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18 stories tagged Local Economy
A month-long August festival is giving Phuket’s seven-colour lobster a warm new spotlight. With more than 140 launch-day vendors, 122 participating restaurants, and a goal of welcoming over 30,000 visitors, the island is turning one local catch into a community-wide food story.
Phuket Lobster Festival 2026 is turning one GI-certified island ingredient into a month-long celebration of chefs, fishers, community products, and easy evening outings. With more than 122 restaurants, 13 showcase venues, and a goal of welcoming over 30,000 visitors, the festival feels like Phuket cooking together in public.
Phuket Rising Brand 2026 has recognised 24 local businesses, from heritage names and pearl craft to coffee roasters and community spaces. The result is a cheerful snapshot of how the island is growing by sharpening its own identity.
On 18 June 2026, Thailand revived a trillion-baht plan to build a deep-sea port at Ao Ang Bay in Ranong — directly above the crab traps of artisanal fishers who have worked the mangrove-fringed bay for generations. Their question is quiet and direct: where will we go?
On June 30, the Andaman Sea's three-month commercial fishing closure ends — and the trawlers, squid boats, and crab traps that have been waiting at port return to a coastline that spent the past ninety days quietly rebuilding itself.
When 500 officers swept Phuket, Phang Nga, and Krabi on 20 June seizing ฿1.05 billion in nominee-held assets, they did more than make arrests — they began naming what had been hiding in the heart of the coast's communities.
On 10 June, Phuket's 945 durian-farming families launched their 2026 harvest in Srisoonthorn, Thalang — and a quiet campaign to keep the island's native varieties alive.
On 15 June 2026, Thailand's government announced a thirty-minute sea route linking Patong Beach to Phuket Airport, operated by local coastal boat families who have worked these waters for generations.
Thirteen tourism organisations from Phuket, Phang Nga and Krabi have formally asked Bangkok to reverse a plan that would end visa-free entry for Indian visitors — a change they say threatens more than ฿8 billion in wedding-economy revenue and thousands of small-business livelihoods across the Andaman coast.
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