Phuket opens hotel licensing centre as officials target thousands of unlicensed operators

Phuket has opened a temporary consultation and complaint centre to help hotel and service establishment operators apply for licences, as the government moves to bring thousands of unlicensed accommodation businesses into the legal system.

Deputy Interior Ministers Polapee Suwunchwee and Worasit Liengprasit visited Phuket on Thursday, June 18, to launch the centre and meet business owners about problems in the licensing process.

Polapee said Phuket has about 5,000 hotel establishments, but only around 800 currently hold valid hotel licences. Another 700 licence applications are awaiting approval.

He said the figures showed major obstacles were preventing businesses from entering the legal system.

"The government wants to help entrepreneurs operate legally and fairly," Polapee said. He added that officials were ready to hear suggestions from all sectors and consider amendments to laws, ministerial regulations and related rules to reflect current conditions.

He instructed relevant agencies to speed up consideration of applications where documentation is complete and correct, and urged operators to use the two-week consultation period to begin the licensing process.

Worasit said many operators still faced difficulties because of legal restrictions, town planning regulations, land-use controls and other requirements. He said the ministry would examine the issues "in every dimension" before considering changes to laws and regulations where appropriate.

"The aim is to strike a balance between supporting businesses, maintaining public order and protecting the public interest," he said.

During the consultation sessions, operators complained about long approval times, duplicated paperwork and complex procedures. They also proposed a one-stop service to simplify applications. Officials said those concerns would be reviewed as part of wider efforts to improve the licensing system.

The consultation centre is operating until July 2 at the Mueang Phuket District Office. It is open daily, including public holidays, from 8:30am to 4:30pm. Services include accepting licence applications, providing legal advice, collecting feedback and receiving complaints about the licensing process. Operators have been asked to bring building plans or photographs, land ownership documents and any previous licence application records.

The initiative comes as authorities continue an enforcement campaign against allegedly unlicensed accommodation businesses in Phuket. The Department of Provincial Administration recently targeted multiple businesses across Patong, Karon and Rawai, and on Tuesday, June 16, officers raided the Chateau du Village Patong Hotel, alleging it was still operating without a licence despite an earlier conviction for the same offence.

The licensing drive follows years of complaints from Phuket's small hotel sector that restrictive building regulations, planning laws and licensing requirements prevented many businesses from qualifying for hotel licences. Earlier temporary exemptions helped about 1,000 previously unlicensed hotels enter the system, but many others remained outside it after those measures expired.

Separately, the Phuket Provincial Administration Organisation said maintenance fee revenue collected from hotel guests totalled more than B290 million in the first eight months of fiscal 2026, from October 2025 to May 2026, up 4.17% from a year earlier. However, May collections fell to just over B25 million, down 8.36% year on year.