Posts

‘The sea has truly changed’: Thailand’s Maya Bay reopens to visitors after nature allowed to heal itself

-
Image
  PHI PHI LEH, Thailand: Oranee Kittitorraneerut remembered feeling elated when her eyes swept the panoramic view of Maya Bay for the first time in more than three years.  Sheltered by towering limestone cliffs, the iconic crystal clear blue lagoon was serene and magnificent with no tourist boat in sight. Its crescent-shaped beach was pure white and free from rubbish. The sand was warm and powdery beneath her bare feet.  “The moment I stepped on the beach at Maya Bay, it felt so relaxing. The sand was so white and so fine. The view of limestone cliffs on my left and right, embracing the lagoon of crystal clear water, was so pleasing to the eye,” said Oranee. The 24-year-old tour guide from Krabi had never seen Maya Bay like this before.  “It’s a popular tourist attraction. There used to be a huge number of visitors on the beach every day, and boats too,” she added. Years of mass tourism had a devastating impact on the ecosystem around the bay. In June 2018, the Thai ...
1 comment
Read more

Thailand's recovery lags on COVID-19 rule changes

-
Image
  BANGKOK: When 23-year-old Norwegian Anastasia Johansen and her boyfriend were planning their first vacation in two years, they considered going to Thailand but chose nearby Vietnam instead, for its simpler entry rules on the coronavirus. "The regulations to enter Thailand ... were complicated to me and we had to pay for the hefty PCR (polymerase chain reaction) test," Johansen said. Thailand, one of the world's tourism destinations before the pandemic, was among the first nations in Asia to reopen its borders to vaccinated visitors last year with limited quarantine norms, hailed at the time as a model for re-opening. But as regional peers have eased entry requirements, Thailand has clung to a cumbersome process. "Whichever (country) offers easy, smooth, less complicated procedures wins my heart," said Johansen.   Tourism professionals say Thailand's complicated entry rules are now holding back recovery in an industry that contributed 12 per cent of the cou...
Post a Comment
Read more