Thailand’s iconic Maya Bay will not reopen now as previously promised this month.
The famous beauty spot, immortalised on celluloid in the 2000 Hollywood flick ‘The Beach’ will remain closed indefinitely, Thailand’s department of national parks, wildlife and plant conservation said.
The DNP closed Maya Bay earlier this summer and was due to reopen in October, but it will now stay off-limits until next summer, or until ‘natural resources return to normal.’
"We have evaluated each month and found out that the ecological system was seriously destroyed from tourism of up to 5,000 people daily," said Songtam Suksawang, director of DNP.
"It’s very difficult to remedy and rehabilitate because its beach was completely destroyed as well the plants which cover it."
The original four-month closure was to allow decimated reefs to recover and to build new jetties to stop boats anchoring over the reefs.
During the tourist season Maya Bay attracted as a many as 200 boats of daytrippers a day, mostly from nearby Phuket.
Wattrapol Chanthararo, chairman of the Koh Phi Phi Tourism Business Club says the decision is major blow to the local economy.
Despite having no infrastructure or hotels, as overnight stays are banned, Maya Bay generates about 400 million baht a year purely on day trips by boat.
