Known as one of the world’s most favorite tourist destinations, Phuket retains its status as a premier vacation hotspot—as the world’s top supermodels were recently spotted celebrating their holidays this side of paradise.

Kate Moss, who has been visiting Phuket every holiday season, returns to the island with her rocker boyfriend, Jamie Hince of the Kills. Moss was also spotted toting along her 5-year old daughter, Lila, and taking photos with Hince’s mom, Mary as they were seen checking in at the Phuket International Airport.

Meanwhile, Moss’s equally fashionable model pal, Naomi Campbell, also chose Phuket as her vacation spot for this year. The Royal Phuket Marina welcomed Campbell as their official guest of honor as the model graced the Phuket International Boat Show during her New Year holiday. The show featured various marine vessels and supplies as well as luxury cars on exhibit. The supermodel also enjoyed a guided tour aboard the decks of Pershing 80, one of the luxury vessels featured in the show.

Phuket started to make its mark on the world map as a high-end tourist destination with the opening of Amanpuri, the first luxury villa resort on the island, in 1998. Two decades later, it remains as one of the favorite holiday hideaways of various celebrities the world over. Moss and Campbell are rumored to have spent their New Year holidays in this exclusive destination right in the heart of the Pearl of the Andaman.

Patong beach served as the official venue this year's Phuket Carnival, as fireworks, parade and other exciting events kicked off the festival.

Phuket Governor Wichai Phraisa-ngop led the grand opening, which was followed by a colorful parade featuring Thai traditional dancers and ladyboys along Patong's famed beach road.

The six-day festival has a full lineup of exciting activities to be held at the beachfront stage near Soi Bangla. Among the events that both tourists and locals can look forward to would be live concerts featuring leading Thai bands, to be held at 10pm every night.

Featured acts include Sweet Mullett (Dec 16), Cham Chamrum (Dec 17), Thaitanium (Dec 18), Hangman (Dec 19) and Som Amra (Dec 20).

Although this year's Phuket Carnival was rescheduled to avoid the rainshowers that threaten dampen the spirit of the event, last night's drizzles didn't get in the way of all the fun.

The 2009 Phuket Carnival is made possible with its official beer sponsor Chang, together with participation from both the government and private sector including the Patong Municipality, Dowroong School, Kathu Police, Patong Hospital, Simon Cabaret, Jungceylon, Central and several other communities in Patong and Kathu.

Asia's most exciting triathlon recently concluded with new records and faster finishing times.

Olympic gold medalist Jan Frodeno bagged the top spot in this year's event, taking home a total of $3,500 in prize money. The top triathlete from South Africa broke last year's record set by Richie Cunningham from Australia.

Frondeno expressed his excitement over competing for this year's race. "I am so happy to be here, I have been trying to get to the race for the last three years – this event has got a great festival atmosphere," as he was quoted as saying after the triathlon.

Meanwhile, Radka Vodickova from Czech Republic landed the top spot in this year's Pro Women's Championship, finishing ahead of last year's champion, Australia's Belinda Granger.

The resident Thais also held their own in the competition, with Chadarak Chaikamjorn and Natcha Pianprasobsuk as the first Thai male and female finishers, respectively.

Around a thousand athletes competed under Phuket's sweltering sun over the weekend, as temperatures escalated to over 30 degrees Celcius. The race kicked off at Laguna Beach Resort's famed beachfront, with participants aged 18 to 70 from over 40 countries, battling it out in what is dubbed as Asia's most exciting triathlon.

As new records are set, much anticipation meets next year's Laguna Phuket Triathlon, which is set on November 28, 2010.

Phuket’s south and west coast is set to be linked with the upcoming construction of the Chalong-Patong road.

The project shall commence following a go signal from Thailand’s Cabinet, who has supported the proposal which would significantly cut the travel time between the two key locations in the island. It has also expressed support for the 20 million baht Saphan Hin road project, which is another key development in Thaland’s major vacation destination.

A committee meeting has been called by Phuket Governor Wichai Praisa-ngob to explore the feasibility of the said project, which would involve coordination with the Forests Department and the Agriculture Land Reform Office. These offices would grant permission for using portions of land as the existing road has been carved across the hill by the locals. “With their help, we don’t need to cut through any more trees to build this road,” he says.

The Governor has presented his arguments in support of the upcoming construction as the proposed project met resistance from environmentalists. Khun Wichai added that a revised environmental impact assessment has to made prior to the official approval of the project in writing. “The construction of this road will cost around 26 million baht and may take up to nine months,” he reveals.

The Chalong-Patong road is designed to substantially reduce the distance traveled between the two areas from 20 kilometers to a mere 5 kilometers.

The National Disaster Warning Center has cancelled the Tsunami Alert it has issued earlier yesterday in the midst of emergency and evacuation measures.

The alert has been issued at Level Two by the National Disaster Warning Center in Bangkok, right after a tsunami hit the island of Samoa in the Pacific Rim, leaving at least 100 dead and a thousand more injured from the disaster.

The Samoan tsunami has further triggered an undersea quake in Sumatra, Indonesia, hitting a magnitude of 7.6 on the Richter Scale. With the quake’s intensity, the tremors reached the neighboring countries of Singapore and Malaysia.

The tsunami alert was prompted as Phuket was located some 984 kilometers from the epicenter of the Indonesian earthquake. Authorities had predicted that the tsunami waves would arrive at Karon Beach at around 8:46 pm and then touch on at Phi Phi Island, before peaking at Ranong by 10:11 pm. But the alert was cancelled by 6:58 pm yesterday as the radar produced stable results.

These reinforced emergency measures are enforced as part of Phuket’s resolve to avoid a repeat of the tsunami disaster in 2004, which resulted in the death of some 5,000 Thais and foreign tourists along the Andaman coast.

The battle for capturing Phuket’s active consumer market ensues as French hypermarket giant Carrefour seeks to expand its property across the eastern part of the island.

This move is undertaken as part of the supermarket’s chain aggressive expansion plan, which looks to invest up to two billion baht to open eight to ten new stores all over Thailand by next year in spite of political and economic turmoil.

The expansion ensues as the French supermarket giant believes that Thailand still has major market potential, even with fierce competition among retailers.

Carrefour joins the race for outlet expansion, arousing controversy among Thailand’s commercial sector, which has recently become more vigilant in upholding the rights of suppliers and retailers. Recently, the Commerce Ministry has created a special committee to draft and revise rules and regulations in order to deter major retailers from committing unfair prices such as overpricing, the demand for higher introduction fees for new products, unfair return of goods, and more.

In Phuket, Carrefour is looking to move beyond its outlet in Jungceylon, as the chain’s executives are prospecting several large properties to be the new site of the stand-alone supermarket, which will be comprised of a two-storey building with an event hall—a first for Thailand’s major tourist hub.

Khun Phuntila Puripreecha, Carrefour’s store manager in Jungceylon, has confirmed the major plans for expansion. “We would need to find the perfect site first, but we are definitely starting on this project by next year”, she says.      

In addition to the dynamic plans for expansion, Carrefour also aims to further its environment-friendly campaign, with the cooperation of the local community, farmers, and suppliers. Under the helm of new management led by Managing Director Philippe Broianigo, Carrefour seeks to localize its new outlets in order to be able to ensure a more enjoyable shopping experience, a key strength maximized by the chain.