What to do about too many "ignorant" foreign tourists spoiling Thailand's marine life?

[hashmodha]

Although tourism inevitably has an impact, my experience, as a long time diver in this country who sees the reefs up close, is that by far the greatest damage has been caused by illegal fishing. In ten years I have seen large fish virtually disappear from some reefs. 

Sad to read this....I saw this coming in Andaman sea before Tsunami....Illegal fishermen...Illegal fishing...Illegal diving....Illegal diving businesses.....must I continue?

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[slippery snake]

Only too many people at these parks and reserves  because greedy THAIS take them there !!  The more bigger boat, the more people I can take,  so the more money I can make !!! 

The blame lies with the locals, 

Nobody else ....  Only they can restrict the amount if people going there to a sustainable number. ... 

[Megasin1]

LOL...my daily giggle at TLOSO. Every item they listed is under their control and remedy has nothing to do with the tourists. You gotta love it.

[Boedog]

Amazing Thais, not our fault, blame the foreigners maybe through better education at all levels, maybe clean up your own backyard before throwing stones, pollution, corruption at the highest level which is a cancer in this country, poor or no regulation as long as the brown envelop is given all is good dont see a problem hear next please

[Khun Paul]

Anot5her xenophobic rant about foreigners, forgetting entirely ( conveniently ) that Thais in a protected job status , arrange the tours, drive the boats and also run  the NATIONAL PARKS. If you want controls CONTROL THE THAI organisers and Government officials. Simple for a foreigner to understand ...Nigh on impossible for a THAI it seems !!!!!!!!!!!!!!. 

[DrTuner]

I have a brilliant idea. Fine them for the sum of valuables and cash they have and deport immediately. Rinse and repeat, after all, there's no limit to how many suckers come to Thailand every year, in fact, why not do the fleecing at the departure gate before they even board the flight to Thailand, Profit!

 

I'm pretty sure that's the basic idea going around in those brilliant TAT heads.

[BangkokReady]

7 hours ago, JAG said:

Perhaps the first step would be to restrain the ignorant indigenous tour operators from encouraging/selling activities which damage the environment?

I hear what you're saying, but we're really looking to blame foreign tourists here.

[Walter Travolta]

Banning the tour operators is a good idea but banning guilty parties might help. This is more serious than overstaying so . . .

[ZeVonderBearz]

2 hours ago, BwindiBoy said:

Don't let so many Asian tourists in!

Get rid of all Asians!

[Lacessit]

A few months ago ( low season ) I went to Krabi and toured several islands. I was pleasantly surprised by the absence of litter and how clean the water was.

No room for complacency, however. Halong Bay in Vietnam is scenically spectacular; however, it's also a giant rubbish dump. An object lesson in exploitation.

[ginjag]

Please, this is not 1 area,  K Chang, K.Samet, Jomptien, Pattaya, Phuket, Samui,    Rubbish everywhere dumped at sea, dumped around the bay--tide brings it in again,    Example,  rural areas  roadside dumps,   Klongs  stink,   people throwing bottles out of baht taxis--pick-ups,   I could write a book.      Look at most rural homes/gardens  piles of burnt rubbish-including batteries-bottles  ha ha,      way of life --upbringing.  A shining example of who is mainly at fault here--wager a bet biggest % are not normal tourists.

[Walter Travolta]

3 minutes ago, ginjag said:

Please, this is not 1 area,  K Chang, K.Samet, Jomptien, Pattaya, Phuket, Samui,    Rubbish everywhere dumped at sea, dumped around the bay--tide brings it in again,    Example,  rural areas  roadside dumps,   Klongs  stink,   people throwing bottles out of baht taxis--pick-ups,   I could write a book.      Look at most rural homes/gardens  piles of burnt rubbish-including batteries-bottles  ha ha,      way of life --upbringing.  A shining example of who is mainly at fault here--wager a bet biggest % are not normal tourists.

very good point. I would imagine most divers have knowledge and respect for the ocean and its reefs

[BangkokReady]

7 hours ago, webfact said:

Much of the damage occurred due to too many boats mooring in one location at one time, an inability to cope with waste water and ignorance of the tourists in understanding environmental protection matters.

So vague about what exactly the tourists do to damage the environment.

 

It's pretty simple.  Tourists turn up and ask tour operators if they have a spot on their tour, then they go on the tour if they can.  They can't be expected to know if there are too many people visiting the island, much less to stagger their visits to not overwhelm the locations.  There's no way a tourist could do that and it's unreasonable to expect them to.  There is no ignorance shown on the part of the tourists.

 

The tourist authority needs to limit the number of boats going to each location.  It's as simple as that.

 

There is nothing the tourists can do.  They just need to blame the tourists because they don't want people to know that it is Thailand's fault that the environment is being degraded.

 

Lots of tourists, lots of money, degraded environment.  Less tourists, less money, less degraded environment.  Up to you Thailand.

[TechnikaIII]

7 hours ago, JAG said:

Perhaps the first step would be to restrain the ignorant indigenous tour operators from encouraging/selling activities which damage the environment?

Yes, well, let's not separate the tour operators from the 'care-free' tourists. 

It takes two to tango.

1. A real government capable of delivering on environment issues.

2. A nationwide awareness campaign.

3. An International awareness campaign

...

There are several environmentally sensitive areas around the world whose access is strictly controlled. The reefs need to be added to the list.

[drgoon]

<deleted> me..  proactive environmental and tourism management..

 

It's still the tourists fault though. Not the fault of any Thai people or organisation who have provided the means to visit these places

[ajarnmarc]

7 hours ago, Chang_paarp said:

How do the "ignorant foreign" tourists, and informed Thai tourists get to these places if not with the assistance of Thai tourist operators? 

 

Maybe, just maybe the emphasis is on the wrong part of the equation.

Very true...at least we can now see how they refer to tourism " ignorant foreigners".

No mention about the tons of garbage I've personally seen dumped from the ferries each day, 

while traveling from Donsak to Samui on the last ferry of the day, 

The Thai staff transfer all the trash bags from all the ferries used throughout the day, 

onto the last ferry running that evening,

which they then proceed to dump each bag overboard on the trip.

We don't even need to get started on all the cooking oil dumped into the sea from the restaurants hanging over the water in Hua Hin...

These examples are clearly a sign of ignorance...

I realize it's their country, 

so I just SMH.

 

[TKDfella]

The authorities want their cake and eat it too. Want more money from tourism and advertise 'amazing Thailand'...if the tourists don't go to the beaches, national parks and places of interest, where are they going to put...in the cities?? Of course everyone wants to to go to the cities...in a pigs ear, they do. The rationale begins at home...if you want a home that stays neat and tidy, spick-and- span then the less people that inhabit it/visit it the longer it will stay nice. Thailand wants all the tourism but doesn't want to pay the cost of clearing up so of course the environment will suffer. Pull in money and to hell with everything else.

[Jim walker]

So what ignorant person lets the ignorant foreigners through immigration in the first place mental checks at immigration might be the answer to stopping the ignorant entering Thailand.   

[shy coconut]

I didn't see anything in the article, other than the headline which mentioned "ignorant 

tourists" so I'm guessing that this was a successful clickbait policy given the amount With

of outraged replies, 6 pages and counting!

 

I admit that I didn't read the Thai link so I could well be wrong.

 

It makes sense to me to look for solutions to the demise of the fish stocks and damage to

the coral and the bullet points listed seem, to me, to be reasonable.

 

But again, I'm guessing, that most of the posters before me, read nothing beyond

the sensational headline and weighed in with their well worn diatribes!!

 

It is actually possible for a tourist to be ignorant without it being insulting.

Ignorance can mean being unaware and these tourists may well be unaware of the damage that they are causing.

 

Ok hands up!!

 I just re read the article and, yes "the ignorance of tourists" is there ,

plain as day. That's venting after a night shift for you!!

 

My point stands that ignorance, in this case, is not an insult, and

the headline has been sensationalised to attract the angry responses.

Some folks here should take a good hard look at themselves and feel

a little foolish for being sucked in by the headline.

 

 

[boomerangutang]

Burma has an archipelego in the Andaman sea of, I'm guessing, 50 islands (?).  Currently, they're rather pristine, or so I've heard from a private tour boat captain.  He runs a boat owned by one of Russia's Oligarchs (Abraham...something), and the cost per day to charter that boat is mucho dinero.  When I met the captain, his latest two trips were: 1. a top Formula 1 racer (can't recall his name) and 2. Rod Stewart and family (btw, Stewart's not a good tipper).  The tour boat, though not big, burned through $33,000 of diesel in 6 days, zipping around the Burmese islands!  That's also a lot of diesel smoke.  

 

How many years until those islands and their reefs are also suffering under the burden of badly-planned tourism - Thai variety - pack as many people as possible on to a boat.

[300sd]

Foreign tourists are a little ignorant, for setting foot on those boat buses. I wouldn't.

[janpharma]

And...What to do about geniune Thai "tourists" who spoil marine life, beaches and all roads with their plastic trash? 

[Bendi]

Maybe first step is to educate the operators of the trip.

Oh sorry forgot. This is Thailand, blame the tourists. Cant blame the tourist operators, that would be to easy.

Meanwhile, am relaxing here in Isaan. Lafing my head off????

[cardinalblue]

It's always a management issue here or lack of....

 

 

[thailand49]

I think the Thai government needs to take a hard look in the mirror as to who else is ignorant.  You bring them here allowing your own vendors to operated like this is the wild west, tout how many tourist just love Thailand and how many more are coming. Officials line their pockets buy expensive watches, built unnecessary roads with more toll plaza's, then spend no money on improving infrastructure making excuses after excuses, I would think twice before you label anyone!

[WHYWHY]

Sort of makes you wonder how the Thai Media can say things like that 

If it was us saying about Thai people there would be headlines Rasist remarks made by foreign Medial 

 

[WHYWHY]

1 minute ago, thailand49 said:

I think the Thai government needs to take a hard look in the mirror as to who else is ignorant.  You bring them here allowing your own vendors to operated like this is the wild west, tout how many tourist just love Thailand and how many more are coming. Officials line their pockets buy expensive watches, built unnecessary roads with more toll plaza's, then spend no money on improving infrastructure making excuses after excuses, I would think twice before you label anyone!

Well said 

[diehard60]

thailand should do something about them 

[YetAnother]

8 hours ago, webfact said:

Excessive tourism

just exactly what is that ? ask them to come, they come...;

tell ya what, just copy north korea; (no not just politics)problem solved

[GBW]

Possibly a 'quota system'  for the greedy tour operators, but this would have to be monitored and enforced...     555555555555555555555555555555555555