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Asian tourism recovering after tsunami
Eighteen months after the Indian Ocean, tourism in the affected areas has rebounded, according to the latest report from United Nation’s World Tourism Organization (UNWTO).
International tourist arrivals grew by an average of 8 percent between January to April for tourist destinations in the Asia Pacific region. Maldives recorded the highest number of tourist arrivals (97 percent increase), followed by Thailand (29 percent) and Sri Lanka (25 percent).
With the exception of Indonesia and the Philippines, countries prone to fresh volcanic attacks, the UNWTO does not believe tourism will be hit in other areas such as Bali, Jakarta and Sumatra.
With the holiday peak season around the corner, tourists are returning to Thailand’s sandy white beaches after fleeing from the tsunami attack, fueling a construction boom in Phuket, Krabi and Phang Nga.
Official figures from the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) show in the first quarter of the year foreign tourist arrivals in Phuket jumped 275 percent to 640,300 arrivals. Phang Nga, hardest hit by the tsunami, has doubled its foreign arrivals to 47,400.
“Arrivals are now roughly 60 percent of the pre-tsunami period,” said Praput Khorpetch, managing director of Khao Lak Laguna Resort. New investors are building hotels in Khao Lak, Thailand’s worst hit holiday destination, in addition to rebuilding work on properties damaged or destroyed by the tsunami.
Sofitel Magic Lagoon Resort in Khao Lak, where 214 people reportedly died, plans to start rebuilding its 319-room luxury resort in August.
Early warning systems installed along the beaches have eased fears about the threat of future tsunamis. Confidence in the industry’s future has been boosted by tax breaks and benefits offered by the Thai government to hotel owners.
Suwalai Pinpradab from the TAT said visitors are not only coming back from Europe, but also from Asia. “The climate has rebounded since late October.”
“Although the rate of growth is slowing gradually, international tourism is firmly on track to grow at a rate above the long-term average of 4 percent for the third year in a row,” said UNWTO secretary-general Francesco Frangialli.
“Terrorism, higher oil prices and avian flu are still the three biggest threats to this upward trend,” he added.
By Y. Sulaiman
Courtesy of eTravelNews Asia
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