Tourism | Tam’s office hopes police can handle illegal accommodation

The Legislative Assembly  (AL) Follow-up Committee for Public Administration advised  that the Office of the Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture engage in conversations with the police force regarding cooperation on law enforcement over illegal accommodation, Macao Daily News reported.
Two years ago, the AL Follow-
up Committee for Public Administration reported to the government the difficulties it encountered when dealing with illegal accommodation. However, nothing effective eventuated, despite the government’s promises to review the law enforcement process.
Chan Meng Kam, president of the AL Follow-up Committee for Public Administration, said the department intended to transfer the law enforcement operations to the police, due to the complexity surrounding these ‘illegal hotels’.
“The hotels serve as a stage for gang-related disputes, for imprisonments, for prostitution, for drug use, as well as for overstaying visas, over which the Macau Government Tourism Office (MGTO) has no rights whatsoever to conduct investigations.”
Last year, the MGTO inspected 1,118 residential units that were under suspicion of operating as illegal accommodation, out of which 53 were required to be closed for a period of six months. The unlicensed guesthouses are located mainly in the vicinity of gaming areas, including the ZAPE, and the Macau Ferry Terminal.
In order to comply with legal requirements, all operations were conducted by the MGTO subsequent to complaints addressed to the police regarding the existence of such accommodation facilities. Although over the past two years, 90 percent of the issued penalties were applied by the MGTO, “the ratio of successfully executed penalties is low. The underlying cause [of the problem] needs to be addressed, especially the smugglers,” said Chan.  Staff reporter