Famous Southeast Asian beaches will close due to environmental concerns and tourism overload
Thailand’s beaches helped draw record numbers of tourists last year, with revenues contributing about 12 per cent of the economy
More popular Southeast Asian islands will be off limits to visitors this year as officials seek to protect ecosystems crumbling from warming seas and unchecked sprawl, despite the risk to tourism revenues and tens of thousands of jobs.
Thailand will shut Maya Bay, which famously featured in The Beach, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, for four months a year, from June. In the Philippines, officials plan to close Boracay island for six months at the end of April.
“Islands have very fragile ecosystems that simply cannot handle so many people, pollution from boats and beachfront hotels,” said Thon Thamrongnawasawat, a marine expert in Bangkok.
“Coral reefs have been degraded by warmer seas and overcrowding. Sometimes, a complete closure is the only way for nature to heal.”
More than three-quarters of Thailand’s coral reefs have been damaged by rising sea temperatures and unchecked tourism, said Thon, who last week recommended limiting visitors to its 22 marine parks to 6 million a year to enable their recovery. Currently, they number about 5.5 million, he said.
Islands have very fragile ecosystems that simply cannot handle so many people, pollution from boats and beachfront hotels
Thailand closed dozens of dive sites to tourists in 2011, after unusually warm seas caused severe damage to coral reefs in the Andaman Sea, one of the world’s top diving regions. It also shut some islands in 2016.