Saving the Troubled Paradise

     South east asia has a great numbers of natural wonders that tourists can explore and wonder their exotic beauties.  Boracay is one of the most popular tourist destinations in south east asia located in the island of aklan.  This popular beach resort  is currently closed from tourism activities to give way for it's full rehabilitation and recovery brought about by heavy tourism.  Boracay island paradise was just simply overused.  It is closed for six months and the new boracay will be reopened by October 2018.  The period of six months will be enough to allow time to heal the island and recover from heavy damages and restore it's  natural pristine beauty.   It was the Philippine  president Rodrigo Duterte who ordered the temporary shut down of botacay that earned ire among his antagonists and was slammed by his critics saying it was a fool's dream.  But gradually people are seeing the progress and the good outcome. Many of  President Duterte's supporters posted on social media the results of rehabilitation that are highly effective and the oppositions and critics are now dumbfounded and were proven wrong.
   
     Following the footsteps of President Duterte is the government of Thailand.   Thailand administration is now carrying the strategy and measures to save it's  own troubled paradise the 'Maya bay' of the Koh phi phi islands.

     Koh phi phi are island group in Thailand between the large island of Phuket and the west straight of Malacca coast of the mainland.  The maya bay of Koh phi phi has a beautiful beach sorrounded by tall lime stone cliffs and the emerald-green colour of the waters adds to stunning features of the bay.  Under the waters of maya bay are the rich coral reefs that are simply breathtaking.  This paradise was made popular by the movie of Leonard Dicarpio 'The beach' that lead to it's  prominence and people from all over the world swarned the Maya bay of Koh phi phi.


     " The Beach "  Leonard Dicarpio's block buster movie:

     In early 2000,  20th century fox released Danny Boyle's film ' The Beach.' that featured Leonard Dicarpio.  The said movie depicted the beauty of the Maya bay.  The film was a smashing hit and was shown around the world.   Since then people have learned the quiet paradise of Koh phi phi and started to flock the Maya bay.   On a daily basis and idealy,  the beach resort can accommodate  2000 tourists but the beach recieved an average 200 boats and 4000 visitors during the peak seasons. This resulted to heavy tourism and the paradise became overused.

     The imminent danger:

     The Beach movie brought mass tourism to Maya bay - which had brought Koh phi phi a tremendous problem.  Large pile of garbage were all over the place left behind by visitors, non-biodegradable materials like plastics can be seen floating in the sea and some were on the sea floor and the worst of all,  large part of the coral reefs around the is gone and sealife had virtually vanished brought about by boat achors and dumping of plastic materials.   77 to 80 percent of coral reefs have been devasted by destruction linked to bad tourism according  to Dr.  Thamrongnawasawat, a well known marine scientist and a member of National Strategy Committee on Environment Development.


     The closure of the paradise:

     Dr.  Thamrongnawasawat concluded that the damage to the coral reefs was caused by dumping of plastic materials and boat anchors.  Though the people of Koh phi phi made a drastic measures to clean up the maya bay, the coral reefs were beyond repair and it was too late.   He suggested that the temporary shut down of the bay was the ideal and permanent  solution to the existing problem for three to four consecutive months just like what the Philippine government did to Boracay.   He emphasized that the 3-4 months of cease operation will give enough time for the coral reefs to heal and he also added that the temporary closure of the Maya bay in the low seasons will allow rehabilitation of the environment both on the islands and in the sea without being disturbed by tourism activities before the damage is beyond repair.
     Because of the progess to save Boracay and the measures are still being carried out by the Philippine government under President Duterte in which continues showing apparent good results,  the Thai government also carried the same measures to save  Maya bay as suggested by Dr.  Thamrongnawasawat.   The famous beach island paradise was officially closed in June 1st of 2018.  Tourism is strictly prohibited from the island and will continue to the 30th of September of 2018 making it as the second major beach resort in south east asia to cease from operation this year after Boracay of the Philippines.
    The Boracay island will be reopened by October but President Duterte will be implementing regulations of disciplinary measures and numbers of visitors will be limited up to 2500 on a daily basis and the Thai government will also be carrying out similar protocols once the Maya bay opens to tourists.

   
     Tourism is tourism it certainly adds revenue to the goverment but off course it should be handled with the great sense of responsibility.  We have already seen the adverse effects of bad tourism to the environment.   I have seen alot of natural wonders that were great before but are now heavily polluted because of the lack of discipline among visitors and the local residents as well.   Now,  here in the Philippines, the current administration under the leadership of Duterte is implementing a very strict disciplinary measures. Though this measure is being opposed by antagonists and critics people have seen progress to the sorroundings and some of the heavily polluted tourist destinations are now improving.
     I am infavor of the actions of the Thai government  to temporary shut down of Koh phi phi's Maya bay just to save it.   Mother nature needs to be nurtured as well.   I am also proud of the kind of individuals like President  Duterte who is firm in his every decisions and can make a strong influence to save the environment.

Sources:

www.edition.cnn.com > travel koh phi phi
www.thesun.co.uk > koh phi phi
the back packer south east asia