Full Moon Party: tourist lunacy versus local beauty
Peerasit Kamnuansilpa
Special to The Nation September 16, 2014 1:00 am
Koh Pha-ngan demonstrates the burning question for Thailand's island paradises
Koh Pha-ngan is among Thailand's most popular islands for tourists from all over the world. This small island, with an area of 194.3 square kilometres, lies in the southwestern part of the Gulf of Thailand and is located in Surat Thani province. Its biggest claim to fame is the Full Moon Party, a music and dance festival held every month on Hadd Rin Beach.
Backpackers were among the first wave of tourists to discover the island. Back in 1984, they organised a relaxing party on a full moon night and the islanders helped with basic food and drink. At that time, the beach could only be reached by boat. Local residents showed their hospitality by taking visitors on boat trips around the island, introducing them to the serenity of the beach during the day and the magic atmosphere on full moon nights. The visitors kept returning, each time bringing more friends. That was how the world-renowned Full Moon Party began. This year marks the 30th anniversary of that first landing of the small group of backpackers on what was then a peaceful, tranquil and beautiful island.
Koh Pha-ngan became one of Thailand's most popular destinations after it featured in Alex Garland's 1996 novel ""The Beach"". The book was made into a Hollywood film, which recreated the untouched natural beauty of the island as it was first discovered by the backpacker pioneers. Ironically, the film-makers used a man-made setting in Maya Bay, Krabi Province, to recreate the simple huts and wild scenery of Koh Pha-ngan some 30 years ago.
We recently visited the island to look at its past, present and possible future. Unfortunately, we were not able to locate any members of that first group of tourist trailblazers. However, we did track down a foreigner who first came to the island some 20 years ago. He said: ""I have returned to the island every now and then. I have seen a lot of changes, and I am not sure whether they are improvements or whether they just cater to what visitors like me want. For one thing, at that time [when I first arrived] I only had to spend Bt50 per night for accommodation. Now I have to pay close to Bt3,000 per night. Now I see far fewer trees. I also see more buildings and hotels. When I first came here, I could not imagine that one day this island would be overcrowded. Now, everywhere I go I see tourists and visitors.""
The recorded Thai population of the island in 2013 was 15,838. Most work in agriculture, followed by the service sector. A few locals own small restaurants or guesthouses catering to low-spending tourists. But the actual population of this small island on a typical day is approximately 10 times higher, at around 150,000. Of this figure, about 90,000 are Myanmar migrant workers, 20,000 are Thais from all over the country who come to work in tourism-related services. The tourists themselves number about 40,000 on average. There are also a very few migrants from Laos and Cambodia.
Each day some 10,000 tourists arrive from all around the world. The average duration of their visits is three days - hence the estimate of 40,000 tourists. However, on a full moon night in high season this figure soars to as high as 1 million. Each year sees about 4.7 million people who stay at least one night for the full moon party.
An estimate of expenditures from a sample of tourists we interviewed for our survey indicates that foreign tourists contribute approximately Bt47.3 billion to the island's economy. Each year about 20 per cent of that is spent for food, lodging and personal expenses. Tax of 7 per cent for each round of transactions contributes significantly to the national revenues.
These statistics compelled us to look hard at the future of the island. It is discouraging to learn that the boom in tourists has also shaken the local environment, causing serious degradation. Activity on the island generates an average 435 tonnes of waste per day, of which only about 20 tonnes are incinerated. Over 200 tonnes of the solid waste is plastic and metals, which are recycled. The rest are bottles, which in theory are recyclable, but, because of their low economic value (about Bt1 per kilogram), are not economically feasible to transport and ship to the mainland for recycling. This is a problem that the local government has tried to resolve, but failed because of inadequate revenue and low budgets. Without assistance from the central government, the trash pollution will only grow. Meanwhile tourists are already talking about the problem of environmental degradation, meaning the island is becoming less attractive to visitors. With its important economic role, the island deserves more money from central government to boost measures to tackle this problem. The real question is this: how do we balance local charm and beauty with the needs of the increasing number of tourists it attracts? This is a question that remains unanswered.