TH1803

TASK PERFORMANCE: CASE ANALYSIS: Maya Bay, Thailand

MEMBERS:
Asia, Concepcion Laila
Bangalando, Roje G.
Mape, Kimberly
Mitra, Allaizalyn
Sayaman, Kristen
Tagle, Anna Marie

Instructions:
1. Work with your team to accomplish the requirements below. Wait for your instructor’s
directions about the grouping and assigned set of questions.

 Read and analyze the case about Thailand’s government to close Maya Bay
indefinitely to tourists (see Page 2).
 Conduct further research about Maya Bay’s situation and history to come up with a
comprehensive analysis of the case.
 Submit a written report containing the following:
o Title page
o Introduction
o Case Analysis of Maya Bay (Comprised of five [5] answers depending on the
assigned set of questions to your group)

2. Place your output on a short bond paper (Word file) and submit it via eLMS Dropbox.
3. Your group will be graded based on the following rubric:
CRITERIA PERFORMANCE INDICATORS POINT
S
The information was accurate and came from reliable sources
30
(no
Wikipedia).
Content
Further research to support the analysis of the case is evident. 30
Used own and proper interpretation of information and ideas (no
10
copy-pasted information)
Used simple terminologies that are easy to understand 10
Organizatio Expressed the points in a clear and logical arrangement of ideas
20
n based
of Ideas on the given flow of information
TOTAL 100

07 Task Performance 1 *Property of STI

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Maya Bay, Thailand Closed Indefinitely

In June 2018, the government of Thailand announced that one of its best tourist destinations, Maya
Bay, will be closed for four (4) months due to the effects of the high influx of tourists. The closure of
Maya Bay was intended to help the destination rehabilitate from the effects of overcrowding. It was
reported that the bay was “littered with trash, while visitors continue to flock the area on
overcrowded snorkel boats.” However, according to the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and
Plant Conservation (DNP) of Thailand, the bay needed more time to recover.
Maya Bay was made famous by the movie The Beach, starring Leonardo DiCaprio when it was
used as the setting for the film. Due to its popularity, the data released by the DNP suggested that
tourist arrivals in Maya Bay by 2018 will hit 2.5 million visitors and in the succeeding years, the
number will increase by half a million. Daily, Maya Bay receives as many as 4,000 tourists and 200
boats a day in which ecologists agree that it is more than what the bay can accommodate.
After the initial phase of its closure from June to October, the DNP said that the ecosystems and
physical structure of Maya Bay need more time to recover and the closure will be extended from
October onwards. Upon checking the situation, it was discovered that the beach forest has been
degraded and tree roots are exposed due to excessive strolling, the beach is overcrowded, and the
coral reefs are damaged which is the most concern.
A survey conducted by the DNP suggested that the coral reef flats in certain parts of the bay have
been degraded and seriously damaged, and broken coral and fragments are also visible on the
seafloor. Tourist boats and their anchors are said to be one of the major reasons for the degradation
and destruction.
The first task to help the recovery of the bay was coral propagation where branches of broken corals
are attached to rocks so that they can grow on them. It is expected that 2,000 coral tips will grow in
Maya’s waters. DNP also intends to study the recovery of the bay’s ecosystems and how it will be
able to handle the impacts of tourism.
They also aim to change the management approach for the bay as they hire universities to study the
number of tourists and boats the bay can accommodate which is roughly calculated at 2,000 tourists
and 100 boats per day. Access to the bay will be shifted at the back of the island, and tourist
numbers and transport boats will be limited depending on the results of the study in terms of the
bay’s capacity.
Some are against the said closure because it will affect the livelihoods of locals who make their living
from the 4,000 tourists visiting daily. They also argued that the indefinite closure will affect the
tourists who already made their bookings before the announcement of the bay’s rehabilitation. It
was suggested that the closure should take effect after the peak season months.

References:
Cripps, K. (2018, October 3). Thailand bay made popular by “The Beach” closes indefinitely. CNN
travel.
Retrieved from https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/maya-bay-closure-thailand/index.html
Bangkok Post. (2019, May 19). Maya bay gets makeover. The Phuket news. Retrieved from
https://www.thephuketnews.com/maya-bay-gets-makeover-71483.php#86YDpEFcetSBl1G6.97

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GROUP 3: SET OF
QUESTIONS

1. What were the policies or regulation on visitor arrivals in Maya Bay before its closure?
The policies and regulation in Maya bay before its closure, Maya bay receives as many as 4000 tourist
and 200 boats were visiting the Maya bay every day and because of that most of its beach forest has
been degraded, tree roots are exposed due to excessive strolling, the beach is overcrowded, littered
with trash and the coral reefs are damaged which is the most concern. The authorities or DNP said
that the ecosystem and physical structure of Maya bay needs more time to recover and the authorities
extended the closure from October onwards to give more time for Maya bay’s ecology to recover. The
DNP also aim to change the management approach for the bay number of tourists and boats the bay
can accommodate. Access to the bay will be shifted at the back of the island, and tourist numbers and
transport boats will be limited depending on the results of the study in terms of the bay's capacity.

2. Describe the quality of visitor experience in Maya Bay.

 Before closure
Maya Bay is crowded with a huge number of tourists who visit here every day. With the increasing
number of tourists, it is also inevitable that this will be one of the reasons why Maya Bay is filled with
so much garbage. While the quality of visitor experience continues to be high behind this problem,
visitors continue to flock to the area with crowded snorkel boats. In 2018, Maya Bay is expected to
reach 2.5 million visitors and in the coming years, the number will increase by half a million. On a daily
basis, Maya Bay receives up to 4,000 tourists and 200 boats a day which ecologists agree. This is
more than what the bay can accommodate.
 During closure
Based on the initial phase it found that Maya Bay needed more time to recover. And it was discovered
that the coastal forest had been damaged and the tree roots had been damaged exposed to excessive
walking, crowded beaches, and the destruction of coral reefs that most concerns. A survey conducted
by the DNP suggested that coral reef flats in some parts of the bay have been damaged and severely
damaged, and broken coral and debris can also be seen on the sea floor. Tourist boats and their
anchors are said to be one of the major reasons of the degradation and destruction. Due to the
continuous exploration of Maya bay, it can only accommodate a limited number of people on a daily
basis, the calculations show that only 2000 tourists and 100 boats should be accommodated by Maya
day per day. Some are opposed to such closure because it will affect the livelihood of locals working
from 4,000 tourists visit daily. They also argued that the indefinite closure would affect tourists that
already made their bookings prior to the announcement of the bay’s rehabilitation. Closure has been
proposed should take effect after the peak season months. Therefore, with the continued closure of
Maya bay, the quality of visitors experience will also be greatly reduced because the priority now is to
recover Maya bay due to the overcrowding of tourists and the amount of garbage in the area.

3. Discuss the positive and negative impacts of visitor arrivals in Maya Bay when it
was made famous by the film The Beach.
POSITIVES
 It helps the new facilities for the tourists also to benefit locals and Local traditions are kept
alive because tourists enjoy traditional shows. For Visitors from around the world it bring a
lot of money into the country to spend on improving the country’s transport system.
 For the tourists who are visiting the bay should pay greater attention to make the products
more useful and to their effects on the local environment.

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NEGATIVES
 The overcrowding of tourists contributed to the environmental degradation of Maya Bay.
 Maya Bay was littered with trash due to the improper waste disposal of careless behavior of
tourists.
 It caused physical damage to coral reefs because of the anchoring of overcrowded boats.
 It caused the destruction of Maya Bay’s ecosystem that leads to degradation of beach
forest and exposure of tree roots due to excessive strolling of tourists.
 Maya Bay’s physical structure was destructed wherein the bay was full of trash, forest and
trees were degraded, and coral reefs were seriously damaged and broken.
 It caused overdependence of local communities in Maya Bay because they rely on
overcrowding tourists as their main source of income that also negatively affects their
livelihood in Maya Bay’s closure.
4. Discuss the probable impacts of its closure to visitor experience in Maya Bay.
 Tourist decided to have their vacation to the other popular tourist region and simply choose
other destination instead of Maya Bay. Tourists will still flock to Ko Poda, Sa Morakot, Talay
Waek and Railway beach to compensate for the closure of the popular postcard beach.
 Tourists trampled the vegetation, left litter on the beach, and urinated in the sea. The ecological
damage was so catastrophic that in June last year, the Thai authorities took the unprecedented
step of closing Maya Bay to tourists.
 Tourists were upset to know that Maya Bay will be closed due to the epidemic; Maya Bay is
one of the most popular holiday destinations in the world. Tourists' reactions were depressing.
 Despite great economic implications, the local community argues that they are willing to forego
the income generated by tourism to Maya Bay to rehabilitate the beach and coral reefs as well
as facilitate and enforce new sustainability practices.
 Pullawat Pitigraisorn from SCB’s Economic Intelligence Centre has done the sums and
estimates that tourist earnings for Krabi Province will only suffer a 6 percent drop as tourists will
continue to come to the popular tourist region but simply choose other destinations instead of
Maya Bay.
5. Provide comments or suggestions on how visitor arrivals could have been monitored.
They will monitor the group's activities to ensure everyone complies with the site's or guide's safety regulations.
In some cases, they may have to provide first-aid or emergency services to visitors. They should have monitored
the visitor from the day they arrive on the designated destination, they should have been educated and
organized.

REFERENCES:

https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/IJTC-02-2019-0023/full/html?skipTracking=true
https://medium.com/willazhou/the-environmental-economic-impacts-of-overtourism-b400ed853493
https://thethaiger.com/news/the-economic-impact-of-closing-down-maya-bay-for-four-months

07 Task Performance 1 *Property of STI

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