Sunday, 22 July 2018

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

31 comments:

  1. Sustainable tourism is an important part of creating a better future for our planet. Without considering the environmental impact that tourism brings, we just destroy the beautiful places the planet has given us to see.

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  2. This look like true Paradise! the sky, the water everything. The history is rich which adds to the appeal. Thanks for sharing.

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  3. Sustainable tourism needs to be he focus of every person and every country. Humans need to understand that we are incredibly good at destroying things and really police ourselves. There's no need to ruin everything.

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  4. I am sorry that such a beautiful place was damaged. I hope when it reopens that the country will be able to sustain the sustainable tourism aspect! Good luck!

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  5. So beautiful there! Your photos are so clear and crisp. Great story too, thanks for the read!

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  6. Such a shame it got to the stage the government had to close the island. I hope that one day I will get the chance to visit it as it's truly beautiful

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  7. Oh wow, I really hope their efforts to restore their beach and coral reefs are successful. How terrible that it had to come to this and that tourists were not more mindful of the beautiful paradise they were visiting.

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  8. Such a beautiful place. Sad that we just don’t take responsibility for our actions and destroy such treasures.

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  9. Oh no! It was closed!?!? It's such a beautiful place. I hope it is able to reopen one day.

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  10. I just don't understand why tourists don't do more to preserve places like this. I mean if you want to keep enjoying it,the least you can do is look after it. So sad! This is such an insightful and informative post, thanks for sharing

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  11. I can't believe they had to close! It really is a shame that tourists don't do more to preserve what they are traveling so far to see.

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  12. It's such a beautiful place. I would love to learn more about it.

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  13. Sustainable tourism is something that the entire world should focus on. We should be concerned about all of our ecosystems.

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  14. Such a breathtaking place and unfortunate to hear that the place is closed. I hope it preserve and open in future.

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  15. This looks like such a beautiful place. It is a shame that tourism had caused so much damage to the environment surrounding it. Hopefully now it can heal and move forward with sustainable tourism. Thanks for sharing!

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  16. I really hope that they open it for tourists again, this time with strict instructions on littering.

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  17. Gorgeous pictures! I have heard that they closed it to tourists which is really sad. People need to take care of our planet and not damage the environment.

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  18. So beautiful there! I am sorry that such a beautiful place was damaged. Thanks for sharing this

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  19. From a native of an Asian country the Philippines I agree with you about the majestic places to explore in Asia! :)

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  20. Sustainable tourism should be our go-to. If we cannot build anything good, then we even do not have the right to destroy something good.

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  21. Wow! Such a lovely place sure needs to be reopened love the overall outlook and rich vegetation as well.

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  22. So sad to read about this. It's a shame to shut down such a beautiful paradise that everyone wants to see, but it must be done. I wonder if the coral will ever get back to normal after all of the boat anchors and plastic dumping?! It might be to the point where it is damaged forever.

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  23. As much as it's sad that the area was damaged, I'm so happy that they took the steps to shut the area down to rehabilitate it!

    http://theburstingbookshelf.blogspot.com/

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  24. Sustainable tourism is such an important part of creating a better future for the planet but if we don't consider the environment it ruins it for everyone. I'm glad they are taking steps to rehabilitate the area

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  25. Looks like a great place to visit. I'll definitely go here one day with my family. But its too late already. It reminds me of Boracay Isalnd in the Phil. The goverment shut it down.

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  26. When my eldest nephew was 4 yrs old he asked me if I would take him to Ko Phi Phi island. I had never heard of it before (or seen The Beach) and was intrigued by it's beauty when I researched it later. I hope the environment will have recovered by the time I set foot there some day.

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  27. I heard about this island through a co-worker. It is an island of paraise but it has been closed off due to nature eroding away. I hope it can be open someday so I can visit this beautiful paradise.

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  28. It’s so sad that this beautiful place had to close....it truly looks very much like paradise there.... DaisyGirl

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  29. I heard about Boracay and always wonder how it is like. Glad to learn about it here and also many other beaches in SEA. Koh phi phi is another island that I love and been before. You have a great list of beaches!

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  30. Oh how sad they had to close off the beach to the public because they were so thoughtless and ruined it! It does look like a beautiful place.

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  31. As a travel blogger myself, I am always conscious of the way I travel and how I treat the places I visit. I have yet to visit South East Asia though! x

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