Maya Bay Beach, made famous by the
2000
film
La Plage
, reopened to visitors on Saturday January 1 after three years of closure.
A victim of its own success, this paradisiacal bay on the island of Phi Phi Leh, in the Andaman Sea in Thailand, had to close in 2018 to preserve its ecosystem, in particular its coral reefs, damaged by human activity and the thousands of visitors who flocked every day to its white sands.
After three years of closure, nature seems to have reclaimed its rights in Maya Bay.
"
The sharks are back, the coral reefs are growing again, the water is clear,
" Yuthasak Supasorn, governor of the Thailand Tourism Authority, told Reuters.
Surrounded by cliffs that are a hundred meters high, this beach is accessible by boat from the islands of Phuket and Phi Phi Don, or directly from Krabi on the mainland.
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Gauges and swimming prohibited
In order not to fall back into past excesses, gauges have been set up: only 375 visitors will be allowed to visit the bay simultaneously.
Swimming remains prohibited for the time being.
Boats will only be allowed to anchor at a specific location, behind the bay, to avoid damaging the coral reef.
Thailand, among the few countries in Asia to have partially reopened to tourism, has re-established a quarantine for travelers until at least January 4, 2022 for fear of the dissemination of the Omicron variant.
Vaccinated travelers must spend ten days in a quarantine hotel or take advantage of the "sandbox" model in Phuket, which allows free movement on the island for seven days before they can travel to the rest of the country.
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