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 Leap into English mastery with Green Valley's LEAP Programme
For many years, St. Andrews International School, Green Valley’s students who did not speak English as their first language have typically participated in English as an Additional Language (EAL) programmes to build proficiency. However, the school has recently introduced a...
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Tsunami warning buoys to be installed, replacing Thailand’s out-of-action buoys
Tsunami warning buoys will be re-installed after one buoy got loose and floated off and the other appeared to have been scavenged for parts. The buoys transmit real-time data, allowing officials to detect underwater earthquakes. 30 experts from Thailand’s Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation departed from the Phuket Deep Sea Port to install the buoys. First, they will replace…
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Qatar Airways set to return to Phuket
Qatar Airways is set to return to Phuket by offering limited flights after the coronavirus pandemic halted services to the resort island. in March this year The middle eastern airline says it is planning a weekly flight between Doha and Phuket from December 4 and is seeking permission from Thai authorities to increase the number of flights between the 2…
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Expat awaits trial for drug charges, mother in England worries and works to pay the bills
While 27 year old expat Louis Bentley awaits trial in Thailand for drug charges, his mother back in England is working 12 hour shifts to pay her son’s bills. For his mother, Michaela, the anticipation of waiting for the her son’s February court date, in a country so far from her with laws she’s unfamiliar with, has been “horrendous.” Louis…
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Qatar Airways to offer biweekly flights from Phuket to Doha
Things are starting to take off at the Phuket International Airport. Qatar Airways will resume bi-weekly flights from Phuket to Doha starting on December 4. The move is a major step forward after a halt of international travel to the island due to Covid-19 lockdown measures. Last week, an empty Emirates Airlines flight landed in Phuket. Although it wasn’t carrying…
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5 injured after engine explodes on Phang Nga speedboat
5 people have been injured, 3 seriously, after a moored speedboat caught fire in Phang Nga province yesterday. The incident happened around 8.30am. The boat was tied up to the Thap Lamu boat pier, where most Similan Island-bound private tour boats depart from and return to. The injured were all crew from the boat. According to witnesses, the captain started…
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Government pledges help for Phuket tourism industry
As Phuket’s tourism industry continues to fight for survival amid ongoing Covid-19 restrictions, the PM is ordering an advisory team to finish work on recovery proposals received from the private sector and submit them to the government’s Covid-19 task force for approval. Danucha Pichayanan, from the National Economic and Social Development Council, says this is expected to happen shortly, as…
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CCSA update: 1 local Covid case detected in Krabi, another case in ASQ in Phuket
A 38 year old Dutch man has tested positive for Covid-19 in Phuket. The man was staying at an Alternative State Quarantine venue in Phuket. And an Indian restaurant worker in Krabi has also tested positive, this time a case of apparent local transmission. 10 other positive cases were detected today, including 8 people in quarantine and 2 Burmese truck…
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Phuket & Koh Samui face financial ruin in the short to medium term – VIDEO
Phuket and Samui are both islands, fed mostly by arrivals at their international airports. Of course, both remain closed and the islands are trying to survive on a dribble of domestic tourists. And there’s no sign of hope any time soon for the future. Bill Barnett is ‘Mr Hotel & Hospitality’ for Thailand and the region. What does he see…
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Phuket police investigate alleged teacher abuse
Police are investigating a teacher at a central Phuket school after a complaint was filed accusing the teacher of kicking a pre-school student in the face. The Pavena Foundation for Children and Women reported the incident to the Wichit Police. The 5 year old student’s grandmother initially reported the alleged abuse to the foundation. In an interview with police, the grandmother…
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Foreign minister meets with Phuket-based diplomats to discuss the island’s future
The Thai Foreign Minister and Deputy PM, Don Pramudwinai, has met with a group of European and Asian diplomats based in Phuket to discuss the future of the southern island province. Attendees came together to talk about economic stimulus measures that could help Phuket, which has been hit hard by Covid-19 travel restrictions and the closure of Thailand’s borders. According…
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What is the future of Phuket and Samui? VIDEO
Let’s review the last 2 days when the Thai PM and the cabinet cavalcade headed to the southern islands of Phuket and Samui. Did their visit come up with any solutions that could help the islands and their economic crisis? Please watch the video and subscribe to our YouTube Thaiger channel. Thailand’s PM, Prayut Chan-o-cha has just spent the last…
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PM calls for long-term plans to revitalise Phuket and Koh Samui
PM Prayut Chan-o-cha is calling for long-term plans to rehabilitate Thailand’s tourist destinations following his visit to Koh Samui and Phuket where he saw first hand how the Covid-19 pandemic affected both islands. Prayut says conditions at Phuket are much more drastic as the province heavily relies on international travel. The prime minister says Phuket generates the second-highest income from…
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Phuket is “100% ready” for Special Tourist Visa flights – Transport Minister
The Phuket International Airport is ready for international tourists. The airport has been preparing for weeks and initially expected a group foreigners on the new Special Tourist Visa to arrive last month. Covid-19 mobile testing vehicles were even sent to the airport in early October, prepared to test all the tourists upon arrival, but the travel plans were cancelled last…
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Minister declares Phuket Airport ready to welcome STV arrivals
The Thai Transport Minister has declared Phuket International Airport ready to welcome tourists arriving under the recently-launched Special Tourist Visa scheme. A similar announcement was also made in the days before the much-discussed October 8 STV tourists who never arrived. Now we wait again… Peppering all these apparent preparations is a visit from the PM and cabinet officials to Phuket.…
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Answering the question, who will fight for Phuket’?
OPINION by Bill Barnett from c9hotelworks.com Thailand’s tourism industry is sadly at the short end of the stick as policies gyrate over the reopening of the country to international travellers, yet no single province has more to lose than the resort island of Phuket. Phuket’s economic engine is leveraged on tourism. It’s a place where on a combined basis, one…
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Happy Loy Krathong Phuket. Where to launch your krathong tonight
Happy Loy Krathong Phuket. But this year authorities are saying ‘only floating Krathongs thanks’. No polystyrene, no steel pins – keep it natural and plant-based please. This year Loy Krathong in Thailand co-incides with the annual Halloween celebrations on October 31. Authorities are also urging people to choose, or make, their krathongs using natural materials only. The latest craze for…
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Man arrested after allegedly slicing a man’s face with sickle
A man was arrested on charges of grievous bodily harm after he allegedly sliced his friend’s face with a sickle, causing a gash about 25 centimetres long. 3 men, identified as Saeng, Ta and Rop, had been drinking at a shanty in Phuket’s Rassada district where Rop lived. An argument broke out over money. A bank transfer was apparently made,…
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PM to visit Phuket on Monday as island’s economy lies in tatters
PM Prayut Chan-o-cha is to arrive in Phuket on Monday, where he will meet with local business leaders and discuss proposals for reviving the southern island’s devastated tourism sector. It’s understood a representative of Phuket’s Old Town area is to put forward an idea for promoting the historic centre as a tourist destination. Since borders were closed in late March,…
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Phuket’s annual Vegetarian Festival lowers flags, spirits return to the heavens
WARNING! Content below contains photos of self-mutilation that some may find disturbing. The flags on Go Teng poles were lowered on Monday, ending Phuket’s annual Vegetarian Festival and symbolising that the spirits have returned the heavens. The flags are raised at the start of the festivities each year at participating shrines, calling on the spirits to descend from the heavens.…
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Phuket told to prepare “response plan” in case of second Covid-19 outbreak
As Phuket awaits foreign tourists, city officials are told to prepare a “response plan” in case of a second wave of Covid-19. An official from the Ministry of Tourism and Sports held a workshop in Phuket today to discuss the risk of another outbreak as the country opens up to those on the Special Tourist Visa. The ministry’s permanent secretary…
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Man’s body discovered hanged in a Phuket Town apartment
A man has been found hanged in Phuket Town apartment yesterday. Police are treating the cases as a suicide at the moment. The man was found hanged from the apartment’s ceiling fan. His lifeless body was discovered around 11am after neighbours complained to the manager about the smell coming from the man’s room. Police and the local Kusoldharm Foundation rescue…
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Bangkok Airways add 3 new local routes to their schedule
Some domestic routes are being added as local routes continue to expand. This time Bangkok Airways has announced it’s resuming its Samui-Phuket, Phuket-Hat Yai and Phuket-Pattaya/Rayong (U-Tapao) flights. The first additions to the schedule will be the Phuket-Samui flights resuming this Sunday, October 25, and the Phuket-Pattaya flights start again next Tuesday, October 27. The Phuket-Samui flights will be operating…
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4 billion baht medical hub planned for Phuket
Phuket officials are setting aside around 4 billion baht to transform medical tourism in the southern province of Phuket, by developing a state-of-the-art treatment hub in the north of the island. The Bangkok Post reports that the Treasury department is planning to give the Public Health Ministry permission to use 141 rai of government land in the sub-district of Mai…
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“Open the borders, safely”, Bill Heinecke, Minor International interview – VIDEO
Bill Heinecke speaks to Bill Barnett. The two heavy-hitters of Thailand’s hotel and hospitality sector, mull over the current Covid situation and the reopening of Thailand’s borders to some form of tourism. Bill Heinecke is the Chairman and Founder of Minor International. Bill Barnett is the Managing Director of c9hotelworks.com Now the Thai government has approved the special long-term tourist…
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Phuket’s annual Vegetarian Festival expected to draw in 350 million baht
WARNING: Graphic photos and video below. After months and months of an economic slowdown induced by the coronavirus pandemic and the lack of tourists, thousands of people are expected to arrive to Phuket over the next 2 weeks to take part in the annual Vegetarian Festival. It’s expected to generate more than 350 million baht, according to the Tourism Authority…
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“Limit the level of torturing” at Phuket’s annual Vegetarian Festival, mayor says
WARNING: Content below contains graphic images of self-mutilation that some may find disturbing. While Phuket’s annual Vegetarian Festival was given the “okay” to move forward with plans, the event will need to abide by “new normal” rules to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. So called “mah songs,” who often practice self-mutilation to enter a trance-like state and channel spirits,…
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Gunman surrenders after holding Phuket woman hostage for 4 hours
A man who held a Phuket shopkeeper hostage at gunpoint has surrendered following a 4 hour stand-off with police. Nation Thailand reports that the incident occurred in the sub-district of Srissontorn last night. Police say they had earlier pursued a group of teenagers wanted for drugs offences. 1 of the suspects ran into a motorbike repair shop near the Banya…
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Phuket tax revenue plummets during pandemic – VIDEO
The Covid-19 pandemic led has tax revenue in Phuket to be cut in half. Border closures, banning international tourists, has caused the tax revenue for the popular island destination to plummet. From January to August, total tax receipts year on year fell by more than 46%, according to data from the Phuket Area Revenue Office, obtained by The Phuket News. In…
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Phuket church group come to the rescue of suffering soi dog
Members of the Zion of God Church in Phuket came to the rescue of a suffering street dog last Saturday after finding the poor pooch outside the church in Talad Nuea with maggot-infest head wounds. The group contacted Soi Dog Foundation for help who confirmed they would dispatch their animal rescue officers to collect the dog the following day. Fearing…
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Possible delay of foreign tourists arriving to Phuket
Thailand is lifting its 6 month ban on international tourists, allowing only those who are on a Special Tourist Visa to arrive on select charter flights, but there are conflicting reports on when exactly they will arrive. Many reports say the tourists should arrive on Thursday, but a recent report from a respected Thai media outlet claims the plans are…
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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