The island is well known for scuba diving and snorkeling, as well as hiking, rock climbing, and bouldering. The most popular place for tourists is Sairee on the west coast, which has a white sandy beach of 1.7 km interrupted only by a few huge boulders and a scattering of medium budget resorts and restaurants. Chalok Baan Khao, to the south of the island, is becoming increasingly popular as an alternative for those wishing to escape the crowds. A great many granite boulders, both in the forests and on the beaches of Ko Tao, attract a growing number of climbers.
Ko Tao is less developed than Ko Samui and Ko Pha Ngan, but has become increasingly popular especially with the mid-20s backpacker crowd in search of relatively inexpensive scuba diving certification. For the past two years the demographics of the island has seen an age increase, with many of the visitors who first visited the island over ten years ago are now returning with their families.
Diving conditions have improved dramatically in the past few years with the continuing education of locals by the dive community. The El Nino weather pattern of 1997 caused a warming of the waters which resulted in the loss of a great deal of the shallow corals near the island. Since then, the recovery has been swift and dramatic. Ko Tao now offers some of the best scuba diving in the Gulf of Thailand.[5] And with help by island conservation group, Save Koh Tao, the island's environmental outlook is improving.[6]
Tourism and development on the island has grown steadily for the last several decades, with public infrastructure often lagging far behind. Shortages of electricity and fresh water[7] are common, and both solid and liquid waste management is inadequate. For these reasons, visitors to Koh Tao are strongly encouraged to conserve resources and choose environmentally responsible businesses and Resorts.
As one of the world's most popular diving destinations, today more attention is being focused on the negative effects of diving on coral reef health around Koh Tao.[8] Divers visiting the island should be especially vigilant about following the proper code of conduct for diving/snorkeling in coral reef areas, most notably not contacting the reef or corals in any way. Natural factors combined with over-use of some areas has led to an increase in the abundance of corallivores such as Drupella snails[9] and the Crown-of-thorns starfish[10] around the island in recent years. In 2012, a Marine Zoning and Regulations Master Plan was developed for the island and subsequently become local law, however the positive effects of increased management have yet to be realized in regards to the health of reef areas.[11]
Chumpon Pinnacle, a dive site to the west of the island has a reputation for divers in search of both whale sharks and bull sharks. However, because of warmer water temperatures over the last year a great number of bull sharks have migrated to cooler waters. The island is host to over 130 species of hard corals, and over 223 species of reef fishes belonging to 53 families.[12]