Changing Tides of Sustainability on Maya Beach

Back in 2018, we wrote about the closing of Maya Beach in Thailand in the wake of environmental degradation caused by the phenomenon of overtourism. This closure signified an on-going trend: that many popular destinations were at capacity for tourism. Like Boracay in The Philippines, which had closed just months before, the island had turned from a blue water paradise to a “cesspool” where the delicate balance between tourism and environmental health could no longer continue with operations being “business as usual”. As a result, the island closed abruptly and indefinitely to allow for biodiversity to recover, leaving question marks about when tourism could resume and how it would look like. Now, 2 years later, we’ve had the chance to interview with Manuel San Martin from the Pura Vida Diving Koh Phi Phi Center to gain insight into the progress that has been made on Koh Phi Phi Leh and how the new sustainable tourism plan will take shape once the bay re-opens “tentatively” in 2021…Read More