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

[FitnessHealthTravel]

Damage from tourists?  Are they out of their minds. What about all the trash that is washed up daily on the beaches of the main land and southern Islands like Samui.  95% of this crap comes from the fishing boats and locals.  EDUCATION IS NEEDED NOW!!!

[peperobi]

18 hours ago, gamesgplayemail said:

 

Tao is second worst island in Thailand after Phuket.

 

 

I will say after Samui!!!

[peperobi]

7 minutes ago, FitnessHealthTravel said:

Damage from tourists?  Are they out of their minds. What about all the trash that is washed up daily on the beaches of the main land and southern Islands like Samui.  95% of this crap comes from the fishing boats and locals.  EDUCATION IS NEEDED NOW!!!

Even all the pipes that drop all the shit from many hotels directly to the sea...

[Khun Paul]

If you carry on blaming tourists for your P{OOR TOURISM management of beaches eetc, then you will soon NOT HAVE tourists to worry about but only THAI tourists who as far as I am concerned far more destructive that anyone else . 

[Kiwisailor]

5 hours ago, webfact said:

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

So could this be interpreted as "No swimming from the beach" as this would involve walking on the seabed in the shallow water?

[Cake Monster]

The damage is not caused by the Tourists

 

Most of the damage has been caused by successive Governments choosing profits and corruption over their Environment

[SupermarineS6B]

Typical, let's blame the farang as Thais don't litter of course..... How can you take a word of these loons seriously ?  

[connda]

7 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.

This Is Thailand (TIT).  When you can, blame someone else.  To admit responsibility is to lose face. 

[tryasimight]

53 minutes ago, SupermarineS6B said:

Typical, let's blame the farang as Thais don't litter of course..... How can you take a word of these loons seriously ?  

Where in the article did it mention farangs? 

It didn't but carry on playing the victim card. They are all out to get you. 

[KeesHolland]

The Singapore solution:  In Singapore, fines can reach $1,000 for first time offenders and littering fines range from $300 to $1,000 for first time offenders. Both fines rise up to $5,000 for third-time offenders with the possibility of facing jail time.

[natway09]

I know I will bet bomb basted here but they need to take a %  the immense wealth that tourists are bringing into this country & earmark for infrastructure. Mr  PM I  do not mean chuffa trains but basic fat & sewerage plants, clean burning rubbish incinerators, decent rubbish collection, a police department that enforces the existing laws (  & the marine department as well) along with inspectors that cannot be bribed but enforce 

rules & regulations

[khunPer]

If you up early enough on Haad Rin's Sunrise Beach the morning after the Full Moon Party, it's easy to catch photographs like the ones in the article, before the last party guest had finish their turn, and the beach is cleaned. The arrangers of FMP actually did improve already in 2016, with numerous bins for used bottles, cans and buckets (the often used plastic drink mixing-bowl with straws, folks walk around with).

 

 

In general the rising number of tourists coming to the three islands, and the increasing number of those tourists that wish to take outings like fishing, diving, sea bed walking, visiting remote island in the marine park in search of the genuine "Beach", has impact on the nature, and probably could be limited, or restricted in some way, to protect corals and sea life, and nature in general; a limited number of visiting pass (tickets), could be a solution, with a reasonable small "entrance" fee that could also cover cover expenses to keep the nature in shape, and installing necessary equipment – garbage bins, and regular service of them – to protect the area. Heftig fines, like Singapore showed worked well, is another potential way, but only after proper bins etc. are in place.

 

And yes, some foreign tourists are hard to the environment, among other by just leaving their piles of garbage of the beach – I talk from multiple bad experience as beach-front resident...

[ostyan]

o understand what is the real source of these damages, it is enough to take a short ride on a train. The windows can be lovered on the third class coaches, first and second class waggons if they are available,  have aircon, so windows are closed.

After ten minutes the first food seller appears, things the unlimited number of "UFOs" start to fly out the windows. The consequence? Garbage, litter and damages all along the tracks.

Beaches. In my roughly eight years here I could see thousand times, that Thais have a picnic on the beach, but I could hardly see that they collect their garbage, make considerable efforts to find a garbage bin and tries to deposit their garbage on the top of the garbage peak.

The sewage pipes run into the sea, without any cleaning of course. Itching surely comes after ten minutes of bathing. I would not say foreign or local tourists could be blamed for this.

I do not really want to say foreign tourists do not make garbage and they are perfect. Not at all. On the other hand, Thailand is a beautiful developing country. People should learn a lot.

[Kimber]

11 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.

 

Farang= Scapegoat

[SOTIRIOS]

...more like greed and negligence...

 

..raking in the dough and not wanting to invest any in the upkeep and improvement to handle the ever-increasing hordes of people...

 

 

 

 

[SupermarineS6B]

4 hours ago, tryasimight said:

Where in the article did it mention farangs? 

It didn't but carry on playing the victim card. They are all out to get you. 

Tourists, and do you think they mean Thai tourists ?      Me thinks not, as Thai people wouldn't litter in the Loondom of La la land.......

[manhood]

 Thailand blame the tourists for their "organised missmanagement '" of the toruistic places

Thais are the most ones waisting the beaches and all the enviromental things as they not care about it!

I see that every day and when you point to a Thai not to do that he get furious. But anyway i wont stop doing it.

 

So hopefully more and more western tourists start avoiding to come to Thailand. Leave this country to the Thais and their close neigbours like Chinese for a better deal as only money and better corruption money counts at the end.

[thaibeachlovers]

On ‎3‎/‎16‎/‎2018 at 5:08 AM, webfact said:

in a belated effort to conserve and rehabilitate the natural resources and environment of the three popular tourist destinations and the sea.

They could make a good start by demolishing that resort in the photo in the OP.

 

Never going to happen.

If nothing else, that is the tragedy of tourism in Thailand, after the Bkk money realised there was real gold in those beaches.

Since the mid 90s it's just been a sad tale of destruction and ruin to every easily reached nice beach in LOS.

[franckfranck]

On 3/16/2018 at 10:08 AM, RichardColeman said:

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

Pfff! No such word exits in their vocab.

[rosst]

The biggest problem is the greedy tourist related industries and the lack of infrastructure all over Thailand, much of the damage is from shit washed down the rivers after all the careless littering. 

Placing restrictions on the numbers of tourists is a great idea and holding tour operators responsible for the conditions of the site. 

[lvr181]

On 3/20/2018 at 11:10 AM, nakhonandy said:

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.

Singapore managed this in 50 years - in Thailand's 600 years they cannot even think of this! 

 

Beyond Thai authorities thinking capabilities.

 

A beautiful country being spoilt/destroyed by successive Governments (elected or not).  There is no Thai 4.0, merely an illusion for the happiness of Thai peoples.

[huberthammer]

40 minutes ago, lvr181 said:

Singapore managed this in 50 years - in Thailand's 600 years they cannot even think of this! 

 

Beyond Thai authorities thinking capabilities.

 

A beautiful country being spoilt/destroyed by successive Governments (elected or not).  There is no Thai 4.0, merely an illusion for the happiness of Thai peoples.

A pretty useless comparison:

 

Singapore is a city state

Singapore is over 700 times smaller than Thailand 

Singapore's population is 12 times lower than Thailand

Singapore's cost of living is a 30-40pct higher than Thailand

 

Don't think there is a useful way to compare the two countries and to conclude that because of that Thailand completely failed. 

 

 And just because you mentioned happiness, not something that will come to mind when talking to the average Singaporean...

 

[lvr181]

2 hours ago, huberthammer said:

A pretty useless comparison:

 

Singapore is a city state

Singapore is over 700 times smaller than Thailand 

Singapore's population is 12 times lower than Thailand

Singapore's cost of living is a 30-40pct higher than Thailand

 

Don't think there is a useful way to compare the two countries and to conclude that because of that Thailand completely failed. 

 

 And just because you mentioned happiness, not something that will come to mind when talking to the average Singaporean...

 

It is the principles that should be applied! Thus, NOT a useless comparison. Thailand fails.

 

Define "the average Singporean"? I have travelled many times to Singapore and not found a lot of unhappiness. Recently I spoke, at length, to an ex-Malaysian (works in concierge in the hotel I was staying) and he was very happy that his daughter can now get a decent education. 

[huberthammer]

Talk to the taxi drivers, people in the hawker shops or locals in non-expat areas. You will get a much different picture about Singapore and how many people the economy left behind. Visiting we see the glamours side and the strong economy but not the price it cost those in the lower income brackets (of which there are plenty).

 

As for the principles,  Singapore had one man with a vision who did what was necessary to make it become reality (with the help of British infrastructure already in place). In the time of social media there is no way such an iron fist and people control could still be applied (and again size does matter, same could never have been achieved with 10+ Mio population).

 

No doubt it is probably the best run country in the world and most western countries could learn from Singapore Inc. I do admire many aspects of Singapore and what they have achieved. However, I would not see their principles as something I admire nor do I think it makes a particular good role model for social behaviour. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[lvr181]

3 minutes ago, huberthammer said:

Talk to the taxi drivers, people in the hawker shops or locals in non-expat areas. You will get a much different picture about Singapore and how many people the economy left behind. Visiting we see the glamours side and the strong economy but not the price it cost those in the lower income brackets (of which there are plenty).

 

As for the principles,  Singapore had one man with a vision who did what was necessary to make it become reality (with the help of British infrastructure already in place). In the time of social media there is no way such an iron fist and people control could still be applied (and again size does matter, same could never have been achieved with 10+ Mio population).

 

No doubt it is probably the best run country in the world and most western countries could learn from Singapore Inc. I do admire many aspects of Singapore and what they have achieved. However, I would not see their principles as something I admire nor do I think it makes a particular good role model for social behaviour. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What 'principles' are you alluding to?

 

The principles I am talking about are "provide rubbish bins, employ clean up crews, fine litterers etc." Nothing more nothing less.   Keep in the context please.

[ostyan]

Koh Tao .... I think some HiSo kids should be taken under control first.

[Sir Dude]

All these place must be really screwed if they have got round to actually thinking/announcing about restricting access. I'll believe it when I see it....but me thinks it's just lip-service and the piss will continue to be taken, as the rewards are too high, until it really gets to the point of no return.

[thaibeachlovers]

13 hours ago, Sir Dude said:

until it really gets to the point of no return.

As long as the mass tourism industry can fool people with fancy brochures, it's never going to end. There are millions of people out there that know nothing about LOS except what they see in advertising.

Many/ most of them will have a great holiday and tell their friends. Unfortunately, they do not realise that their money has destroyed the environment, as they spend most of the time around the hotel pool drinking and getting a tan.

[Kiwisailor]

On 3/22/2018 at 1:45 PM, huberthammer said:

Singapore is a city state

Singapore is over 700 times smaller than Thailand 

Singapore's population is 12 times lower than Thailand

Singapore's cost of living is a 30-40pct higher than Thailand

In the late 60's early 70's the gap between Bangkok (never ventured any further!) and Singapore was much narrower. Both Cities had a rich elite who lived in a world far removed from the average citizen. Singapore was already showing signs of moving away from "Third World" if they had not already done so due to British rule and laws. The great leap forward for Singapore was the continuation of the British approach to corruption in the Bureaucracy (eg it has to be weeded out) and in my opinion this is what Thailand 4.0 needs to address before any other issues.

[carmine]

Tighter control!  excellent idea, there must be more efficient ways to stiff the tourists.