Tourism battered Maya Bay to close for four months

Iconic beach Maya Bay will take a short sabbatical out of the public eye and the daily hordes of day trippers.

Ever since it shot to fame as the setting for the Leonardo DiCaprio flick ‘The Beach’ it has been drowning in a sea of tourists.

Thai officials have long mooted closing it down to allow its battered coral reefs to recover, and Thailand’s National Parks and Wildlife Department has confirmed it will close in June for four months.

"It’s like someone who has been working for decades and has never stopped. Overworked and tired, all the beauty of the beach is gone. We need a timeout for the beach," said Thon Thamrongnawasawat, member of Thailand’s national strategy committee on environment development.

While some other beaches and islands have been ordered to close in the off-season, Maya Bay in the Phi Phi Islands has remained open due to its high profile and obvious popularity.

The beach handles about 200 tour boats carrying 4,000 visitors every day.

Maya Bay is quickly running out of time before it suffers irreparable damage.

"If you ask me if it is too late to save our islands, the answer is no. But if we don’t do something today, it will be too late," said Thanya Netithammakum, head of the National Parks and Wildlife Department.

When Maya Bay reopens, a cap of 2,000 visitors a day will be imposed and no boats will be allowed to drop anchor ion the reefs.

All vessels will have to moor at floating piers away from the main beach.

Over in the Philippines, it looks like President Rodrigo Duterte will order the complete closure of Boracay, another tropical hotspot suffering from chronic overtourism.

Boracay could shut down at the end of April for up to six months to conduct a massive clean-up and install proper waste treatment and garbage disposal systems.