Krabi’s beautiful Maya Bay will reopen on New Year’s day, but with restrictions
A little over 4,000 tourists will be allowed to enter Maya Bay in Krabi’s Hat Noppharat Thara-Mu Ko Phi Phi National Park each day from January 1 onwards.
The crescent-shaped Maya Bay on Koh Phi Phi Leh island, which became famous after it was featured in the 2000 Hollywood blockbuster “The Beach”, has been closed to tourists since June 2018.
Damras Phoprasit, Department of National Parks director, said reopening the beach next year will help stimulate Krabi’s economy and can be seen as a New Year’s gift to tourists.
He added that the bay will be reopened under the following conditions:
• People can only enter from 7am to 6pm.
• Boats carrying no more than 375 people will be limited to 11 trips daily.
• Only 22 shallow dives will be allowed per day.
• Tourists can snorkel for 45 minutes per time and stay in the water for an hour. Groups who arrive in the morning may spot blacktip reef sharks, while snorkellers may catch sight of painted spiny lobsters.
• Tourists can reserve their trip via the QueQ application from December 20.
Damras added that tourists will be instructed to strictly comply with the national park’s regulations to protect natural resources and refrain from leaving garbage in the area.
“If this set-up proves to be successful, then we will apply the same rules to reopening other parts of the Hat Noppharat Thara-Mu Ko Phi Phi National Park," he added.
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