It has to hurt the very critical tourist industry but it's something that had to be done. I remember feeling sick to my stomach watching tourists walk on coral at Ko Phi Phi years ago. Other tourist destinations really need to do the same if they want to have any tourism in the future. A few years ago I could no longer stand watching tourists who could barely swim put on life jackets and then kick the coral around Dahab, Egypt. Nobody cared what was happening so we packed our backpacks and moved on until we found a nature reserve and people who cared. Unfortunately, too many who rely on the coral for their business don't care. Well done by Thailand for taking what has to be an unpopular but correct decision.
Some of Thailand’s most popular diving sites are now off limits to tourists: Thai officials announced on Thursday that they were restricting access to seven marine national parks for up to a year to prevent further harm to coral reefs severely damaged by a long period of elevated sea temperatures last year.
Reefs are plentiful in Thailand and serve as a major tourist draw, and the announcement met with opposition from some hotel and tourism operators.
More than 80 percent of the corals at 18 dive sites have undergone bleaching, a symptom of severe stress caused by excessively warm water temperatures. Corals can recover from bleaching, but if the stress is too acute, they die.
