Love it to death: one of Thailand’s most beautiful islands is closing because tourists are destroying it

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Koh Tachai’s beaches are able to handle about 70 visitors at a time. But up to 1,000 have been said to cram onto the island’s white sands at a time. Photo: We Go Andaman

Published: 12:14pm, 18 May 2016Updated: 12:14pm, 18 May 2016

The swelling tide of tourists to an idyllic Thai island has brought it to the brink of irreversible damage, say Thai officials.

The tourists, in other words, are destroying what they came to see.

This week, the director general of Thailand’s Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation said that Koh Tachai - an increasingly popular destination, especially for scuba divers - would not reopen after the incoming monsoon season.

The white sands and crystal waters of Koh Tachai. Photo: We Go Andaman

Koh Tachai is the northernmost of the Similan Islands, in the Andaman Sea, which are known for their idyllic white sand beaches, crystalline waters and delicate coral reefs. The Similan Islands are often reached by boat from the giant tourist hub in Phuket.

During peak season, tour companies sell diving packages to tourists who come to the island and support a fledgling pop-up economy there. According to a Bangkok Post article, a university dean who spoke Sunday at a tourism fair organised by the government said 14 companies were still selling packages to Koh Tachai.

“A beach on the island can hold up to 70 people. But sometimes the number of tourists was well over 1,000 on the beach, which was already crowded with food stalls and tour boats. This caused the island to quickly deteriorate,” said Thon Thamrongnawasawat, the deputy dean of the fisheries faculty at Kasetsart University in Bangkok.