By Relaxnews, Updated: 08/08/2012

Emirates launches daily flights to Phuket

On August 6, Emirates announced the launch of a non-stop daily flight to Phuket in response to the growing popularity of the Thai island as a tourist destination.

Starting on December 10, the carrier will operate a daily flight from Dubai to Phuket Island, located on the southwest coast of the country, in the Andaman Sea. This is Emirates' second destination in Thailand after Bangkok, a route that started operating back in the 1990s and currently has four daily flights.

Reports from the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) show that during the first half of 2012 the number of foreign tourists arriving to the island was up by 7.6 percent. This follows a particularly good year: 2011 registered an increase of 30 percent in the number of foreign visitors.

Due to the constantly growing number of arrivals to the island, Phuket International Airport is currently undergoing a $188 million expansion that will finish up in 2015. The update aims to double the airport's capacity to 12.5 million passengers a year.