Tighter control on tourism-related activities on Koh Samui, Koh Tao and Koh Pha-ngan

[webfact]

Tighter control on tourism-related activities on Koh Samui, Koh Tao and Koh Pha-ngan

By Thai PBS

 

 

The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment has decided to tighten up the control of tourism-related activities on Koh Samui, Koh Tao and Koh Pha-ngan in Surat Thani in a belated effort to conserve and rehabilitate the natural resources and environment of the three popular tourist destinations and the sea.

 

A memorandum of understanding was signed on Thursday (March 15) between the Natural Resources and Environment and all parties concerned which include representatives of tourism-related business operators such as the tourism promotion associations, fishermen associations and local administration organizations.

 

The MoU signing at Koh Samui municipal was witnessed by Natural Resources and Environment Minister Gen Surasak Karnjanarat and Tourism and Sports Minister Weerasak Kowsurat among others.

 

Full story: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/tighter-control-tourism-related-activities-ko-samui-ko-tao-ko-pha-ngan/

 

-- © Copyright Thai PBS 2018-03-16

 

[cornishcarlos]

It would be nice to see some action in this respect, albeit far too late and purely money driven...

Can't see it happening though, rape n pillage business as usual, until it's completely ruined beyond repair !!

[Arkady]

I wonder if the Interior Ministry will order the demolition of all the illegal structures built on Koh Tao, i.e. anything that is not a temporary shelter for use in the pursuit of agriculture and fisheries. That is all that is permitted on Phor Bor Thor 5 land which is all there is on Koh Tao apart from forest reserve land on which no privately owned structures may be built at all. Enforcement of the existing land use laws would clean up all the problems to do with the environment as well as all other tourism related problems on the island.

[Tidybeard]

So let me get this straight .... the main action for preserving the environment of our islands is to stop selling fish food.

 

Nice one - that will do it !

[RichardColeman]

3 hours ago, webfact said:

A memorandum of understanding was signed on Thursday (March 15) between the Natural Resources and Environment and all parties concerned

I'd rather it have been a 'commitment' rather than an 'understanding' !

[Lupatria]

2 hours ago, Arkady said:

I wonder if the Interior Ministry will order the demolition of all the illegal structures built on Koh Tao, i.e. anything that is not a temporary shelter for use in the pursuit of agriculture and fisheries. That is all that is permitted on Phor Bor Thor 5 land which is all there is on Koh Tao apart from forest reserve land on which no privately owned structures may be built at all. Enforcement of the existing land use laws would clean up all the problems to do with the environment as well as all other tourism related problems on the island.

You are not asking for tighter control of the islands mafia and influential families, are you?

[farcanell]

I would have thought that feeding the fish was a better option than having them disappear, along with their coral habitat

 

anyway... a memo of understanding hey?

this should be good.

 

representatives from the tourism and fishing associations, along with local admin organizations, have basically signed that they understand that the people that they represent, should stop breaking the law, and abide by existing and soon to the announced rules

 

yep... I see more darkness at the end of the tunnel... thank god for the flashing warning lights advising us that the track is about to run out... it’s just a pity that the brakes don’t work in thailand. (And that warning lights are seen as twinkling decorations!)

Edited March 16, 2018 by farcanell

[Juan B Tong]

Meaningless.  Surprised no photo-op.  

 

[Arkady]

2 hours ago, Lupatria said:

You are not asking for tighter control of the islands mafia and influential families, are you?

They just need to enforce the law which prohibits all hotels, guest houses, shops, even private residences that are more than temporary shelters on Koh Tao.  All the land is owned by the government and that which is not forest reverse is permitted for use by locals under Phor Bor Thor 5 documents that are merely receipts for tax paid to local administrations for agricultural and fisheries use only.  This is land supposed to be administered by the Interior Ministry directly through the Department of Provincial Administration.  The Land Department has no jurisdiction because there is a ministerial regulation that says land on Koh Tao may never be upgraded to any kind of title deed that conveys private ownership. 

 

It could only be done by a military government but is not going to happen.  Interestingly though the government is also not interested in doing the opposite, i.e. repealing the ministerial regulation and making big money from titling the land.  I believe there are similar ministerial regulations applying to Phang Ngan and Samui that prohibit any further titling of Phor Bor Thor 5 land but Koh Tao is unique, due to its history as a prison settlement in not having any titled land whatsoever which provides a potential means to deal with the problems, if anyone ever has the courage to do so.   

[khunPer]

1 hour ago, Arkady said:

They just need to enforce the law which prohibits all hotels, guest houses, shops, even private residences that are more than temporary shelters on Koh Tao.  All the land is owned by the government and that which is not forest reverse is permitted for use by locals under Phor Bor Thor 5 documents that are merely receipts for tax paid to local administrations for agricultural and fisheries use only.  This is land supposed to be administered by the Interior Ministry directly through the Department of Provincial Administration.  The Land Department has no jurisdiction because there is a ministerial regulation that says land on Koh Tao may never be upgraded to any kind of title deed that conveys private ownership. 

 

It could only be done by a military government but is not going to happen.  Interestingly though the government is also not interested in doing the opposite, i.e. repealing the ministerial regulation and making big money from titling the land.  I believe there are similar ministerial regulations applying to Phang Ngan and Samui that prohibit any further titling of Phor Bor Thor 5 land but Koh Tao is unique, due to its history as a prison settlement in not having any titled land whatsoever which provides a potential means to deal with the problems, if anyone ever has the courage to do so.   

We all know that this is not going to happen, as too big money is involved with the (ever) expanding tourism, even Koh Tao has a different background, than the other two major islands in the archipelago.

 

What can – and in my opinion should – be done, is overall planning, and balancing the number of tourists and new resorts, with necessary infrastructure improvements, and limitations to "protected" zones.

 

The often mentioned problem with both Koh Tao and Koh Samui is the garbage and the island's faulty incinerators – both islands, similar story – which should not be that difficult to solve, if the overdue warranty claims are forgotten, and the up to 2 percent tourist tax used for fixing the purpose, including charging the resorts a fee per room or bed as potential garbage sponsors, instead of a symbolic fixed monthly garbage charge, which on Koh Samui is told by the authorities to be 2,000 baht only.

 

Lots of new resorts are build, and some still in planning for construction and opening with a few years. Giving permission to a new resort over a certain size, so small guest house business is not restricted too much, could be a claim for infrastructure subsidy. Building yet another resort, with for example 100 rooms or beds, has environmental impact in several ways, and also impact on the road traffic load. For the latter it's not solved with yet another driveway, and a guard stopping the traffic on a busy Ring Road, but there could be a demand to give land for a proper road intersection with for example a roundabout, if the resort is over a certain size. In other words, if a new resort – or shopping mall or like – cannot financially incorporate the costs for environmental and infrastructural stress, it's not targeting the right "quality tourists"...

 

The military government seem to have started some of the procedures – for example sweeping illegal hostages away from Haad Rin, and checking land deeds at Samui and Phangan, and even removing illegal signs from public roads – I hope they'll continue that work with good common sense, and not loose focus by sweeping away all sun-chairs and umbrellas from the beaches, like what happened on Phuket, but balancing it to a realistic load, in the right areas, including jet-skies and the like.

[gamesgplayemail]

A better news would be

 

 

Tighter control on cops tourism-related scam activities on Koh Samui, Koh Tao and Koh Pha-ngan

 

 

[Redline]

They don’t have the power to stop anything on those islands 

[Arkady]

14 hours ago, khunPer said:

We all know that this is not going to happen, as too big money is involved with the (ever) expanding tourism, even Koh Tao has a different background, than the other two major islands in the archipelago.

 

What can – and in my opinion should – be done, is overall planning, and balancing the number of tourists and new resorts, with necessary infrastructure improvements, and limitations to "protected" zones.

 

The often mentioned problem with both Koh Tao and Koh Samui is the garbage and the island's faulty incinerators – both islands, similar story – which should not be that difficult to solve, if the overdue warranty claims are forgotten, and the up to 2 percent tourist tax used for fixing the purpose, including charging the resorts a fee per room or bed as potential garbage sponsors, instead of a symbolic fixed monthly garbage charge, which on Koh Samui is told by the authorities to be 2,000 baht only.

 

Lots of new resorts are build, and some still in planning for construction and opening with a few years. Giving permission to a new resort over a certain size, so small guest house business is not restricted too much, could be a claim for infrastructure subsidy. Building yet another resort, with for example 100 rooms or beds, has environmental impact in several ways, and also impact on the road traffic load. For the latter it's not solved with yet another driveway, and a guard stopping the traffic on a busy Ring Road, but there could be a demand to give land for a proper road intersection with for example a roundabout, if the resort is over a certain size. In other words, if a new resort – or shopping mall or like – cannot financially incorporate the costs for environmental and infrastructural stress, it's not targeting the right "quality tourists"...

 

The military government seem to have started some of the procedures – for example sweeping illegal hostages away from Haad Rin, and checking land deeds at Samui and Phangan, and even removing illegal signs from public roads – I hope they'll continue that work with good common sense, and not loose focus by sweeping away all sun-chairs and umbrellas from the beaches, like what happened on Phuket, but balancing it to a realistic load, in the right areas, including jet-skies and the like.

 

Good suggestions. From the start it has the look of an internal PR iniative from a department that has little power or real determination to get much done. It would need a top down approach from the cabinet to enlist all relevant ministries and departments to come up with a viable plan for sustainable, minimally environmentally destructive tourism in the Samui Archipelago and execute it. Now there is theoretically not enough time left for this government anyway.

 

I think the legal issue of the land use rights is relevant because the land ownership is fundamental. Tourism in all three islands and particularly KT is premised in government acceptance of widespread illegal use of government land and encroachment on forest reserve. This has created rotten foundations for building a decent tourism industry on and hands control to the type of elements that can survive and flourish in a environment where there is no clear rule of law. A sort of parallel might be seen in Cancun, Mexico, a shiny resort that sprung up out of the jungle built with narco dollars. A great money spinner but how can government control its development? Now the cartels are fighting it out and have started murdering each other in their own Las Vegas style hotel lobbies, ignoring the previous agreement to keep it a safe area. It may go down the tubes like Acapulco did and become a ghost town in the jungle eventually. If governments cede control from the beginning, they have no say in how resorts develop. That seems to be what has happened in the Samui islands.

[khunPer]

8 hours ago, Arkady said:

It would need a top down approach from the cabinet to enlist all relevant ministries and departments to come up with a viable plan for sustainable, minimally environmentally destructive tourism in the Samui Archipelago and execute it. Now there is theoretically not enough time left for this government anyway.

Section 44 could easily solve that problem...

 

8 hours ago, Arkady said:

 

I think the legal issue of the land use rights is relevant because the land ownership is fundamental.

It's mainly Koh Tao having general land deed problems – and there might be some deeper background there, not that easy to dig up, and to understand for foreigners – however on both Phangan and Samui there has also been some cases with unclear rights of title deeds, and illegally occupied land, or land used inconsistent with permission; but the major number of hotels and resorts, if not all, are all build on legal titled land.

[Kiwisailor]

Would be nice to see the restart of the official fixed fares system that was put in place on Ko Phangan some years ago. All the old fare signs are long gone and now the songtaos show the ad they've produced as the "official" pricelist for travel on the island.

[Arkady]

On 3/18/2018 at 3:59 AM, Kiwisailor said:

Would be nice to see the restart of the official fixed fares system that was put in place on Ko Phangan some years ago. All the old fare signs are long gone and now the songtaos show the ad they've produced as the "official" pricelist for travel on the island.

 

Arriving there and being confronted by the taxi mafia and their outrageous fares for a bumpy ride in their beat up old pick-ups was what convinced me immediately that I would not visit the island a second time. They made no bones about quoting more because there was one white face in our group (mine). Koh Tao was similar with the added scam that the hotel pretended to offer a “free” transfer but then claimed it had to wait for the next hydrofoil in 4 hours to fill up before it could leave without payment. But there are other reasons never to visit Koh Tao again.

[gamesgplayemail]

9 hours ago, Arkady said:

 

Arriving there and being confronted by the taxi mafia and their outrageous fares for a bumpy ride in their beat up old pick-ups was what convinced me immediately that I would not visit the island a second time. They made no bones about quoting more because there was one white face in our group (mine). Koh Tao was similar with the added scam that the hotel pretended to offer a “free” transfer but then claimed it had to wait for the next hydrofoil in 4 hours to fill up before it could leave without payment. But there are other reasons never to visit Koh Tao again.

 

Tao is second worst island in Thailand after Phuket.

 

 

[Arkady]

47 minutes ago, gamesgplayemail said:

 

Tao is second worst island in Thailand after Phuket.

 

I gave up going there a few years ago too, not due to any specific problem but it just didn't appeal to me any more.  Also the overcrowding at the airport, which was a breeze once upon a time, became intolerable and has apparently got much worse.  Last time I went to Samui it was hard to find anyone who could speak Thai in shops and restaurants and many of the hotel staff couldn't speak it either.  They were mainly all Burmese.  It didn't really feel like being in Thailand, more like being in some kind of ersatz Thailand in a holiday camp.  I guess that Phuket has gone the same way too.  So there is not much motivation to go to the South any more.

[evadgib]

Samui remains a great place to live if you give Chaweng & Lamai a fairly wide berth and keep your wits about you when driving.

[webfact]

Thailand Beaches to Face Strict Rules to Undo Damage from Tourists

 

File photo

 

BANGKOK – The Government of Thailand is planning to adopt drastic measures against increasing environmental damage caused by tourism on three popular islands in southern Thailand.

 

Starting in July, the government will ban fishing, fish feeding, anchoring on coral reefs, construction on the beach, and walking on the seabed on the islands, said Jatuporn Burutphat, director of the Department of Marine and Coastal Resources.

 

The islands include Koh Samui, Koh Tao and Koh Pha-ngan. Koh Pha-ngan is known internationally for its regular Full Moon Parties and is visited by almost one million tourists a year, while Koh Samui welcomed more than 2.3 million tourists in 2016.

 

Full story: http://www.chiangraitimes.com/thailand-beaches-to-face-strict-rules-to-undo-damage-from-tourists.html

 

-- © Copyright Chiang Rai Times 2018-03-20

[Thechook]

Why is it the tourists fault?  What about thai greed, corruption, poor management, and the lack of infrastructure such as garbage disposal, surely these are bigger contributors to the problem than the guests you lure.

[mercman24]

well i hope you lump in the THAI  WEEKEND TOURISTS , never witnessed such a lot of litter louts here in Jomtien on a week end. and they aint no short term tourists either, descend here in drove in their 4 x 4 s

[Lupatria]

Next time you hang out on the beach, let your Thai wife throw the trash on the sand and in the ocean,- she will not be held responsible.

[nakhonandy]

They just don't have a clue, or at least pretend not to.

Tourists are not the main cause, well certainly not western tourists that are so used to not littering that they just don't do it.

I see every weekend the Thai tourists and locals leaving all their crap on the beach, they just don't even think about it and never take the crap with them.

Also a lot of this rubbish comes in from the sea, a lot of that originates from the rivers that are full of rubbish, also dumped by tourists no doubt.

 

Adopt the same approach as the west, or Singapore, provide rubbish bins, employ clean up crews, fine litterers etc. Won't happen as it involves work and actually dealing with the problem.

Edited March 20, 2018 by nakhonandy

[Credo]

2 hours ago, Thechook said:

Why is it the tourists fault?  What about thai greed, corruption, poor management, and the lack of infrastructure such as garbage disposal, surely these are bigger contributors to the problem than the guests you lure.

The headline is a little misleading as it says tourists, but the article states tourism, which is better.   It's not just the tourists, but all the businesses that get set up wherever there are tourists, food vendors, ski jets, tour boats, etc.    

 

A big problem is that garbage is not only simply discarded, but garbage cans get overflowing and dogs start digging through the trash and the next thing, there is plastic bags blowing all over the place.   

[jobwolf]

I had been under the impression this is law already, so it is all about implementing it.

 

[helloagain]

3 hours ago, Thechook said:

Why is it the tourists fault?  What about thai greed, corruption, poor management, and the lack of infrastructure such as garbage disposal, surely these are bigger contributors to the problem than the guests you lure.

They just dont get it. You are so right. If the thais not take them there they cant go derrrr

[eddie61]

For which day is that crackdown  scheduled?

[LoZth]

Litter on the beach, drinking on the beach, smoking on the beach, tourist doing nasty disgusting things with each other, drinking alcohol on the beach, tourist killing coral to name just a few things evil tourists do.....

 

Easily rectified......

 

Build 20foot electrified fences round them, topped with razor wire, just in case the wily tourist has bought a pair of Marigolds and some Thai electrician/Cambodian builders flip flops.

 

Surround the fence with rabid soi dogs and those blokes in brown in none active posts and a few rampant Lady boys wielding stiletto's and

Bobs Yer Uncle... 

Job done!!!!!

[Suradit69]

3 hours ago, Thechook said:

Why is it the tourists fault?  What about thai greed, corruption, poor management, and the lack of infrastructure such as garbage disposal, surely these are bigger contributors to the problem than the guests you lure.

Hardly a concern unique to Thailand ... and the introduction of infrastructure to support such tourism is often a significant cause of the problem.

 

Of course, per usual, farang feel a loss of face if they're believed to be held even partially responsible or minimally accountable for anything gone wrong ... assuming also that they alone are designated as tourists.

 

It's a bit unfair to single out Thais, as if farang are blameless ... unless it's Thais who flock to such places as the Easter Islands, Venice, the Galapagos, The Valley of the Kings, Mt. Everest, etc

 

Quote

Tourist hordes told to stay away from world heritage sites by the locals
From Easter Island to Venice, communities are up in arms at the environmental damage being caused by mass tourism

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2009/sep/06/mass-tourism-environmental-damage

 

Quote

the conquering of Everest has seen a small but devout stream of climbers leave so much litter there that the base camp was described as "the world's highest garbage dump" by mountaineer Sir Chris Bonington.

Quote

Even the UK has not been immune to the problems, with the standing stones at Stonehenge having to be fenced off from the hands of an over-eager public to prevent damage.

 

Quote

The grave sites of the boy king Tutankhamun and of Queen Nefertiti and Seti I have so much humidity that fungus is growing on the walls. The Egyptian authorities are now expected to announce plans to close at least those three tombs down to the public completely, replacing them with replicas.