Thailand Intensifies Crackdown on Illegal Foreign Businesses

[webfact]

Picture courtesy of Bangkok Post

 

Thailand is ramping up its crackdown on illegal foreign-run businesses, spurred by concerns about weak law enforcement exposing the country to economic risks and reputational damage.

 

With instances of foreign nationals participating improperly in industries like tourism and property, local stakeholders are demanding stricter enforcement of existing regulations to safeguard the nation's economic integrity.

 

Authorities are currently focusing on enhancing measures against illegal practices by foreigners, particularly concerning the misuse of visa regulations and improper business conduct. The situation gained traction after concerns from various industry leaders about foreign entities exploiting legal loopholes, affecting local operators significantly.

 

In the tourism sector, local guides have long contended with competition from foreign guides unlawfully operating in Thailand, particularly within the lucrative Chinese market.

 

Paisarn Suethanuwong of the Professional Tourist Guides Association highlights that despite evidence, authorities often issue mere warnings instead of prosecuting violations. This approach has undermined operators who lose substantial income due to these unregulated practices.

 

The property market, particularly in areas like Pattaya, has also become a hotspot for foreign investment malpractices.

 

Thanet Supornsahasrungsi, of the Chonburi Tourism Federation, noted that foreign investors frequently circumvent property regulations by using nominee buyers. Local accommodations laws, which allow loopholes for short-term rentals in residential buildings, have exacerbated these issues.

Meanwhile, the restaurant industry confronts its unique challenges. Thaniwan Kulmongkol of the Thai Restaurant Association expressed concerns over the dramatic increase in foreign-operated eateries, with some notably importing materials from abroad instead of supporting local suppliers, impacting local economies and employment.

 

Retail sectors have not been immune, as evidenced by areas like Bangkok's Huai Khwang, dubbed "The second Chinatown," where a surge of Chinese-owned businesses is noted. Concerns focus on the influx of inexpensive products, potentially harming local traders. Somchai Pornrattanacharoen warns that this could decrease competitiveness if regulatory oversight remains lax.

 

Government officials assert that current legislation is sufficient but requires more diligent enforcement. Tourism and Sports Minister Sorawong Thienthong vowed to refine hotel regulations to prevent unlawful short-term rentals and ensure tourist accommodations are both legal and safe.

 

As illegal foreign businesses continue to siphon opportunities away from locals, the Thai government faces mounting pressure to protect local businesses while ensuring compliance with international visitors' expectations. Enhanced inspections and tighter policy enforcement are critical components of the response aimed at preserving the nation's economic health and safety.

 

Thailand Post's calls for stricter regulation in the logistics sector similarly highlight concerns regarding low barriers to entry, which have enabled competitive distortions, further motivating a more robust approach across all sectors to manage foreign influence effectively, reported Bangkok Post.

 

-- 2025-03-03

 

 

[ozz1]

But i guess its ok if they are from  China or Russia just have good look around the tourists areas see who's running this country its a pitty really

[quake]

Quote

 concerns about weak law enforcement exposing the country to economic risks and reputational damage.

 

Bless. 

 

 

[stevenl]

2 hours ago, ozz1 said:

But i guess its ok if they are from  China or Russia just have good look around the tourists areas see who's running this country its a pitty really

You missed the article.

[lordgrinz]

If they shutdown all the illegal businesses in Thailand the country would grind to a halt, pretty soon they will all be speaking Chinese anyway, and bowing to their Emperor Xi.

[hellohello123]

Why does every thai proposal include the words " foreign" and " crackdown"

[lordgrinz]

1 minute ago, hellohello123 said:

Why does every thai proposal include the words " foreign" and " crackdown"

 

Because a "crackdown" on illegal Thai activity won't gather any support, lawbreaking is for Thais only.

[cjinchiangrai]

Start with the ones from Dubai.

[phil2407]

If there’s legal loopholes (Thai law) VS illegal laws don’t see what the problem is! 

[G Rex]

35 minutes ago, lordgrinz said:

 

Because a "crackdown" on illegal Thai activity won't gather any support, lawbreaking is for Thais only.

 

You mean 'Lawbreaking' is an occupation reserved for Thai citizens only...

[tomazbodner]

Police came to arrest some short term renters last night... interesting, indeed.

That's just a couple of days after posters popped up all over the property that rentals below 30 days are illegal and carry a 1 year jail sentence or 20,000 THB penalty, or both.

 

[smew]

share profits in 50/50 ratio and there will be no cracdowns.. 

[kuzmabruk]

27 minutes ago, tomazbodner said:

Police came to arrest some short term renters last night... interesting, indeed.

That's just a couple of days after posters popped up all over the property that rentals below 30 days are illegal and carry a 1 year jail sentence or 20,000 THB penalty, or both.

 

Renters are not breaking any law.   The owner of the unit should be prosecuted.  In Thailand the unknowing foreigner is harassed because Thai police are ineffective and cannot do their job properly. 

[TheFishman1]

Do you go down any major city or town in Thailand you find out half the businesses are owned by foreigners it’s not only that one area take a walk down Chiang Mai Main street a lot are owned by Chinese how curious TIT

[BumGun]

5 hours ago, lordgrinz said:

pretty soon they will all be speaking Chinese anyway, and bowing to their Emperor Xi.

Should get a much better railway system out of it, so its not all bad 🙂  You do know they are already bowing to someone so not much different there.

[Ben Zioner]

26 minutes ago, kuzmabruk said:

Renters are not breaking any law.   The owner of the unit should be prosecuted.  In Thailand the unknowing foreigner is harassed because Thai police are ineffective and cannot do their job properly. 

No TIT.

[jcmj]

Damn they really hate competition. It means they have to up their standards and services without gauging the foreigners. 

[rough diamond]

36 minutes ago, TheFishman1 said:

take a walk down Chiang Mai Main street a lot are owned by Chinese

Where is/what is the name of "Chiang Mai Main street"?

I did not know it had one and anyway irrespective of the street how do you know that a business is "owned by Chinese" by just walking past it?

Even a shop signed as "Chinese Restaurant" may not be Chinese owned.

[Gknrd]

This comes around just like clockwork, until they start taking homes away I would not worry. But, if I owned a home by way of setting up a business I would try and stay under the radar.

[soi3eddie]

10 hours ago, webfact said:

As illegal foreign businesses continue to siphon opportunities away from locals, the Thai government faces mounting pressure to protect local businesses while ensuring compliance with international visitors' expectations.

 

How about local tourism suppliers actually supplying services that meet the international visitor's expectations?

 

Things such as speaking English (or the visitors own language), transparent honest pricing, punctual delivery of service, safe service (such as safety equipment working - buckles on boat life vests not being broken), safe drivers and safety tested vehicles. That would be a great start at least. Unfortunately, it's always easier to blame "foreigners" for everything. Until Thai tourism operators are brought to scrutiny, nothing will improve.

 

[ronnie50]

Well, Pattaya, for many years, continues to have foreigners openly soliciting business for acounting, legal advice/representation and tax consultanting - all banned to foreigners under Thai law. Yet, they make no attempt to hide their activities - and the authorities do nothing. But if some foreign smuck who is a nominee owner of a bar or restaurant gets caught opening a beer or serving a pizza to a customer - they pounce! Crackdown complete. 

[DaRoadrunner]

"reputational damage." What reputation do the Thais have?

 

All this because the Thais know they cannot compete on a level playing field with foreigners.

[tomazbodner]

3 hours ago, soi3eddie said:

 

How about local tourism suppliers actually supplying services that meet the international visitor's expectations?

 

Things such as speaking English (or the visitors own language), transparent honest pricing, punctual delivery of service, safe service (such as safety equipment working - buckles on boat life vests not being broken), safe drivers and safety tested vehicles. That would be a great start at least. Unfortunately, it's always easier to blame "foreigners" for everything. Until Thai tourism operators are brought to scrutiny, nothing will improve.

 

That might be coming. As a massive punch in the face to Thai hotel operators...

 

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/thai-hotels-face-eu-sustainability-091948636.html

 

Thai hotels must step up sustainability efforts to comply with new European Union (EU) regulations by 2026 [SNIP] SCB EIC highlights that over 20,000 Thai hotels list their rooms on Booking.com and Agoda, both owned by the Netherlands-based Booking Holdings. These platforms must comply with CSRD and CSDDD, which means that hotels selling rooms through them must also meet international sustainability standards.[SNIP]SCB EIC notes that only around 100 hotels in Thailand currently hold international sustainability certifications, representing less than 1% of the sector. The majority of these are chain hotels in Bangkok and Phuket.

[impulse]

14 hours ago, webfact said:

This approach has undermined operators who lose substantial income due to these unregulated practices.

 

I would contend that they're not losing much.  Unless they're catering to the foreigners in their own language and with activities that the guests want, nobody's going to make any money.  The reason foreign operated tourism businesses can make money is because they offer the activities and services that the guests want.  Fluently.

 

Time to up your game, Thailand.

 

[impulse]

15 minutes ago, tomazbodner said:

Thai hotels list their rooms on Booking.com and Agoda, both owned by the Netherlands-based Booking Holdings. These platforms must comply with CSRD and CSDDD, which means that hotels selling rooms through them must also meet international sustainability standards.[SNIP]SCB EIC notes that only around 100 hotels in Thailand currently hold international sustainability certifications, representing less than 1% of the sector.

 

Gotta say, that looks like a huge market gap for some new hotel booking sites to break the monopoly.  Which I would certainly welcome.  But I can't see them killing their Golden Goose. 

 

In fact, they're even advertising illegal condo rentals.  So they can't be too picky about the details.  And you can't convince me that condo owners are pulling one over on them.  They could stop that in a heartbeat.

 

[tomazbodner]

Just now, impulse said:

 

Gotta say, that looks like a huge market gap for some new hotel booking sites to break the monopoly.  But I can't see them killing the Golden Goose. 

 

In fact, they're even advertising illegal condo rentals.  So they can't be too picky.  And you can't convince me that condo owners are pulling one over on them.  They could stop that in a heartbeat.

 

Of course they could. But that's illegal in Thailand, not in EU. This directive is for EU and they are Dutch. I think they would not want to go to war with Brussels...

[impulse]

13 minutes ago, tomazbodner said:

Of course they could. But that's illegal in Thailand, not in EU. This directive is for EU and they are Dutch. I think they would not want to go to war with Brussels...

 

That's an easy fix.  They'll spin off and incorporate a few divisions in some lax countries and those divisions will be corporations unto themselves that operate under other laws.  Corporate HQ will end up being a holding company with their Dutch operations limited to countries that require Euro standards.  Which is what?  Maybe 10-20% of the international hotel market? 

 

If the EU thinks they're going to dictate sustainability rules in Thailand and Japan and Korea and the USA, they have another think coming.

 

 

[hotchilli]

23 hours ago, webfact said:

Thailand is ramping up its crackdown on illegal foreign-run businesses, spurred by concerns about weak law enforcement exposing the country to economic risks and reputational damage.

We want your money and investments, but we don't want you to stay.

[mikebell]

12 hours ago, ronnie50 said:

Well, Pattaya, for many years, continues to have foreigners openly soliciting business for acounting, legal advice/representation and tax consultanting - all banned to foreigners under Thai law. Yet, they make no attempt to hide their activities - and the authorities do nothing. But if some foreign smuck who is a nominee owner of a bar or restaurant gets caught opening a beer or serving a pizza to a customer - they pounce! Crackdown complete. 

Agreed.  I fell victim to a couple of these lawyer firms, losing my house in the process. One was headed by a farang 'lawyer', who, I found out later, was disbarred in UK.  The Thai firm altered the shareholder proportions to suit my ex-wife.

[sikishrory]

In my building the condo has signs everywhere stating in red how daily rentals are prohibited. However they don't even bother to look up when daily rentals rock up looking confused with loads of luggage and having check-in issues or wondering why they can't use the lift without a keycard. 

The google reviews say they can actually pickup and dropoff keys from reception and I have seen them down there complaining to reception about it being "the worst hotel ever".

My old condo Lumpiniville Pattaya also had daily rentals strolling past reception daily despite the 7 foot tall sign at the door prohibiting it.

I guess as long as theres a sign you don't need to actually do anything and can enjoy a nice day of candy crush saga on your phone.