Phuket’s Biggest Stories from the Past Week: Phuket generated 6.6 billion baht on New Year, Businesses ready to welcome Chinese tourists, and more

Monday, 9 January 2023, 18:54

Hello, Phuket Express Readers and Supporters!

The following is our weekly feature in which we highlight the top local stories in our area of Phuket from the past week. The number of stories differs from week to week.

These are chosen and curated by our editorial team and are designed for our readers to get a quick “catch-up” of important stories they may have missed. We publish many stories daily and it is easy to lose track of important events or changes in our area. We do national recaps in a separate article, this is only the top local stories in the Phuket province.

They are in no particular order of importance but roughly in order of publishing. These are from Monday, January 2nd, 2023, to Sunday, ๋January 8th, 2023.

Let’s get started and see what the top local stories were!

Phuket has generated at least 6.6 billion baht during the New Year festival, according to relevant officials.

From December 30^th to January 2^nd, Phuket generated at least about 6.6 billion baht.

2. The president of the Thai Southern Hotel Association said Phuket is struggling with a severe shortage of labor amid the anticipated arrival of one million Chinese tourists.

Business operators in Phuket are facing a pressing, ongoing shortage of labor, which has gone from bad to worse.

3. A mobile phone was returned to a Kuwaiti tourist in Phuket after a taxi driver had taken the phone left behind and thrown it away on a beach out of anger for a poor driving complaint.

The driver admitted that he had dumped the mobile phone on Karon Beach because he was angry that the tourist criticized him for allegedly bad driving.

4. The total for all seven days in Phuket (December 29th – January 4th) of the Seven Days of Danger, were 41 road accidents, 42 injuries, and three deaths.

Most accidents were caused by not wearing helmets, followed by drunk driving and speeding over the legal limit.

5. Phuket businesses are excited and ready to welcome Chinese tourists.

They are waiting for them and very excited after they heard the good news about China easing Covid restrictions.