Maya Bay, Thailand: Officially Closed to Tourists until End of September

Tourists arriving at the idyllic cove that starred in “The Beach” are now officially prohibited from visiting it due to the damage that has been caused over the years to the surrounding coral reef.

The movie has encouraged huge waves of tourists to visit Phi-Phi Islands, where Maya Bay is located; unfortunately, even though it brought large profits to the country, it also destroyed the utopia that people used to know and see on the big screen.

5,000 people arrive every single day on boat trips from Krabi and Phuket, which in time has led to the destruction of the coral reef.

Authorities have finally made the move and decided to prevent tourists from visiting the area for 4 months: from June 1 until September 30 in order to let the corals recover.

This approach has also been applied in other areas of Thailand, but it represents the first time when Maya Bay is closed to travelers.

“Parts of the Similans and Surin islands have been closed in the past to let the corals recover, but this is a first for Maya Bay,” she said. “The closure, from June to September, will be in the middle of low season, when rain is pretty persistent, so I can’t imagine too many tourists will be turned away. But the beach is stupidly busy in high season so it’s good to see Thailand putting nature ahead of profits for once,” said Lee Cobaj, Telegraph’s Travel expert in Bangkok

There were also discussions on stricter measures, such as a daily cap on visitor numbers and even a permanent closure of the bay to sightseeing boats. However, after thinking it through, they decided that a permanent closure of Maya Bay would lead to terrible losses in terms of profits.

“Temporary closures can help to a certain extent. But an ideal solution is a permanent closure, which is not possible due to our reliance on tourism revenue,” said Thon Thamrongnawasawat, a marine ecologist at Kasetsart University in Bangkok.

By looking at the numbers, 72% of Thailand’s coral reef has been severely damaged, up from only 30% a decade ago. These detrimental effects appeared because of the polluted water from seaside hotels, the dumping of plastic waste and damage from boat anchors.

At the same time, there are not many countries that have experience such a big tourism boom over the last two decades: in Thailand, travel industry accounts for more than 20% of GDP. In 1998, 7.8 international travelers visiting the country, while last year the number skyrocketed to 35m.

Source: telegraph.co.uk