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.
-
Sponsored Boost your business in Thailand: 5 powerful benefits of using BoostedByPeople
As a business owner in Thailand, you know how tough it is to stand out online. Ads get skipped, scrolled past, or flat-out ignored. People are more sceptical than ever about what they see on their feeds. And even when...
-
BoI mulls tax break for IT investors
PHUKET CITY: An eight-year tax break for IT investors is among incentives being considered by the Board of Investment (BoI) to kick-start Phuket’s much-desired role as a software development center. The tax break proposal was revealed by the President of the Software Industry Promotion Agency (SIPA), Manoo Ordeedolchest, when he came to Phuket to exchange views with participants at a…
-
Outboard boat ruling taxes Customs
PHUKET: After 10 days of cross-checking and confusion, Customs officials in Bangkok have now confirmed that there is no import tax on motorboats with outboard engines. Two boat owners wanting to import such boats contacted the Gazette after being informed that the 30% import tax still applied to these boats, although tax on leisure boats was dropped on February 18.…
-
New plan to tackle youth violence
PHUKET: New tactics are to be tried in an effort to control youth gang violence after police concluded that checkpoints are not the answer. “We have discussed this matter with the Phuket provincial government and have agreed to coordinate with local community leaders to obtain cooperation from parents,” said Provincial Police Commander, Maj Gen Veerayuth Sittimalic. “Other measures will be…
-
Phuket sends reinforcements to South
PHUKET CITY: Police from Phuket are being sent as reinforcements to three troubled southern provinces to help quell continuing violence and attempt to improve relations between local agitators and law enforcement officers. The inclusion of 24 Phuket officers among 335 additional police being sent from Region 8 to Region 9 was revealed yesterday by Phuket Provincial Police Commander, Maj Gen…
-
Rumors of Thaksin plans for Koh Yao denied
PHANG NGA BAY: Land prices on Koh Yao Noi and Koh Yao Yai are soaring, but local officials and residents have dismissed rumors that the boom is the result of speculation that Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra is planning a mega-project for the islands. Koh Yao District Chief Songpol Konkaew told the Gazette yesterday that many foreign investors have paid deposits…
-
Vehicles owners warned
PHUKET CITY: In the latest move to reduce motor mayhem on Phuket, it has been announced that anyone who lends a vehicle to an unlicensed driver will face a fine of 500 baht and seizure of the vehicle. Pol Lt Col Jeerasak Siamsak, Inspector of Traffic Police at Phuket City Police Station, told the Gazette that although the facility to…
-
3 dead, 424 hurt on Songkran roads
PHUKET: Three people died in accidents on Phuket roads during the official Songkran period, which began on April 9 and ended at midnight on Sunday. Metha Mekarat, Chief of the Phuket Office of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation, yesterday announced that the latest two victims were Visanu Chulap and Kajornkiat Sae-iew, both 20 and from Mai Khao. The two men were…
-
Wildlife touts arrested in Patong
PATONG: Four photo-taking touts have been arrested by police and charged with having young gibbons in their possession without the required wildlife licences. One has already been fined 20,000 baht. The men were taken into custody over Songkran in Patong after a steady stream of complaints from tourists. Further charges will be laid against the four if allegations that the…
-
Green light for bypass road widening
PHUKET CITY: Work to widen Chalermprakiat Ror IX Rd (the bypass road) to four lanes and, along one section, to six lanes, is due to begin on May 7. The 111-million-baht project, which will be paid for by the central government, will run from just south of the Dara Samut School intersection (known to many people as the Thainaan intersection)…
-
Kata boatmen blockade Amancruises yacht
KATA: A dispute over business territory led to a seaborne blockade at Kata Beach this morning in which a motor launch from the exclusive Amanpuri resort was forced to sail without eight passengers. The 38-foot motor yacht Maritess, operated by Amancruises, had been booked to pick up four adults and four children from Kata Beach, and take them to Phi…
-
Songkran blitz holds road toll down
PHUKET: A Songkran crackdown by police and government officials has held Phuket’s Thai New Year holiday road toll to one death and 340 injuries so far. The figures, recorded up to midnight last night, were in line with last year’s, when the number of deaths was restricted to two during the 10-day festival. In contrast, the tally of arrests at…
-
Laws of physics win
OOPS: Passers-by at the Thepkrasattri Rd – Komarapaj Rd intersection in Phuket City on Saturday night were astonished to come across this humpbacked pickup truck. Witnesses said that the truck, heavily laden with fruit, was not involved in an accident, but had jack-knifed – vertically – after its driver slammed on his brakes at the lights.
-
Report to Immigration, foreigners told
PHUKET CITY: The Phuket Immigration Office has renewed its warning that foreigners holding any type of one-year extension-of-stay must visit an Immigration office every 90 days to confirm their identity and address, or face a 2,000 baht fine. More stringent application of the rules – along with random visits by officers to check passports in areas where foreigners gather –…
-
Deputy mayor victim of “poisoning’ attempt
THALANG: Police are investigating whether a bottle of water in the Thepkrasattri Municipal Offices contained poison – and whether it was part of a murder attempt by municipal officers bent on revenge after being accused of embezzlement of municipal funds. Accusations of skulduggery and fraud – and possible links to a double murder – were flying today at the troubled…
-
Air hostess grants offered to needy dreamers
PHUKET: The government is offering 60 scholarships for good-looking, tall, well educated Thai women living in poverty to realize their dreams of becoming air hostesses. Under the “Eur Ah-torn Air Hostess Project”, women granted the scholarships will attend the three-month basic cabin attendant course at the Civil Aviation Training Center (CATC) in Bangkok. The project, says an announcement from the…
-
More Songkran water play zones designated
PHUKET CITY: Phuket Governor Udomsak Usawarangkura has designated two more zones for Songkran water play, adding to the three previously announced by Phuket Provincial Police. In a pamphlet issued by the Provincial Public Relations Office, the Governor listed the following areas as places where people may legally fling water at one another during Songkran: Muang District: Saphan Hin, Tambon Rawai,…
-
Patong politician attacked with metal bar
PATONG: Suwat Somnam, a member of the Patong Progress Party, which is currently under investigation by the Phuket Election Commission for vote-buying after it won the February 8 Patong municipal election, was beaten with a metal bar early on Tuesday morning while he was jogging along Patong Beach. “I woke up early as usual and went jogging along Patong Beach,”…
-
Phuket IT to overtake Singapore
PHUKET CITY: Information and communications technology (ICT) in Phuket will outstrip that of Singapore within two years, the head of Phuket’s newly-established Software Industry Promotion Agency (Sipa) has ambitiously predicted. Dr Pongsak Kerdvongbundit, President of Sipa in Phuket, also announced that the organization’s office in Saphan Hin, which was officially opened on March 1 but initially remained unmanned, is now…
-
Bad debt property up for auction
PHUKET CITY: The Phuket Legal Execution Department (PLED) will hold its first “distressed property” auction of the year on May 15 at the Phuket Merlin Hotel. The PLED, which is responsible for auctioning off bad-debt properties, currently has on its books 220 properties worth an estimated 750 million baht. Those that are unsold on May 15 will be offered at…
-
Air Andaman to launch Phuket-Singapore route
PHUKET: Air Andaman will begin a regular service between Bangkok and Singapore from May 13, stopping at Phuket on the way. Public Relations Manager Am-nad Thienhiranchaikul told the Gazette that the airline is awaiting delivery of two new Fokker-100 jet airplanes to fly the new route. With capacity for 108 passengers, the new planes will replace the smaller F-50 turboprop…
-
Phuket City elects a new mayor
PHUKET CITY: A woman is Phuket City’s first directly-elected mayor. Somjai Suwannasuppana led the Khon Noom (Young Turks) Party to a relatively narrow victory in the Phuket City Municipality poll yesterday. K. Somjai, previously second on the party ticket, behind long-serving mayor Phummisak Hongsyok, polled 11,986 votes, narrowly defeating Prawat Suwannadithakul, of the Chao Baan Sarng San (Creative) Party, who…
-
Better Songkran Order emphasized
PHUKET CITY: In an effort to prevent the annual surge in road accidents during the Songkran holdiday, the Superintendent of Phuket City Police Station, Pol Col Paween Pongsirin, has announced that new rules restricting water-play to special zones will be strictly enforced across the island during the April 13-15 holiday period. Col Paween said that the new rules will limit…
-
Reward offered over missing man
KATA: The family of missing dive instructor David Wiewel are offering a reward of 50,000 baht for information leading to Mr Wiewel being found. The 57-year-old Dutchman walked out of his home in Kata on the morning of March 26 and has not been seen since. His brother, Frank, said, “We are living between hope and fear and the situation…
-
Dulwich to open college on Samui
KOH SAMUI: David Cook, Headmaster of Dulwich International College (DIC), has announced that the international school will open a new campus on Koh Samui next year. At a meeting of property developers and agents on Koh Samui on Friday, Mr Cook said that DIC had concluded the purchase of 65 rai of land with 300 meters of road front in…
-
Anti-disease drive in markets
PHUKET: The Phuket Provincial Health Office (PPHO) plans to spray the island’s fresh markets with germicides frequently this summer with the aim of preventing diseases. Somboon Aiyarak, from the PPHO, told the Gazette “Stomach illnesses such as diarrhea spread very quickly in the summer – we have problems almost every year. So we should try to provide some protection for…
-
Out of school, out of work
PHUKET: Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra’s plan to find work for students over the hot-season school break has received a cool reception in Phuket. As of April 1, only 21 of the 207 students who applied for jobs had found work. The plan, which got a major publicity boost when PM Thaksin put his daughter Paethongtan to work passing out burgers…
-
Sun sets on Phromthep eyesore
RAWAI: Visitors going to Laem Phromthep recently to watch the sun set have been getting more than they bargained for. At the top of the stairs leading up from the carpark, and blocking the view, is a large, unfinished stone monument. But now it has been decided that the unsightly new structure, built at a cost of 200,000 baht as…
-
Confusion over new entertainment licenses
PHUKET: About 30% of the entertainment venues on Phuket have not applied for any of the new entertainment service licenses, Wisut Romin, Deputy Secretary of the Phuket Provincial Administrative Office, has told the Gazette. Owners of entertainment venues had until March 12 to apply, after which their existing licenses automatically became void. Those who did apply are allowed to continue…
-
Tax man’s take rises 50pc
PHUKET: The island’s tax collectors were highly successful in February this year, collecting almost 50% more than in the same month in 2003. The latest figures released by the Phuket Provincial Revenue Office show a rise in the overall tax harvest from 223.97 million baht in February last year to 334.17 million baht in the same month this year, an…
-
Roads claim 15 more lives
PHUKET: Fifteen people were killed on Phuket’s roads between January 20 and February 20, according to the latest statistics from the Wachira, Thalang and Patong government hospitals. All of the victims died while riding motorcycles, Ampaipan Pawawattananusorn, of the Phuket Provincial Health Office, reported. In the same period, 1,024 people were hurt in crashes involving motorbikes. Another 80 people were…
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.
Don't forget to check out some other things to do in Thailand - get help starting a business or finding a job in Thailand, buy Thailand property, rent a yacht or book a medical procedure worldwide.