Pattaya News
Pattaya news, politics, business, tourism, and nightlife—stay updated with breaking stories, events, and expat updates from Thailand’s coastal entertainment hub. Get the latest from The Thaiger, your trusted Pattaya news source.
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Managing medical expenses in Thailand is important as healthcare costs continue to rise. The country’s healthcare system includes both public and private options, but even with the Universal Coverage Scheme (UCS) for citizens, many still face high out-of-pocket medical expenses....
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THAIGER TODAY Wednesday, December 6
THAIGER TODAY. Wednesday, December 6. Heat on the Deputy PM to explain his expensive watch | Pattaya driver tests positive to drugs | Floods starting to abate | 2 missing after Nakhon Si Thammarat bus gets swept away | Big drug hauls in BKK and Songkhla.
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Positive drug test – awaiting confirmation of epilepsy claim
A man who claims he suffered an epileptic seizure that caused him to lose control of his car and kill two people and injure 15 others in Pattaya on Monday, was under the influence of drugs at the time, police said yesterday. 44 year old Akkaradej Udomrat will face an additional charge of driving while under the influence after police…
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THAIGER TODAY Tuesday, December 5
THAIGER TODAY. Tuesday, December 5. Tragic Pattaya road accidents prompts questions | Songkhla schools closed because of flooding | Wang Kee Aon waterfall re-opens in Patong | Fake bomb causes security alert at Myanmar Embassy | Toon meets the PM.
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Pattaya driver that killed two claims epileptic fit – call for ban on epileptic drivers
A tragic accident yesterday morning in Pattaya is again focussing the public’s attention on a call for the Land Transport Department to ban people with epilepsy from driving. The crash occurred when a 44 year old self-described epileptic patient lost control of his pickup truck in Chon Buri’s Pattaya City, causing it to plough into 10 motorcycles, killing two people…
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SUNDAY MORNING BRIEFING – All your local news in 3 minutes
26 Chinese tourists have a lucky escape Police are speaking with the bus driver and witnesses as emergency service volunteers clean up the mess from last night’s bus fire in Koh Keaw. 26 Chinese tourists had a lucky escape after their tour bus burst into flames as they were headed southbound along Thepkasatri Road around 6pm last night, just opposite…
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Police roles could be moved to other Government departments
The police force is looking to transfer many of its current key missions to other agencies if the reform plan approved by the National Reform Committee on Judicial Affairs goes ahead. The regulation of traffic flow and enforcement of traffic laws, for example, will be handed over to the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA), the Pattaya City Administration and some 30…
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THAIGER TODAY Tuesday, November 21
Stabbings in Thalang and Phuket Town | US 7th Fleet Admiral and Thai PM attend Sail Past in Pattaya | 20 escape from Songkhla detention | ‘Spotlight Phuket’ dumps the dirt on Patong corruption | MRT Blue Line in BKK ditches passenger seats.
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THAIGER TODAY Monday, November 20
50th anniversary for ASEAN Navies in Pattaya | Police – get a haircut! | Laguna Phuket Triathlon | Two entertainment venues closed for five years | Boat Lagoon Weekend returns next month.
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THAIGER TODAY Monday, November 6
Layan Beach restaurants poised for eviction following loss of Supreme Court battle | No selfies with ‘Toon’ please | 65 year old woman finds a partner after posting an ad on her gate | Hua Hun-Pattaya ferry service suspended today | Local tour boat capsizes with 16 on board.
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THAIGER TODAY Tuesday, October 31
New King, new coins | Thai PM issues ‘thanks’ to flood victims | Qatar Airways introduces new direct flights to Pattaya | The world’s most ‘stressed’ cities | Phuket drugged-up bus driver to lose license.
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Residences on the rise
Bill Barnett from c9hotelworks.com reports on the rise and rise of the residential living properties with hotel branding and management…. Property developers across Thailand are experiencing a magnetic attraction for hotel branded residences in order to spur price premium points and buyer demand. Currently there are 29 new hotel residence projects countrywide with nearly 90% of these located in resort…
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Qatar adds Pattaya to its flights to Thailand
Qatar Airways out of Doha says they’re responding to increased customer demand for services to Thailand by launching direct flights to Pattaya, the airline’s fifth route to the country. The new four-times-a-week service, which kicks off next January is in addition to the airline’s existing direct flights to Bangkok, Krabi, Phuket and soon to be launched, Chiang Mai. The service…
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UPDATE: Police interview two men over assault in Pattaya
Thai Visa reports…. Not 72 years old and not Australian The ‘Australian’ pensioner who was floored by a left hook in the parking lot of a Pattaya school on Wednesday after a road rage incident is really British national 77 year old George Collins Thaivisa can reveal. Mr Collins admitted that despite living in Brisbane for many years he considers himself…
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UPDATE: Beach butt ban
After finding a large amount of cigarettes on Patong Beach following the results of several volunteer beach cleans, the Director General of Marine and Coastal Department announced that from November onward, the department will enforce the law – Section 17 of Marine and Coastal Management Promotion Act – to prohibit smoking on the beach. “After collecting trash from Patong Beach,…
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Banning the butt – cigarette ban on Phuket’s beaches
What is the most numerous item found at the many beach cleans organised by groups around the island? Plastic bottle? Straws? Flip-flops? plastic bags? No. It’s cigarette butts. People smoking on the beach and leaving their butts in the sand are a major contributor to the island’s beach rubbish problem. And it’s not just Phuket. Beaches around the kingdom have…
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Punching above its weight – Rayong, Thailand
Singapore has been crowned as the Asia-Pacific city of the future by the Financial Times. The city/state was able to attract the largest share of investment in the region in the period 2012 – 2016, putting on top of the Economic Potential category. Asia-Pacific Cities of the Future, by Economic Potential: 1. Singapore 2. Tokyo 3. Shanghai 4. Hong Kong 5.…
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Thai PM promises to shorten his weekly Friday night address
Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha says he’s going to continue with his weekly “Returning Happiness to the People” address on Friday nights, but is promising to cut the speech down by 50%, to around 20 minutes. In a rather candid speech at a seminar in Pattaya, the Thai PM apologised for “not talking politely sometimes with the media”. General Prayut has…
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Back in Bangkok after Phuket court case dropped
Jonathan Head is back in Bangkok following his two day visit to Phuket. His case came to an abrupt conclusion when the man suing him, Phuket lawyer Pratuan Thanarak withdrew the charges. He was suing Mr Head over a story that appeared on the BBC in 2015 where the lawyer claimed he was defamed. Jonathan Head investigated foreigners being scammed…
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Defamation case against BBC’s Jonathan Head has been dropped
The Phuket lawyer, Pratuan Thanarak, who brought defamation charges against BBC broadcaster Jonathan Head, has dropped his criminal defamation suit. Head investigated foreigners being scammed of their retirement homes in Phuket in a 2015 BBC report. Jonathan faced up to five years in jail over the charges. His report detailed how two foreign retirees had their properties ‘stolen’ from them by…
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‘Safety’ mayhem on Phuket’s waters
Editorial by Duncan Worthington Let’s be clear from the off that we’re talking about speedboats, specifically day tour operators who pack in the tourists on an overpowered wooden speedboat and then zip off (at speed) to stop A, B, C and D, with a lunch thrown in along the way. In Phuket’s high season, these overpacked “cattle tours” can be…
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TCEB, Phuket officials request hotels to participate in MICE database initiative
PHUKET: Officials from the Thailand Convention & Exhibition Bureau (TCEB) are seeking help from private sector businesses and hotels in Phuket after coming up nearly empty handed in a search for information to build a Phuket database. The information is required to sustain and promote MICE initiatives in Phuket and other provinces of Thailand. MICE, which stands for ‘Meetings, Incentives,…
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On Deck: Samui – The unpolished marine jewel of Thailand
PHUKET: Samui is an island of coconuts and a microcosm of Thailand’s modern tourism industry, with facilities geared to backpackers at one end of the scale, right up to five-star resorts at the other, and everything in between. From a marine perspective, it is – to some extent – an unpolished jewel. If Samui Island was on Thailand’s east coast,…
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Ministry denies blocking Google services following connectivity issues
PHUKET: The Ministry of Digital Economy and Society denied that the government ordered the blocking of Google and YouTube after a technical issue with Thai internet provider 3BB meant that customers were unable to access Google services on Saturday, the Thai National News Bureau reported today. The issue seemed to affect anyone trying to access the sites from a Thai…
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‘AD’vertorial: Buy one, get two free, plus lunch
PHUKET: There’s no such thing as a free lunch but you can easily buy one [sic] with the savings you get on Free Classifieds (what?) in both the Phuket Gazette and Nation newspapers this month. When you enter a basic text-only ad in the Gazette Online (560 baht), that ad runs also, word for word and free of charge, in…
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Opinion: Challenges confronting the new governor
PHUKET: The sudden and unexpected transfer to Bangkok of former Phuket Governor Chokchai Dejamornthan (story here) certainly comes as a surprise to many of us in the local media – and once again begs the question of whether a directly-elected governor might be a better option for the province at some point in the future. It goes without saying that…
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Finance: Russians slated to return to Phuket
PHUKET: The economy of Phuket will pick up over the next couple of years because the Russian economy, ruble and stock market are finally recovering. Russia’s energy and commodity driven economy was hit hard by low energy and commodity prices, along with President Obama’s sanctions in response to the annexation of Crimea in 2014 and other troubles in Eastern Ukraine.…
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Swiss expat admits abusing more than 80 boys in Thailand
THAILAND: Swiss authorities yesterday confirmed that a man suspected of sexually abusing more than 80 boys in Thailand will be going on trial to face numerous allegations including molestation. It was reported that some of his victims were as young as nine years old. “The unnamed man has admitted to taking thousands of pornographic pictures of the boys, but denied…
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Opinion: Protecting Phuket’s image as a tourist destination
PHUKET: The recent incarceration of a Russian tourist for the heinous crime of feeding breadcrumbs to a fish is just the latest in a long-running series of embarrassments for Thai law enforcement and our tourism industry. The story made international headlines, including such mass media heavyweights as TASS and the UK’s Daily Mail, re-reporting after it was first reported by…
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Business: Thailand’s airports to get overhauls
PHUKET: As authorities anticipate 34 million foreign-tourist arrivals and 150 million domestic air travellers in 2017, major airports including Phuket International, Suvarnabhumi, Don Mueang International, U-tapao Rayong-Pattaya International, Krabi International and Chiang Rai Mae Fah Luang International are undergoing renovations or expansion. Meanwhile, there have been calls for some small airports upcountry, such as in Roi-et, Nakhon Ratchasima and Hua…
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On Deck: Yachting forum needs better exposure
PHUKET: We’ve had one regatta, two superyacht rendezvous and a yacht show in the last month in Phuket. Squeezed in between all of that was the little-discussed Thailand Yachting Forum (TYF). Held a day before the Thailand Yacht Show, the second TYF was this year hosted by Phuket Boat Lagoon. Juthaporn Rerngronasa, TAT Deputy Governor for International Marketing, kicked it…
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