HOW THAILAND IS

BEING DESTROYED BY
TOURISM WRITTEN BY THOMAS PACKHAM

A MEMOIR RELATING TO THE PARADOX OF ECO-TOURISM. CAN

THE TOURIST INDUSTRY AND THE ENVIRONMENT COEXIST?

Pictured above is a caged male elephant in Southern India. Chained

to the same spot for 20 years. Beaten into submission at secret
jungle training camps. Photographer: Liz Jones

Since I was a young child, I have had a passion for wildlife,

nature, and geography. Santa Claus must have known that Pictured above is a photo of
about me because when I was six years old, I was given an me with the matriarch
interactable electronic globe for christmas. Whenever I was in elephant, and baby "Ellie".
trouble and sent to my room, I would spend hours, laying on Picture captured at the
the floor in my room, staring at this globe. Soon enough Paradise Elephant Park, in
getting sent to my room wasn’t as much of a punishment as Chiang Mai, Thailand, in April
it was a chance for me to play with my globe. I would
of 2017. Photgrapher: Jason
challenge myself to memorize the oceans, countries and
Packham
their capitals, and countless facts about each country.
Eventually I was able to point to any country on a globe
without a second thought. I made a goal for myself that I
would travel the world someday. Now, as an eighteen year Read more on the abuse of
old, the passion is still there and as strong as ever, and I am elephants on Pg. 34 "The
slowly making progress on my goal. Elephant Crisis: How Can
Last April, I had the chance to travel to Thailand to complete
Successful Anti-Elephant
humanitarian service and to experience the country’s unique
culture. Immediately upon arriving, I recognized the negative Poaching Strategies Used in
effects of tourism on the country in many different aspects. Cambodia be Implemented in
While driving a rental van through the city of Phuket, a Sub-Saharan Africa?" written by
popular destination on the peninsula of Thailand, I noticed a Thomas Packham
tall wooden fence about a foot away from the busy road. Tied
up to these fences - or should I say cages - were several large
Asian elephants.
 Pictured above is the plastic waste littering the
beach of Maya Bay, off the coast of Phuket, Thailand.
Thousands of pounds of plastic is pulled out of the
sea every year. Photgrapher:Lillian Suqanrumpha

Pictured to the right is dead coral in Maya Bay. Coral

restoration has recently begun. The bay is closed
indefinitely until regrowth is complete. Photographer:
David Burdick

The large gray creatures
were squished together
with less than four feet of
wiggle room between each
other, with no shade from
the hot sun, and only a foot
away from loud and busy
Thai traffic. This was no
condition for the
endangered species to be
living in. What used to be
the elephants natural
habitat is now covered in
towers, taxis, and tourists. If
it weren’t for the tourists
that come from all over the
world to see these creatures,
the elephants would still be
living in safety away from
humans.
One day, After a two-
hour boat ride through the
warm Andaman Sea, we
arrived to the paradisiacal
beach of Maya Bay. It was
breathtaking to be
surrounded by all of the
towering cliffs and the
crystal blue water. The bay is
world famous for being the
set of the movie “The
Beach”, starring Leonardo
DiCaprio, released in 2000.
The bay is still an incredibly
beautiful place, but recently
with the increasingly
extreme tourist traffic, over
100 boats and 5,000 people
a day, it is being overrun
with pollution and the
ecosystem
is being destroyed. The coral
reefs have taken the largest
toll, what used to be a
thriving and diverse tropical
ecosystem is now a gray
skeleton of dead coral, due
to boat anchors and human
interference. As I swam
through the clear water, I
saw many tropical fish, a few
reef sharks, and a whole lot
of trash. Years and years of
tourist’s straws, plastic, and
other waste could be found
every other few inches in the
sand underwater. In
response to the issue, Maya
Bay was officially closed
down by the government
last June, until the coral reef
is completely recovered,
which could take as long as
20 years.
As we flew out of Thailand, I
remarked on the amazing
experience I had. Despite
the issues I witnessed,
Thailand is still a country of
beauty and loving people.
The culture that I
experienced changed my
life for the better, and
taught me more than I had
ever thought possible.
It is hard for me to watch
the world being slowly
destroyed because of
unethical tourism, but at the
same time, I believe strongly
in the importance of
tourism. Not only does
tourism benefit many
different economies, but it
also benefits individuals. The
lessons learned from getting
out of your comfort zone
and experiencing new
cultures, is something that
everybody needs. With more
open-mindedness and a
better global perspective,
our world can become a
better place. The booming
tourism industry of Thailand
needs to be in balance with
the protection of the
environment if anything is
ever going to change.