"There are a lot of customers who tell me they don't want to come back to Thailand because of this," he said. "Our business is 50 percent down on last year."
Purachai's "social order" campaign was initially targeted at curbing an epidemic of drug abuse and underage drinking among Thai youth, but it was later extended to clamp down on other illicit activity.
Almost 60,000 people were arrested in nightspots, brothels and gambling dens in the first three months of the wider crackdown, for everything from illegal betting on the underground lottery to producing porn material.
Police have dusted off antiquated laws as tools in the campaign -- shutting down bars for allowing dancing without a permit, and warning that women who enter nightspots without a male chaperone will be turned away.
Last week Purachai forbade resort operators on Pha-ngan island to stage the Full Moon Party, a famously debauched event that is awash with drugs and regularly attracts more than 30,000 tourists.
Local authorities protested the decision to ban the event, saying there was "no law that clearly prohibits partying" but the government, which came to power in a landslide victory a year ago, was unmoved.
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