE: Thai PM tells Phuket people to “stop ripping off tourists”
PHOTO: Two Australians file their report with Karon police this morning Everyone is having their say about a van charging two Australian tourists 3,000 baht for a trip from the Phuket International Airport to Kata, even the Thai PM. The PM took time out today to issue a warning to “Phuket people” that its reputation as a tourist destination will…
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Fire destroys 12 shops in Patong market
PHOTOS: Siam Rath A fire at a market in Patong early this morning has caused damages estimated at 1 billion baht in value. Five fire trucks raced to the scene at the SB Plaza on Rat-U-Thit road at about 2am. It took firefighters an hour to bring the fire under control. 12 shops were destroyed. No one was injured in the…
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TMD issues a new weather warning for tropical storm Danas
The Thai Meteorological Department has issued another warning about tropical storm Danas since saying it’s on the move, from the Philippines’ Luzon, north and north-eastward into the East China Sea. The storm appears headed for Taiwan and likely to dump plenty of heavy rain on the way. The storm is ‘sucking’ in moisture from the Indian Ocean across southern Thailand,…
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Aussie tourists ripped off 1,500 baht each for a van ride in Phuket
A Facebook post in the “Phuket People Voice“ page has published the photos of two Australians who reported to Kaon police after being ‘ripped off’ in a van ride from the airport to their Kata hotel. A policeman at Karon says… “An Australian citizen came to report the situation in Karon saying that they ‘called’ (hired) a van from Phuket Airport…
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Search continues off Phuket’s Freedom Beach for two missing Filipinos
PHOTOS: Workpoint News Phuket rescue volunteers are continuing their search for 2 Filipinos washed off their feet in high waves at Freedom Beach, south of Patong Beach, in Phuket. The two people have been identified as 29 and 40 year old men. The went missing late yesterday afternoon. Kusoldham Phuket Rescue Foundation received a report concerning the two missing Filipino…
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“Thailand shouldn’t have water problems” – a personal view
OPINION Post from a concerned Phuket resident who is worried about the future of the island’s most precious resource, fresh water. Despite being surrounded by water, potable water supplies are in peril for the forthcoming high season with lower-than-usual rainfall and the dams still at historically-low levels at the time of publishing this story. The person has asked to be anonymous……
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Phuket’s Banyan Tree celebrates 25 year anniversary with new Serenity Villas
2019 is a year of celebration for Banyan Tree Phuket, with the resort offering two brand new villa categories, as part of its year-long 25th anniversary celebration. In September this year, the iconic Banyan Tree Phuket, the flagship property for Banyan Tree Hotels & Resorts, will celebrate 25 years as Phuket’s premier holiday resort. The festivities will include the release…
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Weather warning for southern and eastern Thailand
Five day forecasts for Phuket, Pattaya and Koh Samui below The Thai Meteorological Department has issued a weather warning to alert people to approaching heavy rains and strong winds in the South. The TMD predicts more rain from from today up to July 21 in the Southern and Eastern regions due to a tropical depression approaching westward from the Pacific,…
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Phantom V wins Multihull Solutions Regatta in Phuket
PHOTOS: Phuket Yacht Club The 2019 Multihull Solutions Regatta has been run and won after the final day of excellent racing conditions off southern Phuket. The Stealth catamaran Phantom V with its boat builders Alan Carwardine and Roger Diggleman on board, as well as owner Andrew Hurford, won the Racing Multihull Division of the 2019 Multihull Solutions Regatta. Its four…
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Digging into the Phuket hotel data
by Bill Barnett, c9hotelworks As Phuket’s hotel operators and owners face a disruptive 2019, we thought it was time to do a deep dig into the island’s accommodation performance metrics. Global hospitality data and analytics group STR was the logical resource, so we spoke to their Area Director Asia Pacific, Jesper Palmqvist. The following are key takeaways from the highly focused…
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Human bones found in Srisoonthorn, Phuket
Thalang Police were called to a site yesterday (Sunday), 150 metres from the Baan Ua Arthorn housing estate in Srisoonthorn, central Phuket, just before 3pm. There they found remains of a human skeleton. According to police reports, a local fruit vendor headed to the area to collecting papayas when he discovered the human skeletal remains under a tree. He then ran out…
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White caps & tight racing – Day two of the Multihull Solutions Regatta in Phuket
PHOTOS: Phuket Yacht Club The racing multihull boats sailed two races on Sunday – the second day of racing in the annual Multihull Solutions Regatta off Chalong Bay in Phuket. The first race was a three-lap windward-leeward in Chalong Bay and the second a longer course out to the safe water mark just before Cape Panwa. Whitecaps and winds gusting to…
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Thai TV star faces legal battle to regain custody of her daughter after daylight abduction in Phuket
PHOTO: says.com A baby has been abducted in Phuket as Thai police investigate a complaint filed by her mother. Last Friday, police were seeking to interview the father and husband of the UK Thai former ‘supermodel’. It follows a dramatic midday abduction on the outskirts of Phuket where the 25 year old woman was ‘imprisoned in her car’ as a…
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Thailand’s tourism – stormy weather ahead
Thailands tourism industry finds itself in stormy weather as a falloff in visitors spook trade, even forcing candid admissions from some of Thailand’s tourism chiefs. Thailand has suffered a slump in tourism figures since the beginning of the year as hoteliers and tourism trade leaders have confirmed a huge 20 to 30% drop for June in tourist numbers and trade…
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Strong winds greet sailors on Day One of Multihull Solutions Regatta in Phuket
One of the region’s most exciting sailing regattas kicked off yesterday (Saturday) off the coast of Chalong in southern Phuket. The Multihull Solutions Regatta beings together some of the fastest racing yachts in Asia. Day one of the 12th annual Multihull Solutions Regatta was delayed for an hour due to strong shifting winds gusting to 31 knots. PRO Simon James…
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Entertainment venues in Phuket call for postponement in new excise tax
Entertainment venue operators in Patong, Phuket, are calling on the Excise Department to indefinitely postpone a proposed 11% levy on their businesses, saying the tourism business is bad enough already without any additional government tax grabs. Entertainment and other businesses on the island have been reporting anecdotal drops in their business between 20-50% this low-season, compared to last year. The…
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A major lawsuit has been filed by owners of JW Marriott Phuket Resort & Spa
A letter filed with the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) yesterday. A major spat between the owners of the JW Marriott Phuket Resort & Spa in Mai Khao and the parent management company Marriott International, Inc… Minor International Public Company Limited (“MINT”) announces that it has, through its 100% subsidiary MI Squared Limited, initiated legal action in Thailand against Marriott…
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Thailand’s Health Ministry doubts Aussie couple’s claim about parasite in Pad Thai
Thai PBS reports that Thailand’s Ministry of Public Health says “there is a very slim chance that a person could contract Dientamoeba Fragilis”, a dangerous parasite, from eating a plate of Pad Thai, as claimed by an Australian Perth couple. Stacey Barnes and Ryan Prigg, along with their two children, visited Thailand in 2017. Read they stay HERE. Doctors in…
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Phuket tourism down up to 30% – Thai Hotels Association
Translated from Manager Online | PHOTO: Surin Beach, Phuket Quoting a leading hotelier, Manager Online says it was obvious that tourism in Phuket was “going down the pan”. Manager Online has penned a doomsday article about Phuket’s tourism, saying… “it was obvious to anyone that tourism had been in decline for years with less tourists and less revenue. But why…
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An anonymous ‘Farang’ body found off Karon Beach Yesterday
PHOTO: Newshawk Phuket An anonymous ‘Farang’ body found was found floating off Karon Beach yesterday (Wednesday). Karon police received a report about the dead body floating in the sea, about 500 metres from the Karon Beach just after 6pm. The body was a male, appeared to be a westerner but without any documentation or ID to indicate who he is…
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Phuket’s looming high season water crisis
PHOTOS: Siraphat Kanphonngam Water shortages are almost a certainty for Phuket in the next high season with the rainfall for this year’s wet season well below average. The island’s three main catchments – Bang Neow Dam off Srisoonthorn Road, Bang Wad dam in Kathu and Khlong Kratha dam in Chalong – have all increased in their water levels since the dams dropped to…
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Thai health authorities investigate Australian couples’ claim of illness after eating pad thai in Phuket
The Thai Disease Control Department says they’re investigation claims by a Perth couple that they went through “two years of hell” after eating a plate of Pad Thai while visiting Phuket on holiday in 2017. Stacey Barnes and Ryan Prigg from Perth, along with their two children, visited Thailand in 2017. Once back in Perth they both began to feel…
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UPDATE: Phuket pad thai blamed for putting Perth couple out of action for two years
A Perth couple, Stacey Barnes and her husband Ryan Prigg, who ran their personal wellbeing business, ended up unwell for nearly two years, because of a debilitating parasite that they say they caught whilst holidaying in Thailand in 2017. The have blamed the incident on a rogue plate of pad thai they ate at a food court at an ‘upmarket’…
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Dolphin sightings in Phang Nga Bay near Phuket – VIDEO
Rangers working in the Phang Nga Bay Marine National Park have reported sightings of bottlenose dolphins in Phang Nga Bay. They say it’s a good sign, thanks to the extensive rehabilitation of aquatic animals, seagrass and natural vegetation in the area. The rangers managed to take a picture of a 150 centimetre-long dolphin in front of Koh Panyi, Amphur Muang…
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Four down, one to go – Phuket’s traffic underpass network nearly complete
The 540 million baht underground tunnel at Chalong Circle has now been officially opened by the Thai PM. PM Prayut Chan-o-cha presided over the official opening yesterday morning. The tunnel, about 350 metres long, travels between Viset Road and Chao Fah West. Above ground the intersection moves traffic around the renovated roundabout where traffic from Kata (Patak Road), Chalong Pier…
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Indian tourists filling the gap as Chinese eschew Thailand
PHOTO: The Vijitt Resort, Rawai, Phuket Thailand’s currently patchy tourism industry, down but not out, is getting some interim support from visitors from the population colossus to its west, India. The new arrivals are filling in the gap, not quite a gaping hole as yet, of bumper arrivals from China. At a beachfront hotel on Phuket’s south west coast, the occupancy…
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PM opens Chalong Underpass and meets local supporters in Phuket
PHOTOS & VIDEO: District 5 PR Office The PM arrived at the Chalong Underpass area this morning to officially declare the controversial 350 metre underground road tunnel open. The roadworks took nearly four years to complete and caused financial pain, inconvenience and turmoil for both businesses and residents in the south of the island. The Rawai Mayor Aroon Solos was…
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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