Ministries collaborate on rehabilitation of tourism sites

Maya Bay and Boracay Island aren’t the only tourist magnets to be suffering from too much tourist love. Thai ministries are now looking at all the tourism hot spots in an effort to find a more sustainable way forward.

The Ministry of Tourism and Sports has joined the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment in looking for ways to rehabilitate the environment of tourism destinations. The move comes after news that visitor numbers to Thailand grew by 6 percent in May, alone.

The increasing number of tourists to the nation has prompted the government to look for ways to rehabilitate natural resources impacted by tourism. This past May 2.7 million foreign visitors entered Thailand with the top nationalities being Chinese, Malaysian, Indian, Laotian and South Korean. They generated over 136 million baht and brought the total number of visitors in the first five months of this year to more than 16 million people.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Tourism and Sports and the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment are collaborating to address the issue of waste created by tourism, which is affecting both major and minor cities. They have asked business operators to reduce their use of plastic and are to launch a campaign asking tourists to be considerate of the environment.

The measures are initially to be implemented in all the country’s national parks.