KRABI, 4 October 2018: Maya bay on Phi Phi island, South Thailand, will remain closed indefinitely until experts declare the beach and coral reefs fully recovered.
The decision to extend the closure beyond 1 November was made last week by Thailand’s Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation.
Maya bay closed to visitors in June and the travel trade in Krabi province was counting on it reopening this month. Officials postponed the opening to 1 November, but after an assessment by experts, last week, officials said the bay would remain off-limits to tourists indefinitely.
Around 5,000 tourists visited the 250-metre long and 15- metre wide beach daily, double what experts said was the bay’s capacity ceiling.
Massive damage to what was once a “paradise’ location chosen for the filming of ‘The Beach’ movie in 2000, forced the national park authorities to end all visits.
Earnings in national park fees and other revenue reached an estimated THB400 million a year. But conservationists say the value of the bay far exceeds the short-term commercial worth to Krabi’s tourist industry.
True to form the province’s tourism business club is up in arms claiming tour boat packages have already been sold for November that feature a visit to the famous beach. That assertion cannot be verified.
However, booking from Chinese tour operators, who possibly pre-book the boat trips to Phi Phi are down dramatically during the last quarter of the year. The balance of the boat bookings would be sold to visitors who plan their excursions after they arrive in Phuket.
Tourists are banned now from both Maya bay and La Dalam beach in the Nopparat Thara – Mu Koh Phi Phi Islands National Park.
Park authorities said four to six months was not enough time for the nature to repair decades of footfall damage and marine pollution at the bay.
