A tough step to save reeling paradise

[rooster59]

A tough step to save reeling paradise

By PIYAPORN WONGRUANG 
THE SUNDAY NATION

 

File photos/ Nation

 

DECISION TO CLOSE MAYA BAY IN MONSOON SEASON HAS PRICE BUT WAS INEVITABLE

 

THE YOUNG AMERICAN backpacker Richard found his way to Bangkok, arriving in Khao San Road bustling with backpackers, before venturing further to a so-called paradise, where he joined the neo-hippie lifestyle pursued by a number of adventurous tourists who arrived before him.

 

It’s Maya Bay on Phi Phi Island, famously chosen as the so-called paradise setting for the popular 2000 film, “The Beach”, featuring Leonardo DiCaprio starring as Richard.

 

There, Richard found peace as he sat on the beach, looking into the distance past the deep blue turquoise sea of the nearly deserted bay.

Such is the serenity of the beach and the bay that has been showcased worldwide, that it has ever since earned fame and an endless procession of tourists.

 

But now it is in danger of being ruined. Recent years have seen such a flood of tourists that the beach has now exceeded its capacity.

 

This led to the recent notable action by the Department of National Parks, Wildlife, and Plant Conservation (DNP), to close the bay in order to give nature a chance to revive before it is too late.

 

“The location is critical in the sense that it has become a symbol because it is world famous,” said Dr Thon Thamrongnawasawat, a member of the national marine and coastal resources committee that advises the department. “If we can do this here, we can do this elsewhere as well.”

 

 

Thon, a marine ecologist who has frequented almost all of the islands in the South including Phi Phi, firmly grasps the overload these islands face due to the constant increase in the number of tourists.

 

It’s another chapter in the classic conflict between income generation and sustainable development, this time framed as tourist spending versus sustainable nature. The point is the conflict cannot be resolved in Thailand simply by closing the island to visitors, and Thon knows there will be a number of things to do afterwards.

 

Thailand still relies heavily on tourism, he said, and it’s one of the prime sectors highlighted in the 20-year national strategy to help drive the country’s GDP.

 

So far, tourism comprises about 20 per cent of total GDP, with total revenue estimated at around Bt3.3 trillion. This income comes largely from the 40 million foreign tourists; more than 70 per cent tend to visit the country’s popular marine locations, Thon noted.

 

This has caused several popular marine spots to become crowded with foreign tourists who wish to appreciate their beauty, particularly the three main attractions in the Had Nopparat Tara-Mu Ko Phi Phi marine park, where Maya Bay is located.

 

About 4,000 tourists and 200 boats daily travel into and out of Maya Bay, said Thon.

 

Some 5 million tourists will this year visit Maya Bay and the other two critical marine parks – Similan and Ao Phang-nga – with an increasing portion coming from China.

 

This number, Thon noted, was greater than the total number of tourists visiting countries like Chile and the Maldives.

 

“These three parks alone see some 5 million tourists, which is more than the number visiting some countries. This is something that we need to understand first – the tourists and the income they would generate. 

 

“On the other hand, our national parks were created to serve educational purposes. It’s impossible for them to receive such a huge number of tourists. I’m talking about our management now, that is no longer valid for the situation,” said Thon.

 

Recognising the heavy pressure on the ecosystem from the growth in tourist numbers, the national marine and coastal resources committee decided to call a meeting over a week ago to discuss the situation.

 

It decided to close Maya Bay for four months from June to September, an action that Thon calls a strike.

 

“It’s the way that we will rebalance what is at stake,” said Thon.

 

Giving nature a chance

 

Songtham Suksawang, director of the DNP’s National Parks Office felt relieved after the first critical step was taken.

 

As the office’s director who oversees 150 national parks nationwide, of which 26 are embattled marine parks, Songtham conceded that the department clearly felt the pinch about a year ago. As reported by the department’s study team, Songtham had learned about some damage done to the bay by tourists.

 

The beach sand had become tightly packed due to the weight of the loads of tourists who were roaming on it, with other parts eroding and leaving tree roots exposed.

 

If left unattended, the damage would have become irreparable, Songtham said, and that’s the reason why a meeting of the committee was called to discuss the worsening situation.

 

The department chief, Thanya Netithammakul, then made the policy clear that income generated by tourists was not more important than sustainable resources.

 

That policy helped the committee do what was needed and close Maya Bay to give nature a chance to rehabilitate the environment.

 

According to Songtham, new management approaches will be introduced to Maya Bay.

 

The number of visiting tourists will be cut by half when it’s reopened, along with the number of boats transporting them to the site.

 

With those numbers halved, and with the help of technology to help guide stagger the times of arrival on the beach, plus a newly introduced route to the beach, the department is hoping that both the beach itself and the park officials patrolling it, could receive and handle the traffic better than before.

 

If successful, it could lead to changes at other critically endangered beaches and bays in other marine parks. Meanwhile, the department has hired some university researchers to study potential management approaches, Songtham said. “It’s the challenge of modern national park management – how can we attract tourists to come and enjoy the places while ensuring our resources remain sustainable?” said Songtham.

 

“We may need to redefine those who come to us as ‘visitors’. Then we could deal with them and guide them better, as our parks are for educational purposes, not purely mass tourism. And as such, we need to equip our visitors with some knowledge.”

 

Marine ecologist Thon is not confident of a full ecosystem revival but has hopes that at least the coral reefs could be rehabilitated.

 

Once the beach is closed, he is planning to lead a small team of marine ecologists to replant and nurture the bay’s coral reefs, with the hope that over the next four months they would grow and once again bloom underwater.

 

The national strategy committee has addressed the growth and maintenance of the coral reefs as part of sustainable marine and coastal systems.

 

They want to limit decline to no more than 50 per cent over the next five years, and with rehabilitation reduce that to no more than 20 per cent over the next 20 years.

 

The health of reefs “are sort of prime indicators that would help lead to other relevant actions”, said Thon. 

 

“We would not be able to protect them all, but we must at least where we can, and with an effort to |figure out how we can control tourism to not have as much impact as it is now.”

 

Impact on Krabi’s economy minimal 

 

 AN ANALYSIS from SCB’s Economic Intelligence Centre (EIC) has suggested that the closure of paradise Maya Bay would affect Krabi’s revenue from tourism this year by only 6 per cent.

 

Tourists would continue to come to the popular tourist region but simply choose other destinations instead of Maya Bay, the report said.

 

Tourists would probably instead flock to nearby attractions such as Koh Poda, Sa Morakot, Talay Waek and Railay Beach to compensate for the closure of the world-famous beach.

 

The EIC supported limiting the number of tourists, saying it would have a good impact on the country’s image and also on revenue from tourism in the middle- to long-term. 

 

“Imposing the measure at the popular attractions will help tourists get the most impressive experience of tranquillity and that would also help to lift the image of tourism,” the report argued. 

 

The EIC also recommended that private sector and government officials join forces to develop a long-term plan for a sustainable solution.

 

For example, tour operators could offer lesser-known destinations among the many other islands and beaches for tourists to choose from, or entry fees could be adjusted to help attract more “quality” tourists, said the report.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/national/30342702

 

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2018-04-08

[RichardColeman]

4 hours ago, rooster59 said:

It decided to close Maya Bay for four months from June to September, an action that Thon calls a strike.

Living in cloud cuckoo land if they believe everything will repaid in that time ! 

[JSixpack]

58 minutes ago, RichardColeman said:

Living in cloud cuckoo land if they believe everything will repaid in that time ! 

 

Or maybe they are being realistic enough and it's living in cloud cuckoo land to not read the post to which you're responding and so believe that anybody said anything about anything being "repaid" in that time.

 

Edited April 8, 2018 by JSixpack

[starky]

I get it was in the movies and all that but has the world become so sheepish, so unoriginal and so uninspired that rather than finding your own way in the world you would rather go and stand on a " secluded" beach with 4000 other like minded dimwits? 

[toolpush]

1 hour ago, Father Fintan Stack said:

Glad I visited 25 years ago when it was completely deserted. 

Me too: 1989, nothiong there but picnic tables to have lunch on during boat trips

[Dap]

2 hours ago, starky said:

I get it was in the movies and all that but has the world become so sheepish, so unoriginal and so uninspired that rather than finding your own way in the world you would rather go and stand on a " secluded" beach with 4000 other like minded dimwits? 

Certainly appears that way.

[HiSoLowSoNoSo]

3 hours ago, Father Fintan Stack said:

Glad I visited 25 years ago when it was completely deserted. 

Me too, when I went there with my boat I use to be alone in the bay. So sad that they can not save their fantastic natural resources.

[Expatthailover]

Maybe as happens in london cbd those who want to go to such places  be levied a congestion tax or pollution tithe etc.

Remove all plastic packaging, cigarettes, alcohol.

Close down or remove all or a very large % of tourist accommodation.

Its a nonsense or scaremongering to say thailand relies heavily on tourism and then in the next sentence say it is worth 20% of gdp.

Serving tourists in resorts in the long term is doing nothing to advance thailand or its people. In fact the tourism that thailand is renowned or infamous for is in essence a stain on the country and its people and in many respects holds the country back and attracts the wromg sort despite the money spent. 

 

[Benmart]

This island is but one example of what results from greed, corruption, uncontrolled tourism, overbuilding, lack of enforcement, lack of conservation, lack of infrastructure and so forth.

 

Yes, it happens elsewhere,. However, this article is about Thailand. Just follow the piles of trash, stink and violated natural treasures.

[xylophone]

6 minutes ago, Benmart said:

This island is but one example of what results from greed, corruption, uncontrolled tourism, overbuilding, lack of enforcement, lack of conservation, lack of infrastructure and so forth.

 

Yes, it happens elsewhere,. However, this article is about Thailand. Just follow the piles of trash, stink and violated natural treasures.

Well Patong/Phuket certainly fits your first paragraph to a tee!

[stanleycoin]

Prime example of the greedy buggers

destroying there own land.  

[overherebc]

Even after the 4 month closure why not restrict it to go in on the boats, do a slow circuit and let the rubber neckers take photos of the deserted beach and go out again.

[thaibeachlovers]

8 hours ago, starky said:

I get it was in the movies and all that but has the world become so sheepish, so unoriginal and so uninspired that rather than finding your own way in the world you would rather go and stand on a " secluded" beach with 4000 other like minded dimwits? 

You seem to believe that the tour groups make their own decisions as where they go. It's probably included in the package they bought overseas.

Some independent tourists will see the tour advertised locally and think it's a good idea to go there or, like me when I went on a day tour to Phi Phi got taken there whether I wanted to or not.

What they won't be telling prospective customers is that they will be contributing to the destruction, and that is 100% in the control of the Thais.

 

Closing it for a few months is going to make zero difference. What they need to do is go back to the old rule of no one on the beach, only on the water, ban speedboats and only have large boats that can take a lot of people, that moor at permanent points- NO anchors. Obviously that will restrict the number of boats that can go in at any one time.

 

Personally, I think they should accept that the ecosystem is destroyed and make all the mass tourists go there, so they are not destroying other places.

It's better that one beach be ruined so others are not.

It's like the FMP. It's destroyed Had Rin, but at least they don't destroy any other beaches in the process.

 

I'd like to believe that there are people in authority that care, but I doubt it, so the destruction will continue.

 

If they actually wanted to spread the load, the beaches south of Chumphon are more or less deserted, and have little ecological significance, so hundreds of resorts could be built along them. Of course, Leo never went there, so no incentive for the masses to go there.

[thaibeachlovers]

1 hour ago, overherebc said:

Even after the 4 month closure why not restrict it to go in on the boats, do a slow circuit and let the rubber neckers take photos of the deserted beach and go out again.

Back in the day, no one was allowed on the sand, but that was when there weren't so many people and the boats could all fit in the bay.

When I went, we anchored in the bay, and people went for a swim. That was it.

[thaibeachlovers]

BTW, a short closure hardly qualifies as "a tough step". It's not even worthy of being called a "step", unless it's an exceedingly small one.

 

The irony in this is that it only became popular because it was in the movie ( that most of the present visitors will never have seen ), and in the movie, Richard, the main character, despised the sort of visitors that are coming to the bay now.

 

It's worth considering that no one is not going to visit Thailand because they can't visit Maya Bay. It's all about the money that the boat companies think they are going to lose, when they won't actually lose anything, as they will still go to Phi Phi main island.

Edited April 8, 2018 by thaibeachlovers

[sammieuk1]

Richard has now become a turd counter in his twilight years.

[metisdead]

An off topic post about the Philippines has been removed. 

[lamyai3]

18 hours ago, Father Fintan Stack said:

Glad I visited 25 years ago when it was completely deserted. 

Yes, I went about fifteen years ago, and in the low season  - it was after the movie was made, but pretty quiet nonetheless. 

[lvr181]

13 hours ago, Benmart said:

This island is but one example of what results from greed, corruption, uncontrolled tourism, overbuilding, lack of enforcement, lack of conservation, lack of infrastructure and so forth.

 

Yes, it happens elsewhere,. However, this article is about Thailand. Just follow the piles of trash, stink and violated natural treasures.

Above all there was the lack of foresight and good governance because of apathy and greed!

 

Some may say (or think), so what has changed?

 

At the end of the day if the 'tourist areas" are destroyed there will be NO INCOME!

[anon467848]

Preservation is not a word in the Thai dictionary, another word that isn't there is maintenance....

 

Egotistical Thais just want the money today, no second thought for anybody else in the future.

[thonglover]

Here's an idea: ban Chinese tourists

 

Problem solved!