PHUKET: All guides on Phuket are required to register before a crackdown begins that is designed to end the activities of illegal guides on the island, a meeting heard yesterday.

The guides - about 2000 of more than 4000 guides are foreigners - will have to register before October 6 or face arrest, said Santi Pawai, chief of the Ministry of Tourism and Sports office on Phuket, who recently was given the role of Director of the Business and Guide Registration Branch.



He is opting to create a database and at the same time training all police on Phuket for a crackdown that will equip them with the skills that officers need to detect and arrest illegal guides.

Royal Thai Navy Captain Pornpom Sakultem told the meeting at the Tourism and Sports office on Phuket: ''From Monday, officers from the island's 10 police stations will begin training.''

''Tour leaders'' and so-called ''sitting guides'' will be among those targetted for arrest, the meeting heard.

Resorts with illegal tour counters and illegal time-share sales desks will be included in the crackdown.

More here: Phuket's Illegal Guides Face Arrest as Police Training Begins for Crackdown - Phuket Wan