PHUKET: The new director of the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) Phuket office is drawing up plans to push Phuket’s cultural festivals after witnessing his first Por Tor festival in Phuket. Director Chanchai Doungjit told the Phuket Gazette this morning that he is devising a four-year plan to bring tourists in from around the world by expressly focusing on Phuket’s cultural festivals.
PHUKET: Pian Keesin was re-elected to a third consecutive term as Patong Mayor yesterday, with members of his “Rak Patong” party winning 17 of the 18 seats contested to give him an unassailable majority in the new city council.
PHUKET: The Australian Government has flatly rejected allegations by one of their own citizens, Stevie Bamford, who went on Australian national television and accused embassy officials of telling her
PHUKET: Phuket will get a new provincial police commander as part of a nationwide reshuffle of top provincial-level officers. Phuket Provincial Police Deputy Commander Chalit Kaewyarat today confirmed to the Phuket Gazette the results of the reshuffle announced at a meeting of the National Police Committee at Royal Police Headquarters in Bangkok yesterday. Deputy Prime Minister Chalerm Yoobamrung, who as Interior Minister oversees the Royal Thai Police, chaired the meeting to consider and approve the transfer of provincial police commanders and deputy commanders, Col Chalit said.
PHUKET: The Phuket Marine Police have confirmed that none of the tourists or crew on board a speedboat that capsized in the heavy seas off the coast of Phi Phi Island are missing.
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH– Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Drug pusher shot dead by Bangkok police Phuket Gazette / The Nation PHUKET: Police shot dead a drug suspect during an operation to stop the distribution of 1.5 million methamphetamine tablets onto Bangkok’s streets yesterday.
PHUKET: This week’s Weird World News Roundup is full of colonizing fears: from busy bee activity in New York City to South Africa taking on the elephantine issue of birth control.
PHUKET MEDIA WATCH– Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Transvestites, women warned against sex trade in Mideast Phuket Gazette / The Nation PHUKET: Many Thai male cross-dressers get legitimate jobs in Oman as masseuses but choose to also offer sexual services on the side, a Thai embassy official in Muscat said Panida Somao said the laws in Oman were very strict and only men were allowed to work at massage parlors for male customers. „But some Thai transvestites have exploited these laws and also offer sexual services,“ she said, adding that many came to Oman before undergoing the sex-change operation. „Many of them work in Oman to earn enough money to finance this operation,“ Panida said.
PHUKET: Two tourists on holiday from Vietnam panicked after witnessing the full-scale tsunami rescue drill being conducted off the east coast of Phuket this afternoon. “Oh my God! My friend and I thought it was some kind of terrorist attack or that a really big accident had happened.
ROYAL Thai Police Assistant Commissioner-General Chalermkiat Srivorakan has appealed to the people of Phuket to help police in maintaining public safety. The Assistant Commissioner’s plea came at the launch of a publicity campaign in Patong on August 17 to promote the