Concern rises as photos of jam packed Maya Bay with influx of Chinese tourists exposed

PHI PHI: -- The influx of Chinese tourists to Maya Bay, the main tourist attraction of Phi Phi archipelago in the Andaman Sea, and the scene of the Hollywood film "The Beach" in 1999 is now causing serious concern of its natural charm and beauty among environmentalists and Thai people if no preservation action is taken by authorities.

Concern rises after photos of the jam packed beach with thousands of tourists, mostly Chinese, were posted on the Facebook page of Niruth Darid Bannob on Thursday.

The Facebook user wrote “we heard powerful people in Krabi said the selling points of Krabi are its serenity and untainted natural beauty. But what they are doing or trying to is totally opposite”

“Why should they want it to grow so fast. It is not sustainable..visitors just come and go and it is the locals who have to live with the spoilt nature. Immense revenues from tourism could never help to buy back the nature.”.

The posting of photos of the jam packed beach on Maya went viral on the social network with many questioning the marine park authorities for allowing so many tourists to the island even it was a normal working day.

One said on any given day at any time there will be 30 or more speedboats and longtail boats on the beach, with large ferry boats carrying snorkelers and sightseers moored in deeper water.

But what appeared on the beach was different, there was even no room to walk on the beach.

A marine biology expert and member of the National Reform Council assistant professor Thon Thamrongnawasawat told Daily News that he was surprised to see so many tourist boats mooring on the beach despite the fact permission to the beach needed to be sought first from the park chief.

He questioned if park officials had ever inspected the beach and how these boats anchored and whether coral reef had been damaged by these boats, in addition to garbages and uncleanliness.

He also asked if these tourists visit the island using their own tour companies, their guides and their buses, “so what the country will earn from tourism boom that will bring in painful consequence in the future.

Maya Bay is situated in Had Noppharat Thara – Mu Ko Phi Phi National Park.

Maya Bay has become the main tourist attraction of Phi Phi since The Beach was filmed here in 1999. It was always very popular before the film but now people around the world who haven’t even heard of Phi Phi have certainly heard of Maya Bay.

The best time to visit Maya Bay is between November and April during the high season when seas are calm and access to the bay is easy. Rough seas from May to October may hinder access but rarely deny entry.

Source: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/concern-rises-as-photos-of-jam-packed-maya-bay-with-influx-of-chinese-tourists-exposed

-- Thai PBS 2015-03-21

Money from tourism does come easy but has many consequences.

Ask me as a Greek and I'll tell you how my country was spoiled from tourism.

But greed for money never ceases, either in Greece , Thailand or anywhere else in the world.

Paradise!

The Chinese are getting blamed for this unfairly imo.

Maya Bay hasn't suddenly become packed with people overnight, it's been like this for years. Granted may be not as busy as in the photo above, but when i went 3 years ago it was heaving, absolutely rammed with people to the point that you could hardly go in the water because of all the tourist boats, and we were all squashed on the beach trying to take photos without some tourist inadvertently photo bombing your pic.

What's happening now is the result of years of bad planning, mismanagement, call it what you will, chasing income generated by tourists with out even a seconds thought on what impact it may have on the natural environment.

In ten years time I wouldn't be surprised if Maya Bay was all but destroyed.

Maya has been ruined for years, it is more a boat parking lot than a beach, bay, tourists should be brought in larger boats that wait outside the bay and shuttled to the beach on inflatable rafts or something., sad because it is a beautiful place.

Just like prostitution - a few good years, and then a hag.

Have to love Thai "journalists"!!

First a lot about the damage tourism is doing to this particular bay, and then ending the article with information about the best time to visit:

>>The best time to visit Maya Bay is between November and April during the high season when seas are calm and access to the bay is easy.<<

Makes sense.......................................

They will destroy everything good and beautiful, and not spend nearly enough to pay for the damage they cause. Wait and see.

Damn, Leonardo do Caprio has a lot to answer for.

I remember taking a boat out there maybe 10 years ago. It was lovely. Still quite a few boats, but you could snorkel and feed the fish and swim to the beach and there was plenty of room to walk and enjoy the scenery.

It must be so disappointing for regular tourists to come to Thailand and be faced with these types of crowds.

I guess it's not that tourism is dying per se, it's just that it's changing....and quickly.

TAT want these package tourists from China so unfortunately its going to be much of the same for years to come.

Money from tourism does come easy but has many consequences.

Ask me as a Greek and I'll tell you how my country was spoiled from tourism.

But greed for money never ceases, either in Greece , Thailand or anywhere else in the world.

The greed for money which has spoiled Greece has little to do with tourism and much more to do with Swiss bank accounts and the rejection to accept Switzerland's offer to retuning the unpaid Greek taxes.

Nature has no lobby. Protection of the environment is not sexy. So greed, consumption and unthoughtfulness will always win.

I must live in a very isolated world, I thought that mass tourism like the picture in the OP was something of the past!!

But clearly not...............

The solution is, of course, to enforce daily quotas. Ta make it fair it should be either by paying an entree fee but also have entries exempt from fees on the condition that they are reserved well in advance, say 6 months to a year. That would give people with a genuine desire to see the place and enjoy in it's full glory a chance to do so, whether they can afford it or not.

For the rest of the people that just go there to get a "Been there photo", set a photoshop hut in Phi Phi island or something.

When has concern for the environment ever taken precedence over naked greed in Thailand?

To quote the great travel writer, Paul Theroux, "It is almost axiomatic that as soon as a place gets a reputation for being paradise it goes to hell."

David

Money from tourism does come easy but has many consequences.

Ask me as a Greek and I'll tell you how my country was spoiled from tourism.

But greed for money never ceases, either in Greece , Thailand or anywhere else in the world.

Ask me as a Greek and I'll tell you how my country was spoiled from tourism.

Costas, please get a hobby!

it looks repulsive. I would be more than concerned.

It looks like a swarm of locusts.

Be careful what you wish for Thailand (TAT). The Chinese are here and you may very well regret them ever coming.

Hope there are enough toilets for the crowds.

Edited March 21, 201511 yr by tomacht8

Natural charm and beauty among environmentalists forget all that hogwash, just think of the lovely money money lots of lovely money to be made of the tourists what we need here are a few jet skis so the tourists can get a better view.

Have to love Thai "journalists"!!

First a lot about the damage tourism is doing to this particular bay, and then ending the article with information about the best time to visit:

>>The best time to visit Maya Bay is between November and April during the high season when seas are calm and access to the bay is easy.<<

Makes sense.......................................

Lol but hey good or bad publicity is still a publicity;p

They still want to promote it but I guess just don't want that much people...whatever they feel like at that moment;p

This is exactly what the Thai government and the TAT were wishing for, influx of masses of tourists,

any tourist is a good tourist... be careful what you wish for... it might just come true

to bite you on the ass.....

Money from tourism does come easy but has many consequences.

Ask me as a Greek and I'll tell you how my country was spoiled from tourism.

But greed for money never ceases, either in Greece , Thailand or anywhere else in the world.

Ask me as a Greek and I'll tell you how my country was spoiled from tourism.

Costas, please get a hobby!

Not much else really for Greeks to do except to welcome tourists, or they could try and pay some tax!!!!

I could have gone to KPP a decade before The Beach but never did, and for the last decade I have never wanted to, because it's been clear that the place was overrun with tourism. But for it to get this bad is truly shocking. Is there any other people on this planet so willing to destroy the natural beauty of their country for the sake of money as the Thais? It's very hard to think of one. Maybe the Spanish and French with their Mediterranean coasts.

The chinese tourist are strange people, they undress at the airport and keep their clothes on when on a beach.

Swarms of people who live together, like to travel together in swarms, and rub shoulders on the beach in swarms.

They feel comfortable like that.

Not lonely.

Not isolated.

Alone in nature? OMG

Thank God they don't come anywhere near us. Anyway they've gotta go somewhere, and it looks like they've found it.

The chinese tourist are strange people, they undress at the airport and keep their clothes on when on a beach.

What does sunlight kill?

An amusing photo.....I went there with my brother on his own boat about 12 years ago.

We were anchored up in the middle of Maya Bay. There were a

few tourists in the late afternoon, and when they left we had the entire bay to ourselves.

Sort of looks like paradise ruined now.... And for those who have not been there, it looked a

lot better in the film The Beach than in real life. Had a feeling there was a lot of film editing done......

Edited March 21, 201511 yr by EyesWideOpen

Money from tourism does come easy but has many consequences.

Ask me as a Greek and I'll tell you how my country was spoiled from tourism.

But greed for money never ceases, either in Greece , Thailand or anywhere else in the world.

And they will pay no tax here just like in Greece , but with out going broke.