Thailand’s Maya Beach, made famous by the film The Beach, has been closed to visitors until the end of September for an environmental clean-up.
The closure was announced in March, but it is the latest in a series of attempts by authorities in Southeast Asia to address the environmental consequences of tourism.
Thailand announced measures aimed at curbing environmental damage on the islands of Koh Samui, Koh Phangan and Koh Tao this week which should go into effect from July.
They include a ban on wastewater dumping, fishing or anchoring on coral reefs and on new seaside construction
The government’s Department of Marine and Coastal Resources warned: “The amount of garbage and wastewater on these islands is so huge that it will become unbearable in the near future.”
In April, the Philippines announced the closure of Boracay Island for six months after President Rodrigo Duterte described the resort as a “cesspool”. The island drew almost 1.7 million tourists last year.
Officials in Indonesia had earlier declared a “garbage emergency” swamping a stretch of coast on the island of Bali, and Thai officials warned in March of potential limits on the number of foreign visitors to Thailand’s marine parks.
The moves follow growing concerns in Europe about so-called ‘over tourism’. Amsterdam, Barcelona, Dubrovnik and Venice have been among the cities to see protests or ballots over demands to restrict visitors.
In March, Amsterdam Marketing chief executive Frans van der Avert told attendees at German travel trade show ITB: “This is explosive.”
However, Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) chief executive Mario Hardy insisted: “Dispersal is the critical issue.”
Hardy told the recent PATA annual summit in the Republic of Korea: “Over tourism is a term I don’t like. It is [about] poor management.
“We need the dispersal of visitors to make sure more places benefit from tourism.”
He told Travel Weekly: “We have to think about secondary places. There are thousands of islands in Indonesia, but everyone goes to Bali.”
Hardy says: “We’ve started to do something about it at PATA. For the last three and a half years we have campaigned for dispersal.
“We have talked about it, encouraging members to disperse people, creating awareness of its importance.”
He recalls how, on a trip to Cambodia, he was asked to accompany a relative to the temple complex of Angkor Wat saying: “My wife and I had been to Angkor Wat. I know how crowded it is, so I said, ‘I’ll take you on condition you allow me to take you somewhere else’.
“We went to a temple, a Unesco world heritage site, about 45kms from [Cambodian capital] Phnom Penh. There is a beautiful monastery next to it. I asked a monk when he had last seen a tourist [at the temple]. He said: ‘The last tourists came six months ago’.”
It is partly the product of poor marketing, he suggests: “If all you put on your marketing are ‘bucket list’ sites that everyone knows about.”
Hardy describes PATA’s efforts as “a start”, adding: “Thailand has begun a campaign for ’12 destinations’ [to draw attention to places] people didn’t know about.”
He suggests: “Europe is a bit behind in finding a solution.”
But he insists: “I don’t agree with the term ‘over tourism’. It is a buzz word. It is poor management of capacity, and it is seasonal.
“There is a high concentration of tourists in Venice, for example. There are days when there are too many people, but if you visit another time it’s not crowded.”
Of the Philippines’ decision to close the island of Boracay to visitors, he says: “It is a brave decision.
“I don’t necessarily agree with the way it has been handled. People on the island may be severely affected. That has not been handled properly.
“But I don’t disagree with closing the doors to clean up. It is how you manage it.”
Hardy says: “I hope we find solutions before we reach the point where other islands are closed.”
The PATA chief executive is due to speak at the ‘Resilience through Tourism’ summit in Jordan in June, an event supported by PATA, the UN World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO), World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) and international development agency USAID.
Resilience Through Tourism Summit, June 26-27, Amman, Jordan