Comments on: Ko Phi Phi, Thailand: A Small Island in Need of Big Help

By: Agen Sabung Ayam

Agen Sabung Ayam — Sun, 12 Feb 2017 23:38:55 +0000

I love Thailand, the islands, the people, the foods, …., fantastic!

By: anu

anu — Thu, 29 Sep 2016 17:33:22 +0000

this is reality. But Government and other related departments should take steps to maintain those areas.

By: Michael

Michael — Fri, 26 Aug 2016 20:26:58 +0000

In reply to Kelly Turpin. Kelly, It's really a horrible reality. So short sighted, and ignorant. Not sure what there is to be done other than trying to educate people on an individual level. Sure we can lend exposure to the issue by writing about it here and on social media, but the topic of sustainable travel is often ignored by a large majority of tourists regardless how loud we yell and point and shout.

By: Danial

Danial — Thu, 25 Aug 2016 02:17:39 +0000

In reply to Kelly Turpin. Thanks for your insight Kelly. It's not just a lack of education or ignorance but corruption plays a big part in Southeast Asia, meaning any regulatory breaks are disregarded for money.

By: Kelly Turpin

Kelly Turpin — Sun, 21 Aug 2016 23:28:43 +0000

In the last 14 month we have spent a lot of time exploring many of Thailand’s islands. Even the less visited islands are already suffering from the impacts of tourism and the inadequate infrastructure on mainland and resort islands. The rubbish washing up on the shore is simply astonishing. Any coral reef that day tourists are being taken to is being damaged. Many tourist have no idea about coral or snorkelling. The tourists we see a lot of around these islands simple don a life jacket and flounder around in the water. In the water these tourist are seen standing on the coral, sitting on the coral, kicking coral with their flippers. They are more interested in taking selfies of themselves on the reef. I don’t believe they would have the slightest interested to learn that the corals are animals that they are killing by standing on. I have seen the same thing in Indonesia, Cambodia and Malaysia. In Vietnam the guides at least told the tourists not to stand on the coral – however, the fact they didn’t reinforce the rule made it null and void and the tourist went on their merry way standing on the coral. In Australia you will be told to get out of the water if, once you have been warned, you are seen standing on the coral again.

By: Kelly Turpin

Kelly Turpin — Sun, 21 Aug 2016 22:59:15 +0000

In reply to Chris @ One Weird Globe. Yep so true. Once the annihilation of Phi Phi is complete, the tourists will be herded to other pristine islands which will eventually suffer the same fate. Sad

By: Ellie Cleary

Ellie Cleary — Tue, 09 Aug 2016 13:31:02 +0000

Hi, great post, thank you for writing this.
It’s so easy to visit a destination and be unaware of the real (often unintended) impact of tourism in the waste that it creates and environmental pollution it can cause. I visited some other Thai islands last year (the Trang islands – Koh Mook in particular – and was really saddened to see the piles of plastic bottles just heaped up near the beach, with nowhere to go.
One of the simplest and best sustainable travel practices I recommend is making sure you take a re-usable aluminium water bottle on your trip – if everyone did this while travelling we would solve a huge proportion of the world’s waste water bottle problem.
It has also been positive to see the Thai authorities stepping up earlier this year and closing off 3 Islands to tourism to protect the coral – but as you say, with Phi Phi, it seems the sacrifice in terms of tourist baht is too big…. I hope that we will see bolder and more measures being taken and increased awareness from all of us as travellers!
Happy travelling, Ellie

By: Gennaro

Gennaro — Mon, 09 May 2016 19:32:46 +0000

Really interesting post and nice pictures.
Your blog is amazing

By: Jo MyThai

Jo MyThai — Thu, 31 Mar 2016 06:00:03 +0000

Just read your article. When i first visited Phi Phi it WAS a paradise. I learned diving there. On the island only small cabanas. Some dive operators. A small street at the beach with restaurants. In the evening the sound of generators because electricity collapsed all the time. Snorkeling in front of the beach you easily saw small reef sharks. We went to Maya Bay for some diving, stayed at the bay for lunch and rested for hours on the white sand. NOBODY ELSE there. Can you imagine? In a way i am part of the problems today. Because i told friends about this paradise. But that´s only a part of the story. The REAL change came when some guy from Bangkok with a lot of money was allowed to build a real hotel with concrete, 2 floors. Then the tourism Tsunami started. Hotel after hotel, speed boats for day trips. Not the backpackers are the origin of this sad story. Raising the entrance fees? Will only bring luxury resorts destroying more.

By: Martin

Martin — Fri, 12 Feb 2016 13:36:59 +0000

My girlfriend and I visited Phi Phi in June 2015 during the off season. It was quiet, peaceful and the food to die for. The two main beach fronts were still full of people enjoying themselves in the evenings and it didn’t seem chaotic as it seems you experienced.

I am not so sure the island is catering just for 22 year old backpackers. There are plenty of ‘luxury resort’ type hotels on the island that were full of retired/middle aged folks.

For me, the beauty of the island was in the landscape, the locals and the views. Bars full of drunk travellers/tourists/backpackers happens everywhere. It is easy to see past the islands beauty if the party is what gets focus.