With paradisiacal beaches, white sand and crystal clear waters, Thailand has emerged as one of the great powers of world tourism.

But amid the incentives to recover the economy, it is still looking for a formula to find the balance between mass tourism, economic development and sustainability.

Its natural attributes, whose landscapes vary from idyllic islands to bucolic national parks with abundant wildlife, are among the main reasons for the popularity of the country, where the tourism industry accounted for between 12 percent and 20 percent of GDP before Covid-19.

However, the health crisis was a setback for the economy and authorities have launched various measures such as visa exemptions and health insurance for foreigners to recover – which could compromise some of its most emblematic destinations, such as Maya Bay on the Phi Phi Islands.

The archipelago, the country’s main tourist destination and the setting for the 2000 film “The Beach,” received almost 2 million visitors in 2016 alone, wreaking widespread havoc on the ecosystem and forcing the closure of Maya Bay for four years biologist Thon Thamrongnawasawat told EFE.

““We wanted to stop the boats, they and the unlimited tourism have a huge impact on coral reefs and the shark population. Before we had corals covering more than 50 percent of maya bay, but during the time we closed, there were only 8 percent,” said Thon, who acts as an advisor to environmental authorities.

By 2024, Thailand hopes to receive about 35 million tourists – very close to the record of 38 million registered in 2019, before Covid-19. At the same time, it seeks to intensify conservation measures in places such as Phi Phi.

These actions include the prohibition of boats anchoring in certain places, the limitation of capacity of up to 3,000 daily tourists in Maya Bay, the veto of bathing in the bay and the promotion of work alongside the private sector and the local community to the restoration of corals, fauna and flora on the islands.

Experts told EFE the measures are a good start, especially those in Maya Bay, and recognize the success of the project that allowed the return of several species, but warn that specific initiatives are ineffective in the long term, since all ecosystems are connected.

““The blacktip reef sharks, they live in Maya Beach, right, but these kinds of animals, they don’t just live in a certain area,” Darlee Amsungnoen, from Greenpeace Thailand, told EFE.

“… Measurements in Maya (Bay) is not enough, you have to take care of the other area nearby as well. And also, like I said, not just underwater but also the ecosystem above the water as well,” she said.

The activist said ecotourism has become “increasingly fashionable” and environmental concern began to occupy a central role among travelers’ priorities when choosing their destinations.

“People want to travel here as myself. Yes, but I don’t know. I really want to travel here and at the same time, I want to protect this. Let us know how and we gonna do our part of job to protect all of this,” Chinese tourist Tao Meng told EFE, who said he feels “in another part of the world” when stepping on the white sands of Maya Bay.

The greater environmental awareness of tourists also leads many hotels, companies and establishments to realize the importance of sustainable management.

“Now sustainability is coming up on the list,” said Bart Callens, general manager of the SAii Phi Phi Island Village, in a press conference.

““whereas before It was ‘we need to have a big TV’ or you know, there were all these things that guests select, air conditioning, king size bed or whatever,” he said.

Michael David Marshall, CEO of S Hotels and Resorts, said that although adopting more sustainable measures is a challenge, once they are in place it becomes “easier and easier” to continue implementing them.

But finding the balance between economic development and preservation is not easy.

“Well all people look for beautiful places where there’s no pollution and no litter but sadly they take the pollution as a litter with them. So when you reach these places, they’re not as beautiful as they were before, you destroy what you want to see,” said German tourist Peter Funger.