Changing Tides of Sustainability on Maya Beach
Photo by Pura Vida Diving Koh Phi Phi Center
Back in 2018, we wrote about the closing of Maya Beach in Thailand in the wake of environmental degradation caused by the phenomenon of overtourism. This closure signified an on-going trend: that many popular destinations were at capacity for tourism. Like Boracay in The Philippines, which had closed just months before, the island had turned from a blue water paradise to a “cesspool” where the delicate balance between tourism and environmental health could no longer continue with operations being “business as usual”. As a result, the island closed abruptly and indefinitely to allow for biodiversity to recover, leaving question marks about when tourism could resume and how it would look like.
Now, 2 years later, we’ve had the chance to interview with Manuel San Martin from the Pura Vida Diving Koh Phi Phi Center to gain insight into the progress that has been made on Koh Phi Phi Leh and how the new sustainable tourism plan will take shape once the bay re-opens “tentatively” in 2021. The objectives of this plan will help shift Thailand’s tourism sector into a more sustainable model for improved environmental and social sustainability, which has the potential to set an example for islands in not only South East Asia, but also around the world.
Dive in and read more about Maya Bay’s progress towards recovery and what lies ahead for the island.
Saving Maya Beach
Prior to its closure, Maya Bay received around 5,000 tourists/200 boats per day, with predictions for the 2018 season (pre-closure) to have been around 2.5 million tourist arrivals, up by half a million year on year. Needless to say, the island reached it’s breaking point before these estimates came to be. It was at this point that the coral reefs, marine species and water quality came to a tipping point from the impacts of pollution and human activity.
On June 1st, 2018, Thailand’s National Park’s Department made the decision to no longer permit tourists to visit the “made famous by Leonardo DeCaprio” beach for at least 4 months to give natural resources a break from the effects of tourism.
This change in the Maya Beach tourism policy was spear-headed by Dr. Thon, one of Thailand’s leading marine biologists. His recommendations have been taken into account by the operation center of the regional Thai National Park division, where his input is used to inform decisions for the bay’s recovery process. As per his advice along with other National Park advisors, it was decided in 2019 for Maya Bay to remain closed for an additional two years with a prospective reopening for May 2021. Thon stated that the extended closure was to be used to develop tourism infrastructure that would prevent future harm. Facilities include: a walking board, a dock for tourist boats, toilets and a residence for officials. An e-ticket service (and a future online booking service) will be introduced with fees going towards upkeep and conservation efforts on the island. Additionally, it will be a way to ensure all entry fees go into the right hands. To ensure its ecological recovery, there will be caps placed on visitors, 2,400 max.
The recovery process
Since closing, Maya Bay has seen visible results from taking drastic measures. According to interviewee Manuel San Martin, the recovery rate for biodiversity has taken shape depending on the location and level of degradation, but estimates could be hundreds of percentage points in increases. He also states that flora and fauna have rapidly recovered and coral cover has increased in diversity and coverage from previous damage of around 80% to all surrounding reefs. Black tip sharks have returned to the bay by the dozens and have used the area as a breeding and feeding ground. Chicken crabs have been spotted on the island and wild population numbers have normalized. Other local marine animals, such as the threatened and protected manatee-related Dugong have seen significant population rises from 169 in 2017 to 210 in 2019. This is especially rare as Dugong are extremely sensitive to human interaction and had previously been dying in record numbers from speed boat and fishing gear incidents not to mention deadly consequences from ingesting plastic pollution, which in many cases has led to deadly blood poisoning. Their return amongst that of other mammals is a huge sign that decreasing tourism activity has worked.
Restoration projects are also currently taking place on the island to rehabilitate and restore the health of coral reefs in Maya Bay. Headed by the operation center of the National Park and volunteers from Ocean Quest, this restoration project, using Ocean Quest’s self-developed method, first uses divers to rescue damaged corals from dive sites and snorkeling areas. The fragmented pieces are then bonded to natural substrate in floating rafts before being placed into organic-made nurseries in Maya Bay.
With new tourism regulations including banning boats from the bay (and hopefully a future sunscreen ban), corals will now be allowed to grow back even more beautiful than before.
Photo by Pura Vida Diving Koh Phi Phi Center
The potential of Thai domestic tourism in COVID times
In the meantime, COVID-19 has put tourism on hold, naturally providing more time for the Thai government to fully focus on the rehabilitation of Maya Beach to prepare infrastructure for when tourism returns. It is the hope that sustainable infrastructure initiatives will provide a boost to the tourism sector in the region. While the concept of sustainable tourism may have previously been used only for marketing purposes, now it will be necessary to be implemented to actually make a positive environmental impact for tourism’s survival. Besides this, as Manuel San Martin mentioned, tourism needs to pivot to a totally different direction for sustainability to be achieved. It will take a change in conceptualizing the act of traveling and our expectations for the overall travel experience. This is where initiatives and campaigns can come in.
For now, while COVID keeps international traveler arrivals down, domestic tourism and initiatives will be used to engage Thai people, especially, to get involved with hands-on conservation projects such as Ocean Quest Thailand. The idea is to use this platform to spread campaigns to “restore tourism, while restoring reefs”. The main concept is to “create a network of Thai coral gardeners with an education system in place. This can then be used by different tourism operators like dive centers, resorts experiences or snorkeling tours to attract sustainability-minded Thais to take part in conservation focused activities while helping struggling tourism-dependent communities”. It is Manuel San Martin’s hope that more ideas like this will pop up in Thailand and across the region to meet new needs and create a new vision for tourism.
Photo by Pura Vida Diving Koh Phi Phi Center
Sea Going Green will be closely keeping an eye on Maya Beach’s progress towards re-opening and are excited to see what new possibilities this could bring to Thai tourism in the future.