Secluded Trang beach touted as the next Maya Bay
A secluded beach on the Andaman coast is being touted as the next Maya Bay, the sandy paradise made famous by Leonardo DiCaprio in “The Beach”.
Hat Yao beach has all the ingredients to become a major attraction for international travellers in the South, according the Tourism Council of Trang (TCT).
It cited the towering limestone karts of Ao Po Bay, Hat Yong Ling beach, the caverns of Tham Chao Khun and chances to spot dugongs and turtles.
The sands of Ao Po Bay stretch beneath a shark fin-shaped mountain, easily rivalling the beauty of Maya Bay in neighbouring Krabi province, the TCT said.
Among the attractions is kayaking through the mangrove forest to Tham Chao Khun. The cave is home to spectacular stalactite formations and a colony of bats.
Ao Pao Bay's underwater meadows of seagrass also make it a playground for dugongs and turtles.
For more adventurous tourists, it offers rock climbing on the limestone karst cliffs and sailing beneath.
"Hat Yao beach is among the most beautiful beaches in the South," said TCT president Pitakpong Chaikot, as he announced plans to develop tourism in the area in collaboration with Hat Chao Mai National Park.
The Department of Public Works and Town & Country Planning has been handed a budget to study, design and develop local tourist attractions, he added.
The TCT would talk with local hospitality operators and community enterprises to find ways of promoting tourism activities in the area, Pitakpong said. Tour operators would also be permitted to station themselves at Trang Airport, 50 minutes away by car, to promote attractions around Hat Yao beach.
Trang tourism agencies are also hosting Chinese tourism representatives in a bid to drum up demand from what was Thailand’s largest overseas travel market before Covid. Indonesian tour operators also visited Trang at the end of last year, the TCT chief said.
He added that the area’s reasonably priced food and accommodation would also be attractive to tourists.
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