Koh Phi Phi Under Threat From Tourism

Having survived the tsunami and seen a massive volunteer program to restore Koh Phi Phi to its former glory, the Thai island’s renewed popularity is also causing continued damage to the island’s coral reefs and natural habitat

There was a pretty frightening article in the Bangkok Post yesterday about Koh Phi Phi’s fortunes two years on from the tsunami. There has been a huge upturn in the amount of tourists travelling to Phi Phi in the last year or so, and reconstruction on the island has replaced virtually all the houses, hotels and businesses that were destroyed, much of which was brought about by the efforts of the HiPhiPhi volunteer group. The return of tourists is what the island needed to help the locals get back on their feet and get their businesses going again – but now that very success threatens the island’s long term future.

The Bangkok Post article is written by Nalinee Thongtham, a marine biologist at Phuket Marine Biological Centre, focusses on the amount of damage being done to the famous coral reefs around Phi Phi because there is no regulation of the amount of boats coming in and out of the island or enforcement of where they are allowed to anchor. Garbage is being regularly dumped into the ocean too, while tourists are often seen walking direct on the coral reef, destroying years of coral growth in a few seconds.

Andrew Hewett, who runs Phi Phi Dive Camp and was one of the key figures in organising over 2000 volunteer divers to successfully remove hundreds of tons of rubble from Phi Phi’s corals in the aftermath of the tsunami, has been increasingly concerned about the reefs’ welfare. A long term resident of Phi Phi and a survivor of the tsunami along with his wife and two children, Hewett has dedicated himself to cleaning up and protecting the reefs through ongoing monitoring. The irony is that while Phi Phi Dive Camp performed a near miracle in managing to carry out such a huge reef cleanup operation with only volunteer labour, those reefs are now in danger again from the tourists who are key to the island’s success. (I’ve written about Phi Phi Dive Camp’s achievements previously in the article Koh Phi Phi Reborn for Asian Diver magazine – you can read the article online at my dive website Divehappy.com).

The main issue seems to be one of education and regulation – there needs to be designated areas where boats and tourists can go, anchors can be dropped, and the fragility of coral explained so people don’t damage it. Currently this sort of regulation simply doesn’t exist, and while it was promised when Phi Phi was being rebuilt, little seems to have materialised.

There is some hope – Hewett has been running courses where groups of students come to Phi Phi to help with coral replanting and monitoring – but it seems there needs to be government intervention and enforcement to preserve Phi Phi’s natural beauty. It’s definitely worth reading the whole Bangkok Post article if you’re thinking of going to Koh Phi Phi so you can get a sense of how you can help to look after the coral reefs and perhaps even take part in learning more about them too.

[It's possible the Bangkok Post article will go offline after a week or so and the link above will be broken - leave me a comment if you want to see it as I've saved a copy].

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