Iconic tourism beauty spot Maya Bay, a poster child for overtourism, is set to reopen in the new year.
It reopens to tourists on January 1, 2022 after ore than three years without visitors.
Tiny Maya Bay used to attract as many as 6,000 daytrippers a day by boat which led to much of the shallow reefs and vegetation being destroyed.
It gained global recognition as the location of ‘The Beach,’ a 2000 Hollywood film starring Leonardo DiCaprio.
The closure has allowed reefs to rejuvenate with help from marine biologists and coral replanting and the pandemic gave it an extra two years to recover without ass tourism.
Thailand’s Natural Resources and Environment Minister Varawut Silpa-Archa says it is now recovered enough to reopen in early 2022.
"After shutting down Maya Bay to revive and restore it, up until the present, it has returned to a good condition."
New rules will limit the number of visitors and bans boats fro dropping anchor on the reef.
