The calls follow data released by the Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment last month which revealed only one formal written breach notice was handed to a licenced operator in parks and reserves across the last financial year.

Paul Grigg, the owner of St Leonards-based Walking Tours Tasmania, said most tour operators do the right thing and had gone through the "long process" of accreditation.

But he says those operating without a Commercial Visitor Services licence are something he comes across "all the time" - especially around the Cradle Mountain region.

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"[It is] just a case of hire a bus, hire a driver, and if you get stopped tell them we are all family," he said. "I think it's in a bit of a too-hard basket for them [the Tasmanian Parks and Wildlife Service] because I don't know quite how they police it - or how they can police it."

And though "sympathetic" to the difficulty of the task, he said there were things that "need tidying up".

Illegal bus operators are certainly a problem, according to the Tourism Industry Council Tasmania. But most without the required permits are quickly brought into line or shut down.

TICT chief executive Luke Martin said along with spot checks by park rangers, the "frontline" of the regulation was existing licenced operators.

Along with Cradle Mountain, kunanyi/Mt Wellington, the Tasman Peninsula and Mt Field were other hot-spots for the practice.

"The traditional industry knows when they see operators doing the wrong thing," he said. "They do report them, and Parks goes after them."

"Any operators who are not doing the right thing ... should have the book thrown at them."

The PWS was contacted for comment.

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