Phuket

Phuket is an island in the Andaman Sea, is one of the southern provinces of Thailand, about double the size of Penang Island, slightly larger than the size of Langkawi. Is the largest island of Thailand.

To the north is Phang-Nga province and to the east is Krabi province, located on the important trading route in between India and China, in the Andaman Sea, Phuket used to be referred to as “Junk Ceylon” in Portuguese maps during the age of sail in the16th century.

Similar to the Straits Settlements in Malaya peninsula, Phuket attracts many immigrants from China for its Tin Mining and Rubber Plantation, in the late 19th century.

32 small islands off its coast and many of the sandy beaches especially on the west coast were successfully developed and became one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world, since 1980s.

Amidst the super peak season in year 2004 December, Phuket was hugely destructed by Tsunami caused by Indian Ocean Earthquake, which causing almost all beaches on the west coast severely damaged.
However, Phuket was being rapidly redeveloped soon after the Tsunami disaster. Not only became top destination in the world, but also the top contributor of Tourism Revenue in Thailand amounted 127.9 billion baht in the first 10 months of 2022.

According to Global Destination Cities Index , Phuket welcomed nearly 10 millions visitors in 2019, ranked 14 of the most visited cities in the world. Statistics from the Ministry of Tourism and Sports shows that Phuket was Thailand’s most visited province by foreign tourists in the first 10 months of 2022 with a record of 2.32 million tourists.