Dr Krisada handed the petition in person to Phuket Vice Governor Dr Prajied Aksornthammakul, Phuket Provincial Hall.
“About 70 per cent of the hotel rooms* in Phuket are illegal,” Dr Kritsada said. “Almost all of them offer daily-rate accommodation. Some have applied to register, but others have not.”
“If they do not register their own businesses, that will have negative consequence in several ways, especially the economic effect on the general tourism industry of three and four-star hotels.
“It also creates problems reporting their guests to immigration,” he added.
Global online booking giant Agoda currently touts that it accepts bookings for 2,381 accommodation establishments in Phuket.
However, as recently as September, Anoma Vongyai, Director of the Tourism Authority of Thailand TAT Phuket office, cited that Phuket has 93,750 rooms in 1,800 hotels – of which only 376 venues were registered. (See story here.)
* Correction: Hotel rooms, not hotels, as originally reported.