Maya Bay set to reopen in January.
Thailand’s Maya Bay, made famous by the 2000 film “The Beach,” starring Leonardo DiCaprio, is set to reopen next year following more than three years of closure.
The beach was one of Thailand’s most popular attractions for a decade with up to 6,000 visitors per day.
While the tourism provided a welcome boost to the local economy, the trash visitors left behind damaged the island’s ecosystem and Thai authorities closed it off to tourists in May 2018.
The original plan was for Maya Bay to close for only four months, however, it has remained closed since 2018 to further help its environmental recovery.
“Maya Bay has been continuously receiving interest from tourists around the world. But this has also caused (the natural area) to deteriorate, especially the corals,” Varawut Silpa-archa, Thailand’s minister of natural resources and environment, said in a statement on Sunday.
“The closure of Maya Bay was to rehabilitate its natural resources. Now the natural resources are rehabilitated back to the good level.”
New restrictions have been put in place to prevent a repeat of the damage to the beach and corals, including a banning of boats entering the bay and a limit on the number of speedboats allowed to dock.
In addition, a maximum of 300 visitors will be allowed in for one hour at a time.
The beach will reopen on January 1, 2022.
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