Southern Tourism Business and Tour Guide Registration Office revoked the licences of four illegal travel agencies on Koh Samui for operating through Thai nominees.
The revocation followed an expanded crackdown on nominee-run businesses across Thailand. Koh Samui Tourist Police and the Surat Thani Tourism and Sports Office inspected 12 suspicious travel agencies on the island and found four operating illegally.
Under Thai law, travel agencies must have Thai nationals making up at least two-thirds of the company directors.
Investigators found one of the four illegal companies had an Israeli national acting as the sole director, which violated the regulations. For the remaining three businesses, officers visited the registered company addresses listed in official documents but found no active operations at those locations.
Authorities also discovered that the three companies had changed their director lists in ways that breached Thai law. The businesses were reportedly linked to French, Belgian and Italian nationals.
Investigators said four Thai nationals had acted as nominees to facilitate the operations. Officials did not release the identities of the suspects involved.
The Southern Tourism Business and Tour Guide Registration Office revoked the licences of all four travel agencies and blacklisted seven directors, including both Thai and foreign nationals.
Those suspects will be prohibited from operating travel agencies in Thailand for five years. Further legal action and penalties would be considered by the Surat Thani Provincial Commerce Office.
According to DailyNews, Surat Thani province currently has 1,082 legally registered travel agencies, including 476 on Koh Samui, 84 on Koh Pha Ngan and 144 on Koh Tao. The province has also issued licences to 1,009 tour guides.
The registration office stated that inspections of illegal tourism businesses have been conducted regularly and were not part of a newly launched campaign.
Officials added that information on companies applying for licences and those whose licences have been revoked would be forwarded to the provincial commerce office for additional investigations into related offences.
The story 4 travel agencies on Koh Samui found operating through Thai nominees as seen on Thaiger News.
