OrBorJor to offer incentives for rooms tax

PHUKET: In a move to encourage Phuket hotels to pay their dues, Phuket Provincial Administration Organization (OrBorJor) President Paiboon Upatising has said that the OrBorJor would start offering incentives to hotels that paid the controversial rooms tax.

Although he did not specifically explain what incentives would be offered, Khun Paiboon said that they would be in the form of personnel or human resources development so that businesses that complied with the tax would be able to enhance the skills of their employees.

K. Paiboon said that the OrBorJor aims to collect at least 80 million baht in accommodation tax this year.

To this end, he has invited hoteliers, the Phuket Tourist Association and other local hotels’ clubs to discuss co-operation, adding that some hotels have not paid any rooms tax – despite the tax being introduced eight years ago – as they do not understand how the revenue generated would be spent.

Hotels in Phuket are required by law to price their accommodations to include a 1% room tax. In the past, however, some hotel operators have defied paying the tax, citing a lack of clear information about what the money is used for.

According to the OrBorJor, a total of 64.7 million baht in rooms taxes were collected between October 2007 and June 2008.

K. Paiboon said that most of the hotels that have yet to pay their accommodation tax were in Kata and Karon.

He added that if all hotels on the island paid the tax, the revenue generated would total more than 200 million baht.