Around 60% of hotel rooms throughout the country are operating illegally, and the government plans to bring them all into the legal system within five years, Deputy Prime Minister Tanasak Patimapragorn said.
Gen Tanasak said a survey by the Ministry of Tourism and Sports found 400,000 to 450,000 hotel rooms, about 60% of the total, were in violation of the Hotel Act of 2004.
The ministry had been instructed to work with the Ministry of the Interior's Provincial Administration Department. With cooperation from provincial governors, the ministry would crack down on illegal hotels, aiming to bring them into the system within five years.
Purit Maswongsa, chairman of the Phuket Tourism Association, said a proper survey should be made to determine the number of hotels with a proper operating licence, hotels for which operators have applied for a construction permit but not obtained approval, and hotels which have been modified from commercial buildings and are operating without a licence.
Of about 2,700 hotels in Phuket, only about 900 had a proper licence. About 1,000 were open for business although still without a construction permit, while the others were commercial buildings modified for use as hotels and operating with a permit.
Mr Purit said the illegal hotels charged lower rates than the legal ones, forcing high quality and standard hotels to lower their room rates to be competitive.