Mr Rewat made his plea at an event held at the Royal Phuket City Hotel in Phuket Town, attended by some 450 hotel operators.
Present to support the call was Phuket Governor Narong Woonciew.
Mr Rewat explained that PPAO has had the power to levy the tax since 1999 under the Provincial Administrative Organization Act, B.E.
The PPAO is empowered to levy a tax of up to 3% on the monies paid for each tourist room or other form of accommodation rented, but the PPAO has never asked for more than 1%, he explained.
The PPAO has had “good cooperation” from hotel operators in Phuket who paid the room rate tax, Mr Rewat said.
However, there were still too many hotel and tourist accommodation operators who refused to pay the tax, he said. Of note, AirBnB operators were not mentioned.
Mr Rewat called on hotel and other tourist accommodation providers to step up and pay the tax, so the PPAO can push forward with projects in social development, preserving the environment and promoting and developing sustainable tourism in Phuket ‒ all with the participation of hotel operators.
For decades many hotel operators have refused to pay the PPAO room rate tax through objections over a lack of transparency on how the money would be spent.
Such a lack of transparency was painfully clear during the administration of Watcharin Patomwatthanapong, who served as “PPAO Acting Chief” after former PPAO President Paiboon Upatising passed away from cancer in 2015.
The entire lifeguard crisis throughout 2017-18 unfolded under Mr Watcharin’s administration, with one bureaucratic bungle after another resulting in zero lifeguards on Phuket’s main beaches during the busy heyday of hordes of foreign tourists holidaying on the island.
The problem was the money; Mr Watcharin said the PAPO did not have enough to increase the budget to pay for lifeguards. However, rumours of rampant corruption were common at the time.
Mr Rewat yesterday addressed that concern.
“You will be informed of how the income that the PPAO collects from hotel guests and all other income collected by the PPAO has been utilised in public service and how to promote the tourism of Phuket,” he said.
“It is expected that this time participants will be informed and have a good understanding and inspiration to pay hotel fees, so that we can generate income to develop our Phuket province to be as effective as possible,” he added.
Since being elected PPAO President in 2021, Mr Rewat has been noticeable in explaining how PPAO budgets are spent.
He has also driven a raft of projects to promote and develop new tourism attractions in Phuket. During his time the PPAO has driven forward projects to support communities throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, namely through local food festivals held to generate incomes for hard-hit families, and developed the new Chalong-Patong road.